Infrastructure and Project Management (IPM) Intern

UNOPS strategic focus places increased emphasis on national capacity development and sustainable approaches to project management, procurement and infrastructure services.  A key objective is to be recognized as an organization that delivers world-class infrastructure and project management, which is both economically and socially sustainable, even in the most challenging environments. To achieve this goal, UNOPS has established the Infrastructure and Project Management Group (IPMG).

Within UNOPS, IPMG’s objectives are to serve the organization’s personnel and partners by broadening their infrastructure and project management capabilities, while disseminating best-practices in both of these areas. Through this work, the group helps facilitate the successful delivery of programmes and projects around the world.

To achieve its objectives, IPMG has established three interrelated and interdependent work streams, namely, Strategic Initiatives, Standards, and Engagement Acceptance. IPMG is managed overall by the Director of IPMG and supported by a Programme Support Unit.

The Strategic Initiatives (SI) team works to develop methodologies and tools to improve development outcomes as well as assist in the positioning of UNOPS at the highest levels in related fields, including various global agenda focus areas, such as resilience and sustainability.

Under the overall guidance and supervision of IPMG Head of Strategic Initiatives, the successful candidate will be responsible for supporting a variety of tasks and work packages as a part of her/his internship period. We are seeking qualified applicants who may have a background in infrastructure and project management; and who are extremely structured, organized and detail-oriented, as well as have the ability to communicate complex ideas well.  The main support areas will be in (but not limited to) research, technical knowledge as well as communication and administration tasks.

At the end of this internship, the successful candidate will have gained in:

• Experience through exposure to UNOPS project management and infrastructure corporate standards and activities;

• Experience in linking Infrastructure and Project Management impacts to corporate strategies as well as practical applications to achieve high level goals.

• Experience dealing with a wide range of practitioners experienced in resilient and sustainable infrastructure across UNOPS, other development partners, donors, government and wider civil society, as well as private sector and academia;

• Understanding of the key role Infrastructure in sustainable development through linkages in Humanitarian, Development and Peace keeping sectors;

• Exposure to international personnel in Head Office and through interaction with field offices.

The internship is expected to start in August 2019 and last for 6 months (extendable to 12 months upon satisfactory performance and subject to budget availability).

The successful candidate may be required to work on the following:

• Support data collection and analysis for SI research activities;

• Conduct literature reviews for SI team initiatives;

• Support research on strategic infrastructure and project management areas for cooperation with key partners that support UNOPS initiatives. These areas would include social and economic impact of infrastructure, Infrastructures role in fragile conflict affected countries. Resilient Infrastructure importance for sustainable development and others;

• Prepare materials and post-event summaries for a variety of workshops, missions and discussions with both internal and external partners; and

• Liaise with key academic partners on areas of research.

Technical Support:

• Support a variety of tasks as outlined and assigned in the annual work plan for the SI team;

• Maintain, update, and support all relevant documentation for SI initiatives;

• Providing analysis and reporting as required for SI team by ensuring compliance with all policies, guidelines, and instructions set out by IPMG and the organization;

• Assist with monitoring and reporting of SI team performance; and

• Other support tasks as assigned

Administrative and Communication Support:

• Support in communicating SI initiatives to different stakeholders;

• Contribute to maintenance and updating of the intranet site;

• Support all training/event initiatives within IPMG as required, this includes but not limited to training/events set up, administrative support, and logistics;

• Support monitoring of the SI task list and budget; and

• Day to day tasks as assigned.

Education:

• Completion of secondary school or equivalent is required.

• Candidate must be currently enrolled in, or have recently completed (within three years prior to the application date of the internship) a Bachelor/Master’s/Ph.D. Degree in a relevant area, preferably in Engineering, Architecture, or Planning. Also International Development, International Relations, if some experience in the areas of engineering, architecture and planning.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required;

• Knowledge of French and/or Spanish would be considered an asset.

Internship-related experience:

While no prior work experience is required  the following experience is highly desirable:

• Knowledge of Google suite

• The ideal candidate would have experience in one of several of the following areas:

  • Academic research;

  • Infrastructure development and management;

  • Development activities in both Humanitarian and Development settings;

  • Data analysis;

  • Website and intranet development;

  • Database development;

  • Client/donor research; and

  • Business acquisition/development.

Contract type: Internship

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only the applications meeting all the requirements in education, experience, certifications and languages as listed above will be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.