Project Management Intern, Multiple positions

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world.  UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian and development projects.  Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.

The Project Management Intern is part of the Sustainable Development Cluster (SDC) under the New York Service Cluster  (NYSC) SDC through its Development and Special Initiatives Portfolio (DSIP) is supporting project “Climate Action Team” CAT signed with the Executive Office of the Secretary-General  (EOGS)

The 2019 Climate Action Summit mobilized significant public momentum and new commitments from Member States, private sector and subnational governments to turn the page on the climate change crisis. Such commitments identified new catalytic solutions and coalitions necessary to bend the emissions curve before 2030 – from the transformation of the world’s energy, transport, urban and natural ecosystems to the revamping of the world’s financial systems. 

After the Summit, climate change remains at the top of the Secretary-General's priorities and one of the core priorities of the Decade of Action to Deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. In this context, 2021 is a “make or break” year for climate action and the transformations needed for the world to truly adopt a sustainable, low emission development trajectory and to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. 

It is vital that we build upon the momentum from the 2019 Climate Action Summit to raise ambition levels on Nationally Determined Contributions, elevate our commitment to biodiversity, secure funding for climate adaptation and resilience and accelerate the just transitions we need from fossil fuel dependent energy and transport systems to ones powered by renewable energy.

In this context, the Secretary-General’s Climate has called for growing the coalition of net-zero commitments and pledges by all stakeholders, increased support for adaptation and resilience and alignment of financial flows with the Paris Agreement. 

• Raising ambition levels and concrete commitments by the major emitters, particularly the G20; 
• Mainstreaming climate change (portfolio shifts to low emission investments, embedding climate risk factors in investment decision-making and carbon pricing) within financial markets and firms; 
• Developing and implementing a targeted strategy for fossil fuel and coal phase-out; 
• Strengthening and delivering the Climate Action Summit commitments and coalitions and incubating new commitments and coalitions related to energy transition, transportation, urban and local climate action, nature based solutions and climate resilience; 
• Enhancing UN system support to countries to deliver on the climate and environment-related Sustainable Development Goals – from water scarcity to industrial innovation and sustainable urbanization; 
• Provision of up-to-date analytics and policy guidance for the Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, UN leadership and Member States. 
• Designing and executing a cross-UN global communications campaign and movement focused on SG and UN leadership on climate action at all levels, and messaging and storytelling to build political will, elevate local solutions and mobilize individual actions. 

The team is led by an Assistant Secretary-General, supported by a Team Lead on Climate Action and a Team Lead on Climate Ambition.  

Under the overall supervision and guidance of the Team Lead Climate Action, the incumbent will provide substantive support to ensure results on climate, energy, and environment-related partnerships and commitments across the Climate Team and throughout EOSG Units.

Under the supervision and guidance of the Team Lead the responsibilities of the Project Management Interninclude:

A. Coordination And Executive Support

• Support the preparation of senior-level management meetings, conferences, and retreats
• Support the preparation of background and option papers
• Support the tracking and analysis of decisions and their implementation
• Assist in the preparation of speeches and talking points

• Support analytics on UN system-wide / cross-cutting needs, priorities, resources, risks, and performance
• Support the analytics teams in maintaining key data sets, data models, indices, and reports
• Develop dashboards and visualizations for senior managers and provide user support
• Support data mining, process optimization, metrics development, and forecasting

C. Policy Analysis And Assessment

• Help monitor, identify and analyze geographic, political, and thematic global trends
• Support the preparation of analytical reports, papers, talking points, and correspondences
• Assist in coordinating the formulation of strategies, programmes, and policies
• Support the preparation of meetings, events, talks, and visits

• Completion of secondary school or equivalent is required. 
• To be eligible for this particular internship with UNOPS, candidates must be currently enrolled in, or have recently completed (within three years prior to the application date of the internship) a Master’s Degree in International Relations or Diplomacy, International Environment, Climate or related areas.

• Data management and/or analytical skills
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office or Google Suite   

• For this post, fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is an advantage

Contract type: Internship
Contract level: Internship
Contract duration: Four (4) months

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not 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
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• 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.