Project Support Intern

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

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.  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 UNOPS Strategic Plan 2022-2025 highlights the importance of channeling public and private investment in sustainable infrastructure, and harnessing the power of innovation and technology.  With its focus on efficient implementation, UNOPS has accumulated more than 25 years of insights and expertise on the ground deeply rooted in project operations. 

UNOPS’ presence in Nordic countries is focused on the thematic importance of climate action, global innovation and the sustainable development agenda supporting the acceleration of solutions for climate change in developing countries. 

The UNOPS office in Helsinki is working on infrastructure investment and global innovation with a wide range of public and private sector partners to develop climate resilient, inclusive and smart solutions, harnessing the power of financing, technology and innovation. 

The Project Support Intern will work with the team on a wide range of processes and needs having hands-on practical daily work and operations as well as being on the front line with internal and external parties such as UNOPS colleagues in various business units. The Project Support Intern will be responsible for delivering the assigned tasks in a collaborative, timely and efficient manner. The intern will have opportunities for learning and expanding knowledge and experience within the areas of finance and operations as well as process improvements and system developments. 

This position supports the UNOPS Helsinki office. Under the direct supervision of the Partnerships and Social Investments Manager, the Project Support Intern will perform the following duties:

Finance and Operations Support:

• Assist with tracking and processing invoices and payments, creating journal entries as required;

• Provides travel arrangements support and administration of the travel related documentation;

• Assists with reporting of data; developing different dashboards; communicates with colleagues in areas requiring verification and additional information;

• Supports system development and process improvement initiatives; 

• Provides project management support and innovative solutions to project activities;

• Assist in coordinating the formulation of strategies, programmes, and meetings/events;

• Relocation services support including correspondence and liaison with relevant organisations in Finland;

• Provides consistent support to office management needs as determined, and supports on ad-hoc matters.

Partnerships Support:

• Conduct research and analysis on potential partnership opportunities and areas of thematic priority including climate finance, innovation, sustainability and social impact;

• Assists on a wide range of tasks related to data collection, review and analysis;

• Support the engagement with internal and external stakeholders, with a focus on Finnish stakeholders, ensuring adequate levels and timeliness of communications are maintained;

• Support on integrity due diligence process regarding partners and project engagement opportunities;

• Provides support on other matters relevant to the team’s operations.

Participation in training courses:

The intern will be able to participate in other trainings offered by UNOPS.  Specific trainings of interest will be discussed with the intern upon arrival.  

The intern shall be trained to operate ERP, utilize reporting platforms, understand organizational KPI interpretation, etc.

Terms and Conditions:

The internship comes with no expectations of future employment with UNOPS as a direct result of the internship. The internship is offered for a period of 6 months.

1. Academic qualifications 

• Applicants must be enrolled in a university degree such as a Bachelor, Masters, or have graduated within three years prior to the application date of the internship.  

• The preferred candidate would have a degree in or pursuing studies in the areas of finance, economics, business, administration, computer science, international development, sustainability or other related areas. 

2. Language Skills

• Excellent writing and oral skills in English is mandatory.
• Excellent writing and oral skills in Finnish is desirable.
• Working knowledge of French and/or Spanish is an asset.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is an asset.

3. Experience and Computer Literacy

• Applicants are not required to have professional work experience, but experience in writing and editing is desirable. 

• Experience in Office software packages (Word, PowerPoint) and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet (Excel).

• Experience in use of various data management systems, platforms and technologies is an asset.

• Experience in use of project management tools is an asset.

• Experience in use of Google Suite is an advantage.

• 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.