Sustainable Procurement Intern (with focus on supplier/supply chain sustainability)

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 peace and 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 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,400 personnel recruited on behalf of our partners, spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced and diverse labour force — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs. We continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage the recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

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

Within UNOPS, Implementation Practices and Standards (IPS) is responsible for the UNOPS delivery practices. IPS provides thought leadership, standards and oversight as support to the successful delivery of programmes and projects within UNOPS service lines (infrastructure, procurement, project management, human resources and financial management services).

IPS is comprised of the Infrastructure and Project Management Group and the Procurement Group which aims to reduce organizational risks, improve project performance, and promote excellence across UNOPS projects through the Standards Management Framework; and provides organisational oversight on the application of standards. These Groups also support the positioning of UNOPS in the UN system and development sector in Infrastructure, Project Management and Procurement.

Procurement and Supply Chain Practice Group

The Procurement Group (PG) is part of Implementation Practices and Standards (IPS) and is based at UNOPS HQ in Copenhagen. It leads the organization’s procurement practice and is responsible for: articulating strategy, policy positions and innovative solutions for procurement at UNOPS; enabling the operationalization and managerial oversight of UNOPS procurement activities through appropriate systems and reports; strengthening the knowledge, skills and career development of procurement practitioners; and leading the implementation of Sustainable Procurement across the organization.

As a central procurement resource for the United Nations system and its partners, UNOPS emphasizes efficient, transparent, cost-effective and sustainable delivery of goods, services and works, in line with public procurement best practices. On a yearly basis, UNOPS procures over USD 1 Bn worth of goods, services and works on behalf of our partners. These include a broad base of categories, including life-saving pharmaceuticals, mine action equipment, vehicles or road construction services. 

Since 2015, UNOPS has been a leader in sustainable procurement, receiving awards such as the Gold Certificate in Sustainable Procurement from CIPS and has implemented best practices in procurement including on procurement policy, ethics and fraud prevention, e-Procurement, and business intelligence and procurement advisory services.

We are seeking a motivated and passionate individual who may have a background in auditing, sustainability, supply chain or related studies focused on environment, climate change, health and safety, labour standards, or human rights. The successful candidate should have some knowledge of different sustainability topics, and an understanding of sustainable procurement/supply chain. However, as internships are designed to be valuable learning experiences, previous work experience is not a requirement.

This is a 6-month internship that can be extended up to one year (subject to performance and funds availability), with an expected start date in Oct 2022.

Some of the specific tasks may include, but are not limited to:

Support the sustainable procurement team with engaging suppliers through verifications and supplier reviews, and follow-up of corrective actions and supplier feedback

• Support in supplier reviews, that are conducted either remotely or on-site

• Support in verification of supplier documentation

• Support in communication with suppliers around planning of site visits, verifications and  corrective action plans

• Support with supplier trainings and other supplier engagement activities

Support the sustainable procurement team with the internal and external communication, with suppliers and with internal stakeholders

• Publishing of Sustainable Procurement content on relevant platforms

• Support in building out and maintaining our automated sheets with supplier actions

• Support the drafting of sustainable procurement capacity-building materials

• Writing up of case studies and best practices

• Support intranet content updates

• Support in building communication templates for supplier engagements

• Support the management of team email inboxes

Support with the development of reports, and key conclusions from the analysis of the sustainable procurement data:

• Data Analysis: Assist in the collation, verification, and analysis of procurement data

• Data visualization and reporting: Assist with the development of dashboards, reports, and key conclusions from the analysis of procurement data. 

• Support the development of regular communications for internal and external audiences

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

• Exposure to and experience in procurement at the corporate level, core function within UNOPS;

• Exposure to sustainable procurement in the context of development and public procurement;

• Exposure to supplier sustainability and supply chain engagement, and how suppliers play a role in sustainable development

• Exposure to an international multicultural work environment and team;

• Exposure to headquarters and country offices.

Education

• Completion of secondary school or equivalent is required
• To be eligible for this internship with UNOPS, the candidate must be studying towards a university degree or have graduated in the past three years in the following areas: procurement, supply chain, international development, auditing or other relevant discipline.

Experience

• While no prior work experience is required, some experience in different sustainability topics such as environmental management, climate change, human rights, labour standards, is highly desirable.
• Competency in supplier auditing is highly desirable.
• Knowledge of supplier/vendor management, Sustainable Procurement Principles, diversity and inclusion and public procurement is desirable.
• Working knowledge of procurement or supply chain data analytics is desirable.

• Strong computer literacy is required and may include skills such as: Advanced Excel / Google Sheet skills, advanced Powerpoint / Google Slides skills, advanced Word / Google Docs skills.
• Experience in using and creating dashboards in visualization tools such as Google Sheets / Google Data Studio, PowerBI or Tableau is an asset.

Language Skills

• Fluency in English is required.
• Fluency in French and/or Spanish is highly desirable.
• Knowledge of another UN language such as Russian, Chinese or Arabic will be considered an asset

Contract type: Internship

• • 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 and candidates from the Global South 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.



Work environment




IPS offers a unique work environment in UNOPS headquarters, in Copenhagen, Denmark, located in the UN City building, one of Copenhagen’s landmarks. UNOPS HQ offers a safe, family-friendly lifestyle environment with multiple opportunities for networking and active lifestyle, in a city known for its excellent urban design and planning.

The IPS team is a diverse team in terms of age, nationalities and family situations. IPS is keen on strengthening diversity in the team with a current focus on gender equality and geographic diversity. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. IPS is very dynamic and welcomes agility, autonomy and self-drive. The work of IPS is oriented towards exciting opportunities which have a corporate, global impact and is in touch with the whole of UNOPS. 

UNOPS has a hosting agreement with the Government of Denmark, and as such both national and international candidates are eligible for HQ-based positions. UNOPS officials are exempt from Danish taxes on UN incomes. EU citizens may opt to be registered with the Danish State Administration as EU migrant worker and keep the rights associated with that status or register through UNOPS with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. EU Citizens may apply for the public Danish health insurance or special health card depending on their choice of registration, while the non-EU citizens will be registered by UNOPS under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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.