Internship – Climate Change Financing, Public Partnership Division (PPD), New York, USA; 26 weeks, Req: 569189

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, A LIVABLE PLANET – UNICEF’s Sustainable Climate Action Plan (SCAP)

The Division of Public Partnership (PPD), based in New York, with some satellite offices based around the world, aims to position UNICEFs as a partner of choice for children’s rights in the climate financing arena among governments, partners, inter-governmental actors, sister United Nations Agencies and youth around the world.

This internship post is based in the Climate Financing team. Our role is to support the resource mobilisation of the new UNICEF Sustainability and Climate Action Plan (SCAP) 2023 – 2030. The SCAP prioritizes urgent climate action through systematic change in partnership with public and private sectors to prioritize the needs of children and young people and build their resilience to the climate threats at hand. The SCAP strives to mainstream sustainability and climate action both internally and externally, through protecting the lives, health and well-being of children and their communities; empowering children with developmental opportunities and skills; and reducing emissions and the environmental footprint within UNICEF.

How can you make a difference? 

We are looking for a highly organized, creative, and dynamic intern to join the Climate Financing team to contribute hands-on, to the success of the team. The incumbent would work under the daily guidance of, and in collaboration with, the Senior Advisor and Climate Financing Lead as and other members of the team.

Your contribution will help support in expanding the building blocks of the first organizational-wide Climate Financing engagement strategy and in shaping the Climate Financing Accelerator regrouping the key stakeholders in UNICEF who will be moving the Climate Financing agenda.

Areas in which the support of the incumbent will be needed include:

• Support the coordination of the Climate Finance Accelerator.
• Research and gather public donors’ intelligence information bank – collate in a way that is sharable with colleagues.
• Support coordination calls between the different Divisions and from data gathered, update UNICEF Climate financing strategy.
• Maintain and update the Knowledge Management share point site.
• Engage with different divisions and collect donors’ pipeline information.
• Engage on the preparatory donors’ engagement and actions, including the Summit of the Future in September, in marge of the United Nations General Assembly in New York etc. and COP29 to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
• Support tin the design of a Climate Financing a monthly newsletter on climate change-related issues and funding trends.
• Attend internal and external meetings on climate change and financing issues policies and funding, and report back.
• Other tasks as appropriate and aligned with the Intern’s skills and interests.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• Be enrolled in a graduate/undergraduate degree programme in international development, climate, environment, project management, business administration, social sciences, partnerships, fundraising, or have graduated within the past two years.
• A keen interest in partnerships with the public partnership sector.
• Previous internship or work experience in a low-income or middle-income country is an asset. Previous experience in the office of a senior official is a strong asset.
• Experience in project management and fundraising are also assets.
• A deep interest in excellence in management practices is required.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is a strong asset.
• Applicants must be at least 18 years old.
• Have no immediate relatives (e.g., father, mother, brother, sister) working in any UNICEF office; and have no other relatives in the line of authority that the intern will report to.
• Have excellent academic performance as demonstrated by recent university or institution records.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3)Drive to achieve results for impact (4)Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6)Thinks and acts strategically (7)Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable  are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.