Communication intern for Prevention of Violent Extremism

UNDP’s Crisis Bureau (CB) has corporate responsibility for UNDP’s corporate crisis-related work and driving UNDP’s vision and priorities for crisis prevention, response, and recovery, to support the strategic results, outcomes and outputs of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. CB teams provide technical advice to Country Offices; advocate UNDP corporate messages; represent UNDP as required, including at multi-stakeholder fora, public-private, and government-civil society dialogue initiatives; promote and support South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives; and engage in UN interagency coordination in the areas of work the Strategic Plan – building resilience to shocks and crises, in order to safeguard development gains.

Within the CB, the Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding and Responsive Institutions (CPPRI) team works on the integration of governance, conflict prevention and peacebuilding interventions. The CPPRI team leads and coordinates UNDP’s corporate, global approach on how to prevent violent extremism (PVE) from a development perspective. This approach continues to evolve and develop in response to the changing strategies of violent extremist groups, government responses and development of new policy frameworks. In support hereof, UNDP commissions new research, identifies best practices and promote knowledge sharing across multiple stakeholders supporting the prevention of violent extremism. The communication and dissemination of these results are essential for enhancing the quality of programming, building and maintaining partnerships, and facilitate knowledge exchange across a community of practice.

It is within this context that UNDP is seeking a Communication Intern to support the visualisation of data, dissemination, and communication of the PVE work by supporting the communication strategy development and implementation of the CPRRI PVE team. The intern will engage with the PVE Team in New York as well as colleagues in Country Offices and Regional Hubs to enhance communication across the practice.

This position will expose the intern to unique insights on implementation of peacebuilding and prevention of violent extremism programmes across the 42 countries in which UNDP implements PVE projects. Furthermore, the nature of the tasks will offer the intern great opportunities to develop analytical skills, strategic writing and communication within international development. The intern will have a unique opportunity to operate in a diverse and dynamic global workspace and expand personal and professional networks. The supervisor will work closely with the intern to identify and track learning objectives, provide quality assurance and feedback.

The intern will assist the Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) Team by supporting the development and implementation of the communication strategy for the team as well as support efforts to collect and manage knowledge. Specifically, the intern will:

• Contribute to the development and implementation of the PVE team’s communication strategy
• Support the planning and implementation of events and consultations, specifically focusing on engaging stakeholders through visually appealing pre/post communication products
• Develop thematic briefing notes, newsletters, web stories and summaries to facilitate learning
• Support data visualisation by creating knowledge maps, infographics and visual reports
• Assist with the graphic design and layout of new knowledge products and research
• Support knowledge management systems and tools of the PVE team, including the facilitation of the Community of Practice on SparkBlue and Teams
• Other tasks as required by the project team.

• A well-organized individual with the ability to multi-task;
• Ability to work productively and effectively with others and individually;
• Respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and the UNDP Statement of Purpose;
• Demonstrates very good understanding of and experience in communications and outreach;

Education:

Applicants to the UNDP internship programme must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements: 

• Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher);
• Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum bachelor’s level or equivalent); 
• Have graduated with a university degree in relevant fields such as Communication, Journalism, Social Sciences, ICT, International Development, or other related fields, and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.

Work Experience & Skillset:

• Familiarity with peacebuilding, conflict prevention and/or prevention of violent extremism
• Excellent communication and advocacy skills, with proven experience in communicating sensitively, effectively, and creatively to a wide audience of stakeholders
• Experience in using social media platforms to raise awareness and visibility on sensitive topics
• Knowledge of current communication channels, including digital platforms, and experience with content management systems and visual design tools preferred
• Knowledge of graphic software such as Canva, Mailchimp, and/or Adobe Illustrator preferred
• Creativity in writing and designing content, storytelling skills, and ability to analyse audience needs to propose the best communication channel
• Strong IT skills including high level of comfort with Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint, Excel, Teams and SharePoint solutions
• Previous related work experience in a national or an international entity an advantage.

Languages:

• Fluency in English required.
• Fluency in French or Arabic considered an advantage.