Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The Policy Division develops and implements the UN Women corporate programme of work on analysis, research and knowledge management that provides the evidence base for the advice and guidance UN Women provides to development practitioners, the intergovernmental process, the UN system, and to UN Women staff working at country and regional level on issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The Division identifies emerging issues and trends, including gaps and challenges, and develops and proposes new strategies for achieving the agreed goals through innovative approaches and lessons learned about what works in practice. 

The Research and Data Section in the Policy Division is responsible for leading UN Women’s research and data agenda. It manages a large global network of leading feminist researchers; produces high profile knowledge products including UN Women flagship publications such as Progress of the World’s Women and the Progress on the SDGs: The Annual Gender Snapshot; and leads UN Women’s growing portfolio of work on gender statistics, including monitoring of the SDGs and cutting-edge work to develop new statistical methodologies. Under the direct supervision and guidance from the statistics specialist, the intern will be expected to work on the various flagship publications including literature reviews, statistical analysis, modeling, data visualizations and factchecking. 

Description of Responsibilities

• Support research work for flagship reports, such as: Progress on the SDGs: The Annual Gender Snapshot 2026, and Progress of the World’s Women 2026, through literature reviews and preparation of background research documents,
• Develop data visualizations to be included in  reports using statistical packages such as R and tools such as Excel and Power BI,
• Use machine learning and AI tools to run sophisticated analyses of global datasets, and contribute innovative research insights to the reports,
• Participate in writing, checking and running code scripts in STATA or R to extract indicators from large international datasets such as the Demographic and Health Surveys from USAID and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys from UNICEF,

Learning objectives

• Increase understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system;
• Increase knowledge of women’s rights and gender equality;
• Increase knowledge regarding applied gender-responsive research and gender policy work;
• Increase knowledge regarding quantitative research methods and gender statistics; 
• Work as a team member in a multicultural setting.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Interest in development, research, advocacy, and gender policy work.
• A well-developed understanding of quantitative research methods.
• Experience with statistical programming, including machine learning models and approaches, use of AI tools, and preferably STATA or Python

Qualifications

Education:

•  University studies in one of the following disciplines:: Economics, Statistics, Public Policy (with a quantitative focus)  a similar field with emphasis on quantitative analysis 
• Meet one of the following: 

a) Be enrolled in a postgraduate degree programme (such as a master’s programme, or higher);[KS1] 

b) Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (such as bachelor’s degree or equivalent);

c) Be enrolled in a mandatory national service programme of which the internship may form a part;

d) Have recently graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within two-years of graduation.[KS2] 

Language:

• Excellent communication skills (written and oral) in English are required; 
• Working knowledge of another UN language is an advantage.

Renumeration: 

Interns who are not in receipt of financial support from other sources such as universities or other institutions will receive a stipend from UN Women to partially subsidize their basic living costs for the duration of the internship.

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (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.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.