Duties and Responsibilities
The United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is the part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response efforts. OCHA's mission is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies; advocate the rights of people in need; promote preparedness and prevention and facilitate sustainable solutions. All internships are within the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) secretariat, which provides timely, flexible aid where it's needed most, supporting humanitarian reform efforts and coordination led by Humanitarian and Resident Coordinators. The CERF team values diversity, empathy, and collaboration, encouraging open communication and the sharing of knowledge. Members lead their areas of work independently while contributing to team decisions, voicing opinions, and focusing on continuous improvement. Interns will monitor humanitarian developments, support anticipatory action frameworks, and draft funding application responses. Responsibilities include preparing guidance, conducting training, and coordinating with Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators. Interns will manage data on localization, gender, and funding trends, maintain information resources, and assist in partnerships with Member States and UN agencies. They will help organize high-level events, analyze complex data, and create dashboards to improve efficiency and transparency in funding allocations. This internship is based in New York and may be undertaken on a full-time or part-time basis. For all positions, the preferred modality is in-person. However, remote or hybrid arrangements may be discussed and mutually agreed upon with the manager. Interns will participate in all aspects of the programmatic and partnerships work at CERF, and will be under the general guidance and direct supervision of a supervisor within CERF. Within the delegated authority, the incumbents will be responsible for performing the following duties, or a combination thereof, as determined by CERF: 1. Monitor, analyze, and research humanitarian developments: collaborate with OCHA desk officers on disaster-affected countries, using quantitative and qualitative research to support funding decisions for underfunded emergencies and anticipatory action frameworks. 2. Support anticipatory action frameworks: assist in setting up Anticipatory Action (AA) frameworks through research, analysis, document development, and work plan implementation, while coordinating with AA teams. 3. Review funding applications: work with Programme Officers to review and draft responses for funding applications, ensuring accountability with other OCHA branches and UN agencies. 4. Contribute to CERF’s work on climate-smart humanitarian action, including conducting analysis, reviewing project proposals and strategies, developing guidance and other work. 5. Support the partnership and reporting efforts of the CERF secretariat, including the preparation of the Fund’s annual reports, the meetings of the CERF Advisory Group and other events, as well as the development of CERF advocacy materials. 6. Support CERF’s responsible use of artificial intelligence by helping test and improve CERF AI agents, develop practical guidance, and validate AI-assisted outputs against source documents. 7. Prepare guidance and conduct trainings: support the preparation and revision of internal and public guidance, participate in training, and provide support to Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators for pooled funding processes. 8. Document preparation: prepare or contribute to drafting documents like presentations, briefings, guidance notes, and talking points for senior staff. 9. Data collection and management: assist in collecting and organizing data on themes such as localization, gender, and funding trends, and prepare updates and dashboards for management and external audiences. 10. Maintain information resources: develop and maintain reference information on humanitarian topics, respond to inquiries, and provide updates on latest developments. 11. Coordinate lessons learned and good practices: liaise with field offices to gather lessons learned, share good practices, and identify story hooks to raise visibility for pooled fund efforts. 12. Support partnerships with key stakeholders: assist in CERF partnerships processes with Member States, UN agencies, and humanitarian partners, including key working groups and advisory bodies. 13. Conduct quantitative and qualitative research and draft advocacy materials: support research, data analysis and visualization on CERF-related topics, contributing to advocacy and information products, including thematic areas and fund allocations. 14. Analyze complex data sets: analyze and interpret complex data to drive informed decision-making in humanitarian projects and pooled fund allocations. 15. Perform other duties as required.
Qualifications/special skills
Be a student in the final year of a first university degree (bachelor or equivalent), in a Master's or a Ph.D. Programme or equivalent, or have completed a first university degree (bachelor or equivalent), Master's or Ph.D. Programme (typically with completion date not more than one year before the start-date of the internship). Please note that an official certificate will have to be provided at a later stage. Applicants to the UN Internship Programme are not required to have professional work experience. However, a field of study that is closely related to the type of internship that you are applying for is required. All applicants must be students in the final year of a first university degree (bachelor or equivalent), a Master's or a Ph.D. Programme or equivalent, or have completed a first university degree (bachelor or equivalent), Master's or Ph.D. Programme (with completion date not more than one year before the start-date of the internship). Do you meet any of the above criteria? Please indicate which one, and attach proof to the application. Please note an official certificate will be required at a later stage. Excellent knowledge of standard software applications, especially MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel and MS Teams is required. Knowledge of Statistics, Python, and data visualization tools is desirable.
