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, Hope

Background:

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.
The West and Central Africa Region has enormous potential, yet faces many complex and interconnected health, humanitarian, demographic, and economic challenges. Although there has been progress good in education, health care, political representation, and legal reform for women and girls since the Beijing Platform for Action 30 years later, women and girls are still facing different types of exclusion, from being denied the right to education, to equal access to resources, to social justice in general. Additionally, they suffer from FGM/C, child marriage, gender-based violence, and social stigma.
To respond to these challenges, UNICEF WCARO is integrating gender in all its interventions in the region in alignment with UNICEF global Gender and Action Plan 2022-2025 (GAP) and other regional frameworks. The GAP specifies how UNICEF - as an organization - promotes gender equality and strives to achieve results throughout its work in alignment the UNICEF Strategic Plan, 2022-2025 towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The WCAR Girl-Intentional Approach complements the GAP by setting out girl-defined priorities to accelerate progress on their rights.
In this context, UNICEF WCARO (https://www.unicef.org/wca/) is offering an internship opportunity to contribute to UNICEF’s gender equality work in the region and to learn about UNICEF’s supported programme in the region.

Internship profile:

To is to offer an opportunity for a bright, innovative, out of the box thinking, and motivated individual to gain professional experience, share his/her knowledge gender related work, while being exposed to the work of UNICEF. At the same time, the person recruited for this internship will work primarily with the regional gender team to support and contribute to UNICEF’s gender equality agenda in West and Central Africa.

How can you make a difference? 

Purpose for the job

Research, Reporting and Knowledge Management:
Support the preparation of the 2025 Girls Rights Summit in West and Central Africa

• Prepare a SharePoint site or innovative online platform to allow an overview lessons learned from all Girls Summits and Conferences held in the African continent since 2010.
• Provide an overview of summit objectives and outcomes, and potential linkages an/or overlaps with the 2025 Summit objectives.
• Review and rank engagement and participation of with girls, and girls, women, and youth led organizations in these summits/conferences.
• Work with summit organizers and if required with girls’ participants to assess the implementation of recommendations and prepare a synthesis report.
• Help identify at least 10 Girls and boys’ influencers from these past summits/conferences who are still working on gender equality and ADAP.
• Provide advice on strategies on girls’ engagement, outreach, and participation.
• Any other tasks related to 2025 Girls Summit.
  Communication:
• Work with the Communication, ADAP and Gender Teams to support events and other milestones related to the 2025 Rights Girls Summit.
• Work with UNICEF social media Focal Point and help amplify UNICEF’s work on gender equality and ADAP using various social media platforms.
• French-English language adaption of different products.

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

• Applicants must be at least 18 years of age.
• Be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree programme or have graduated within the past two years in the following fields or related:
  • Education in Social Sciences, including, gender studies, political science, law, international relations, social work.
• Have good academic performance as demonstrated by recent university or institution records or, if not available, a reference letter from an academic supervisor.
• Experience in/knowledge of gender equality, adolescent and youth programming, women empowerment, advocacy and development programmes.
• Excellent use of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Fluency in English or French with working knowledge of the second language (English or French)
• Have no immediate relatives (e.g. father, mother, brother, sister) working in any UNICEF office.
• Have no other relatives in the line of authority which the intern will report to; and
• Are not disqualified under the UNICEF Child Safeguarding Personnel Standards (DHR/STANDARDS/2019/001), or as amended.

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.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
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.

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.