Internship vacancy with UN/ISDR

Background

The Capacity for Disaster Initiative (CADRI) is a joint initiative of UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, co-located within the secretariat of ISDR. CADRI’s goal is to advance the generation of knowledge and practice pertinent to developing sustainable capacity for disaster risk reduction.

It has the following objectives and is currently developing a work plan of supporting activities to:

1.  Provide support to the UN system at the national level to effectively undertake their disaster risk reduction roles.
2.  Assist selected countries enhance their capacity to make disaster risk reduction a national and local priority, with a strong institutional basis for implementation.
3.  Increased access to and availability of tools, knowledge products and materials for capacity enhancement of UN Resident Coordinators, UN Country Teams, governments and regional organizations.

The job activity will continue to build upon the work undertaken by an intern to develop and initially populate a database of more than 100 Higher Education Institutions and Programmes that advance Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), in compliance with overall design standards of ISDR PreventionWeb. CADRI’s Higher Education database is conceived as the first unique and comprehensive database on PreventionWeb. .

The position is located in the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) in Geneva, Switzerland under the overall guidance of the Director. The Intern will report to the CADRI coordinator.


Duties and responsibilities

1.   Enter documents in the CADRI Higher Education database in formats or procedures determined by PreventionWeb staff. This will involve document / reference institution or programme identification, selection of keywords and writing of abstracts or institutional briefs in English and maintenance or updating of the existing, and subsequently added entries in the higher education data base.

2.   Perform Internet-based research for elaboration or expansion of possible data source materials or examples of higher education or “capacity development” related education or training that advances disaster risk reduction;

3.   Identify additional data sources and institutional examples of higher education programmes or institutions pertinent to DRR, with due attention to a hierarchy of educational or training constituencies, levels or professional interests;

4.   In association with concerned Information Unit technical staff, and guided by CADRI professional staff, develop and initiate a parallel database pertaining to Professional Training endeavours, undertaking similar related tasks as those described above for the Higher Education data base.

5.   Conduct necessary correspondence and the orderly retention of communications with institutions or data sources for further information, including possible questionnaire enquiries;

6.   In association with CADRI staff and designated PreventionWeb colleagues help establish the parameters for a repository of materials (workshop designs, reports, exercises, evaluations) of Humanitarian Coordinators/Resident Coordinators, for use of the three organizations in CADRI.

7.   In association with CADRI staff, start to collect and organize training resources (courses, modules, materials, exercises, presentations, workshop designs, etc.) towards establishing an information repository of resource materials on disaster risk reduction training, by theme, by topic, by target audience, by provider.

8.   The intern’s work will be determined and supervised by senior CADRI programme staff, although its execution will be accomplished in close association and technical instruction of the ISDR Information Unit, PreventionWeb Development Team, supervised by the Managing Editor of PreventionWeb (Sarah Wade Hutman).


Results expected

1.  Further expansion and management of existing Higher Education database of at least 200 entries.

2.  Initiate and develop a new Professional Training database of not less than 80 entries.

3.  Establish and document criteria that defines and distinguishes the variety of training and educational activities pertinent to disaster management and risk related endeavour, suitable for public information and display in ISDR electronic or print materials.

4.  Develop a preliminary list of key words with descriptions for categorization of training and educational programmes, or as may be required for ISDR terminology review and discussions.

5.  Produce a defined and structured repository of collected training materials pertinent to CADRI’s activities of a focus and size to be mutually agreed.


Competencies

Professionalism – Good academic and analytical skills. Judgment - Demonstrated sound judgment in applying expertise to resolve a range of issues/problems. Communications – ability to draft clearly and concisely, very good language skills. Planning & Organizing - Ability to organize, plan and implement work assignments. Teamwork - Good interpersonal skills, works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organisational goals, ability to develop and maintain effective work relationships with different national and cultural backgrounds with sensitivity with respect for diversity.


Qualifications

Education: Applicants must be currently enrolled in post graduate studies with experience in Information Management or Communications and one of the following: Disaster Management, Environmental Science, Environmental Law, Ecology, Development, International Relations, Economics, or a similar field strongly preferred.

Experience: Prior knowledge or experience in information management in an editorial capacity strongly preferred. Working knowledge and familiarity with international and national development agencies is preferred, though not mandatory.

Language: Fluency in written and spoken English. Knowledge of other UN languages a plus.

Other desirable skills: Accomplished computing skills, good writing skills. Interest in disaster risk reduction issues. Ability to work independently.