Background

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.

A key area of concern for UN Women is women’s economic empowerment (WEE) as expressed in UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025 vision that: Women have income security, decent work, and economic autonomy as well as in the targets and indicators of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 for gender equality and women’s empowerment and of several other SDGs relating to inclusive growth, decent work, ending poverty, and reducing inequality, and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development. 

Women’s Economic Empowerment at UN Women in Asia and the Pacific

Women represent two thirds of the poor in Asia. Economic insecurity is part of a cycle of disadvantage for women, often caused by discrimination in employment and education. Poverty magnifies this disadvantage by leading to poor health outcomes, limited decision-making power and few opportunities for women to pull themselves out of poverty. Women in many countries do not control key assets such as the family home, property, and decision-making rights on the use of income, further limiting opportunities to break the poverty cycle. As the global economic crisis continues UN Women is looking closely at the ripple effects on women’s lives. In many parts of Asia, women work in backbreaking and unsustainable agriculture for little reward. Moreover, the overseas employment of Asian women in the informal sector, particularly as domestic workers, is an increasing area of concern. Despite their economic and social contribution to both the source and destination countries, women migrant workers are subject to discriminatory practices, human and labour rights violations at every stage of the migration cycle. UN Women is working with governments and communities to address these and other issues of women’s poverty in East and Southeast Asia.

Duties and Responsibilities

Description of Responsibilities:

• Design support to create a quarterly newsletter for women’s economic empowerment in Asia and the Pacific;
• Support with country offices to create strategic cross-cultural campaigns;
• Create and maintain a database of Women’s Economic Empowerment knowledge products and resources;
• Support the development of communications materials and PowerPoint presentations;
• Support in creating a cohesive design strategy for different thematic areas for women’s economic empowerment including, but not exclusive to, migration, entrepreneurship, gender-responsive procurement, care economy;
• Provide support for editing and revision of reports, briefs, and existing knowledge assets as needed;
• Creative support for multi-media designing for report presentation, installations, conference designing;
• Creatively participate in and contribute to team meetings;
• Perform other tasks as assigned by supervisor.

Learning Objectives:

• Data visualization and creating communications for gender equality;
• Creating cross-cultural campaigns across Asia and the Pacific;
• Gaining an understanding of different digital cultures;
• Develop design management and coordination skills with a multi-cultural team;
• Increase understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system;
• Gain knowledge and understanding of issues related to Women’s Economic Empowerment;
• Build and develop professional relationships with UN Women colleagues and colleagues from other UN agencies;
• Work as a team member in a multicultural setting and develop professional relationships with UN Women colleagues and colleagues from other UN agencies.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

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 Core Values and Competencies: 

Functional Competencies: 

• Knowledge of the subject of women’s economic empowerment;
• Excellent organizational skills;
• Ability to work with different actors, including through remote contact;
• Ability to multi-task and address competing priorities;
• Ability to work effectively in independent and collaborative settings;
• Ability to take initiatives, ask questions, and contribute substantively;
• Strong computer skills, including Photoshop, Canva and PowerPoint;
• Good design skills and adaptability to different cultural contexts;
• Ability to visualize data and findings from reports;
• Ability and willingness to work as part of a team to meet tight deadlines and produce high-quality work;
• Internship experience or projects (personal or commercial) with private sector/ corporate communications. 

Required Skills and Experience

Education Qualifications:

• University studies in one of the following disciplines: multimedia, fine arts, design, communications or other related fields;
• Applicants must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:
  1. Be enrolled in a postgraduate degree programme (such as a master’s programme, or higher);
  2. Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (such as bachelor’s degree or equivalent);
  3. Be enrolled in a mandatory national service programme of which the internship may form a part;
  4. 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.
• Knowledge in the usage of Photoshop, Canva and/or other design software;
• Additional courses or experience in human-centered design, development sector design and/or gender studies is desirable.

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.

Application Information: 

• All applicants must submit a completed and signed  with their application;
• Due to the high volume of applications received, we can ONLY contact successful candidates;
• Successful candidate will be required to provide proof of enrollment in a valid health insurance plan at the duty station of the internship, proof of school enrollment or degree, a scanned copy of their passport/national ID and a copy of a valid visa (as applicable).

Note:

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.