Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience, and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP works through 136 country offices to provide development advocacy, advice, and assistance to 166 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Arab States, Eastern Europe, CIS, Latin America and the Caribbean, working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Strategic Plan 2022-2025 will direct UNDP’s work with countries to expand people’s choices for a fairer sustainable future, to build the world envisaged by Agenda 2030. Nowhere is this more critical than in countries experiencing crisis, conflicts and fragility, home to 76.5% of the world’s extremely poor where all aspects of Agenda 2030 are at risk.

One of the areas of responsibility of UNDP’s Crisis Bureau is to ensure that UNDP is well positioned to anticipate and to respond in the timeliest and most effective manner to crisis, primarily regarding sudden onset crises and complex protracted crises, triggered by natural disasters or armed conflicts alike. The Crisis Bureau’s Risk Anticipation Hub provides crisis risk and early warning support to HQ and to Country Offices (COs) to address their needs in contextual risk analysis, programme adaptation and early action.

To improve UNDP’s crisis risk analysis capabilities, the Crisis Bureau is exploring the targeted use of data science to harness new and emerging technologies such as machine learning / artificial intelligence and alternative data sources such as social media analytics and satellite imagery analysis, to support forecasting collective risks to human development (including risks of disasters, impact of climate change, risk of violent conflict and social unrest) in order to inform preventive action to mitigate the potential effects of crises on affected populations.

In support of UNDP’s engagement on the use of data for crisis risk analysis and early warning, the Risk Anticipation Hub at the Crisis Bureau is seeking information management, data analysis, and visualization intern(s) to support the organization’s early warning capacities.

Duties and Responsibilities

The intern(s) will provide support to the Risk Anticipation Hub in its information management and data analysis activities.

Information Management, Data Analysis, and Visualization

• Developing dashboards and tools to strengthen the Hub’s data collection, analysis and visualization capabilities.
• Identifying additional data sources and manage data flows that support crisis risk analysis by engaging in data modeling and database development.
• Supporting the collection, management, and publishing of documents, data, information, and digital content, using UNDP’s content management systems.
• Contributing new ideas for improving the CRD in terms of the early warning data, and in terms of how the dashboard is used for effective crisis risk analysis.
• Other related duties as may be assigned.

The intern(s) will be expected to participate as an active member of the team and openly contribute his/her perspectives throughout the internship.

Competencies

• Ability to synthesize and analyze diverse datasets and capture insights
• Great foundational visual design skills (e.g.; layout, grid systems, composition, typography, color) that show skills in presenting complex visual information with awareness for information hierarchy
• Ability to design dashboard and data stories with visualization tools, particularly Power BI and QGIS
• Experience with data analysis with Python is a plus

Core Competencies:

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Applicants must at the time of application, meet one of the following requirements:

• Be enrolled in a post graduate degree programme (Master programme or equivalent, or higher);
• Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent);
• Have graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.

Language Requirements:

• Proficient in written and spoken English;

Knowledge of another UN language would be an asset.