JOB DESCRIPTION

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)

C

Family

Internship

2025-09-01

August 11, 2025

Organizational context

Established in December 1950 by the UN General Assembly, UNHCR is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights, and building a better future for asylum seekers, refugees, returnees, internally displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. UNHCR currently operates in over 130 countries, using its long expertise to protect and care for millions. The agency is mandated to lead and coordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally, or to resettle in a third country.

UNHCR started its operations in Nampula, Mozambique in 2001 with refugees from the Great Lake region. It’s located in Nampula Province in Northern Mozambique. As of 31st January 2025, the refugee and asylum seekers population of the Maratane settlement is 7929, with the majority of the refugees being from the Democratic Republic of Congo (68%%), Burundi (27%), Rwanda (3%), Somalia (2%), and other nationalities. Nampula Field Office responds to the needs of displaced people, particularly refugees and asylum seekers, internally displaced populations due to conflict and climatic change.

Since 2001, UNHCR has been the leading agency in humanitarian assistance and protection of displaced and stateless persons in Maratane Settlement and IDPs in Nampula, Zambezia, and Niassa Provinces. Today, UNHCR Nampula continues to support voluntary repatriation for Burundians and DR Congo individuals as well as IDP returnees to their areas of origin. UNHCR also supports the rights of asylum-seekers and refugees and assists the authorities in developing a functional asylum system in Nampula that is in line with international standards. UNHCR Field Office Nampula has 30 staff in main functional groups and reports to the UNHCR Country Office in Maputo.

UNHCR works in partnership with twelve partners including NGOs and Government agencies. There are also operational partners engaged in the protection response making it imperative for the Associate Community-Based Protection Intern to build an interface with all in carrying out protection activities. UNHCR leads the protection coordination and assistance to the Forcibly Displaced and Stateless Persons. The Associate Community-Based Protection Intern is a member of the Protection Unit at FO Nampula and reports to the Community-Based Protection Officer.

The position

The Community-Based Protection Intern will assist in implementing CBP interventions in Nampula, focusing on community engagement, capacity-building, and participatory approaches. The intern will work closely with the Protection team to strengthen communication with communities, support complaint and feedback mechanisms, and facilitate meaningful participation of persons of concern (PoC) in protection-related programming.

Duties and responsibilities

Duties and responsibilities
Under the direct supervision of the Community-Based Protection Officer, the intern will:

•Support community engagement initiatives, including organising focus group discussions, awareness sessions, and town hall meetings with refugees, asylum seekers, and IDPs.

•Assist in the implementation and monitoring of community-based protection activities, ensuring they align with UNHCR’s Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) approach.

•Contribute to the development and dissemination of key protection messages, ensuring they are accessible in the relevant languages spoken by the refugee and host communities.

•Assist in managing feedback and complaint mechanisms, including suggestion boxes and community dialogues, to strengthen accountability to affected populations.

•Support capacity-building activities for community-based organisations, refugee-led initiatives, and protection focal points.

•Participate in protection-related assessments, including data collection, analysis, and reporting on trends affecting refugees and IDPs.

•Maintain up-to-date records of community engagement activities and provide inputs for reports and documentation.

•Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum qualifications required.

In order to be considered for an internship, candidates must meet the following eligibility criteria:

•Be either a recent graduate (having completed their studies within two years of applying) or a current student in a graduate/undergraduate school programme from a university or higher education facility accredited by IAU/UNESCO ; and
•Have completed at least two years of undergraduate studies in a field relevant or of interest to the work of UNHCR .
•Candidates with previous UNHCR Internship experience must not have exceeded the
maximum total cumulative full-time internship duration of eight (8) months.

Desirable qualifications and skills

General Professional Experience
-Experience in the field of Community Based Protection, or social work involving persons with specific needs with knowledge of issues relating to child protection

-Demonstrated competencies in forced displacement and protection, particularly GBV prevention and response, child protection, education, gender equality, and the application of the Age, Gender and Diversity Policy.
-Skills and experience in interviewing and working with persons with disabilities, older persons, children and families including

Specific Professional Experience

-Experience working with communities.
-Experience of community communication and engagement approaches.
-Experience conducting assessments, interviews and counselling skills, in addition to strong drafting and analytics skills
-Experience in case management and direct service to people in distress, especially displaced people, or in a government field-based social department (social welfare/community-based rehabilitation, health, education) with field experience.
-Knowledge of the Portuguese language is an added asset

Key Competencies of the Assignment

-Full computer literacy
-Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD)
-Gender equality
-Community based Protection
-Child Protection/Convention on the Rights of the Child
-Training/Coaching/Facilitation
-Experience in Best best-interest procedures for children
-Interviewing and counseling refugees/asylum seekers and in individual case management
-Cross-cultural communication
-Multi-stakeholder Communications with Partners, Government & Community
-Good command of spoken and written English
-Good knowledge of UN rules
-Community Services-Communication/Development/Organization
-Community Services-Social Work/Counselling
-Database Management
-Drafting, Documentation, Data Presentation

Conditions

It is a full-time role with working hours starting from 8.00 am to 4.30 pm, Monday to Thursday and from 08:00 – 13:30 on Fridays. The successful candidate will be assigned to support the team in Nampula Field Office.
Internships normally last two to six months with the possibility of extension up to eight months for full-time internships and twelve months for part-time internships.

How to apply

The selected candidate will receive a link to the UNHCR recruitment portal to create a profile.

Obligations

Acquiring and renewing current visas, residence permits including all associated costs, obtaining medical certification and compliance with taxation requirements (if applicable), are the responsibility of the intern.

The selected candidate will need to provide UNHCR with a proof of funding from the sponsoring institution (if applicable), health insurance coverage applicable to the assigned internship location and a certificate of good health from a qualified medical practitioner certifying their fitness for work, as well as travel. In the event the candidate is not able to produce the required certificate, they will not be admitted to the Internship Programme.

Allowance and Travel: The Sponsoring Institution shall provide non-reimbursable financial support in the form of a stipend/scholarship/allowance/etc. for the period of internship with UNHCR. Travel expenses to and from the internship location shall be the responsibility of the respective sponsoring institution. UNHCR is not responsible for any renumeration for the intern during the internship period.

If you are a person with a disability and you expect you may face challenges during the recruitment process, you can indicate it in your application form.

There are options to select any health conditions you may have and outline any necessary adjustments related to disabilities during the recruitment phases. Providing this information is optional. It will be treated as strictly confidential and used only for the purpose of finding out how to better assist you during the recruitment process.

Adjustments for candidates with disabilities will be provided as best as possible and as needed upon request.

All candidates will be assessed based on meeting the requirements for each vacancy in relation to experience, skills, and education.
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UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing, or training).

We welcome applications from candidates with a refugee or stateless
background.

The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Standard Job Description

Required Languages

English

,

,

Desired Languages

,

,

Additional Qualifications

Skills

Education

Certifications

Other information

This position doesn”t require a functional clearance

Remote

No