Internship Summary:
Organization: UNFPA
Country: South Africa
City: Pretoria
Office: UNFPA Pretoria, South Africa
Assignment country: South Africa
Expected start date: 05/01/2025
Sustainable Development Goal: 5. Gender equality
Volunteer category: National UN Youth Volunteer
Host entity: UNFPA
Type: Onsite
Duration: 12 months
Number of assignments: 1
Duty stations: Pretoria
Application Deadline: 23 April 2025
Mission and objectives
UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Our mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
UNFPA’s goal is to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health, realize
reproductive rights, and reduce maternal mortality to accelerate progress on the ICPD
agenda, to improve the lives of adolescents and youth, and women, enabled by population
dynamics, human rights, and gender equality.
UNFPA launched efforts to achieve three transformative results, ambitions that promise to change the world for every man, woman and young person: 1) Ending unmet need for family planning
2) Ending preventable maternal death
3) Ending gender-based violence and harmful practises
UNFPA recognizes that innovation is a key accelerator to achieve these results. UNFPA will harness innovation to meet tomorrow’s challenges and boost its impact, especially in addressing furthest behind populations, and leverage opportunities, social capital, funding and technology by (a) strengthening the corporate innovation architecture and capabilities, (b) scaling up innovations that have proven to be effective and impactful, (c) forming new partnerships and connecting with relevant innovation ecosystems, (d) strengthening and leveraging financing for innovation, and (e) expanding communities and culture for innovation.
Context
The UNFPA’s Mission is to United Nations Population Fund which is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA aims to: 1) promote an awareness of social and economic implications of population problems and their solutions, 2) extend aid to developing countries, and 3) coordinate UN and other organizations’ activities to plan and implement population projects. 4) UNFPA works to prevent and respond to gender-based violence through its work with policymakers, justice systems, health systems and humanitarian partners. 5) UNFPA also focuses on eliminating harmful practices, including FGM and child marriage, and helps to engage men and boys to advance gender equality.
Task description
Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Partnerships Resource Mobilization Analyst or his designated mandated representative(s), the UN Volunteer will work within the following tasks;
- Digital Communications & Branding:
- Helping to maintain a professional and consistent UNFPA brand across websites, social media, and other online platforms;
- Supporting the design and formatting of digital content to ensure a visually appealing and uniform look (e.g., fonts, icons, images, layouts);
- Assisting in the use of videos, graphics, and multimedia to promote UNFPA’s work effectively.
- Content Creation & Storytelling:
- Support with writing and editing newsletters, fundraising materials, programme information documents, and other communication products;
- Assist with collecting and writing human interest stories that highlight UNFPA’s impact on the ground.
- Supporting the development of engaging social media content, including posts, visuals, and campaign materials.
- Assisting in writing and compiling reports, ensuring clarity, accuracy, and alignment with UNFPA’s communication goals.
- Social Media & Event Coverage:
- Helping to manage and update UNFPA’s social media platforms with timely and relevant content;
- Assisting in live coverage of key UNFPA events and initiatives on digital platforms:
- Supporting outreach activities, awareness campaigns, and engagement strategies.
4.External/ Internal Communications & Knowledge Sharing:
- Helping to integrate and align digital content across different external and internal platforms:
- Supporting collaboration between regional and country teams on communication initiatives.
Results/expected outputs:
- As an active UNFPA team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNFPA and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including: Results/Outputs can be modified as appropriate; should not entirely mirror the task description but serve as a basis for workplan and deliverables]
- Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment;
- A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.
Eligibility criteria
Age: 18 – 80
Required experience: 1 month
Nationality: Candidate must be a national or legal resident of the country of assignment.
Assignment requirements
Relevant experience: 6 months
Languages
English, Level: Fluent, Required
Required education level
Bachelor degree or equivalent in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, Digital Marketing.
Competencies and values
Adaptability and Flexibility; Client Orientation; Commitment and Motivation; Commitment to Continuous Learning; Communication; Creativity; Ethics and Values; Integrity; Judgement and Decision-making; Knowledge Sharing; Planning and Organizing; Professionalism; Respect for Diversity; Self-Management; Technological Awareness; Vision; Working in Teams.
Skills and experience
- Demonstrated interest and/or experience in digitalisation/ social protection/ green economy/youth development;
- Previous experience as a volunteer and/or experience of another culture (i.e. studies, volunteer work, internship) would be highly regarded;
- Design skills (Adobe Creative Cloud or Canva);
- Photography and Videography;
- Digital savvy – a deeper understanding of social media (analytics and algorithms);
- Writing – the ability to prepare quality reports and impactful success stories;
- This role is an excellent opportunity for someone passionate about storytelling, digital media, and making a social impact.
Area(s) of expertise
- Communication, Information technology, Administration
- Driving license
Living conditions and remarks
The Republic of South Africa is a large country of nine provinces with different climates, races, languages, creeds, cultures, religions and human activity. The landscape is also diverse, with mountains, plains, farmlands, bushveld scrub and arid deserts, each of the many different parts supporting its distinctive plant and animal life. The country’s multi-cultural and multi-lingual society fuses to make this “Rainbow Nation” a rich and rewarding experience for you as a United Nations official and visitor. Pretoria is the duty station for most UN staff. Pretoria, also called Tshwane, is the administrative capital of South Africa. The country has good infrastructure, although South Africa’s security risk management (SRM) level is medium.
UN Volunteers receive the below entitlements:
- A Monthly Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA): R18340.86 per month;
- A once-off entry lump sum of $400 at the start of the assignment;
- Medical insurance; Life cover, and annual leave;
- Access to all learning platforms;
- A once-off exit lump sum at the end of the assignment.
Inclusivity statement
United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements
Selected candidates for certain occupational groups may be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in line with the applicable host entity policy
Scam warning
The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.
Link:
https://app.unv.org/opportunities/1784888021259785
