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.

UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women and girls; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality. In East and Southern Africa, UN Women covers 25 countries through twelve country offices, a programme presence and a multi-country office, as well as support to the UN Country Team as a Non-Resident Agency.  The UN Women Liaison Office to the African Union, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

UN Women East & Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) maintains a large presence in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, covering 25 countries, with 12 Country Offices, one Programme Presence in Somalia,a multi-country office, as well as support to the UN Country Team as a Non-Resident Agency. In accordance with the UN Women Strategic Note (2022-2025) and in support of global and regional commitments for advancing gender equality, UN Women works to advance social, economic, and political rights of women and girls, including the right to live free of all forms of violence and the right to meaningfully engage in all aspects of peace and security across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus.

Ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG) remains a priority area for UN Women in East and Southern Africa, as the most widespread violation of human rights. Regional prevalence estimates of women and girls’ experiences of different forms of violence are often higher than global averages.  For example, the WHO 2018 prevalence estimates show that 20% of ever-married/partnered women aged 15–49 in Sub-Saharan Africa have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) in the past 12 months, the highest compared to other regions, while 33% have experienced violence in their lifetime, which is higher than the global estimates of 27%.  The ESARO also focuses on women and girls in their diversity, with attention to marginalized, excluded, and underrepresented groups, including, but not limited to rural women, women with disabilities, women living with or affected by HIV, women survivors of violence, women migrants, widows, elderly women among others.

UN Women East and Southern Africa is working to improve the impact of existing programming in the region, with particular attention to enhancing investments in prevention of VAWG. This will focus on strengthening capacities of regional actors on effective approaches for the prevention and response to violence against women and girls (VAWG), improving access to evidence and facilitating learning of what works and enhancing the role of social influencers and non-traditional gender equality advocates for transforming social norms in favour of gender equality. This requires deepening investments in collaborative partnerships working across multi-level and multi-sectoral programming for EVAWG across Africa. 
As part of these efforts, UN Women East and Southern Africa is working to strengthen feminist movements to coordinate efforts to end VAWG through the Advocacy, Coalition Building and Transformative Feminist Action to End Violence Against Women ACT Programme. The ACT Programme, with support from the European Union, is a bold partnership between the European Commission and UN Women—co-leaders of the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence—in collaboration with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. ACT is designed to accelerate efforts to eliminate all forms of VAWG through transformative feminist action, movement strengthening, and coordinated advocacy. It builds on the foundation laid by the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative and responds directly to the rising urgency for systemic, cross-sectoral action to prevent and respond to VAWG.

UN Women ESARO seeks to hire an intern to support the EVAWG portfolio in supporting the work of strengthening women movements and coalition building in East and Southern Africa. The intern will , work under the direct supervision of the EVAW Policy Specialist in close coordination with the ACT Regional Coordinator. 
 

Description of Responsibilities

• Support EVAWG partners in coordination and documentation of their efforts under ACT, including GBV Action Coalition regional engagements in ESAR and up to six (6) ACT Programme virtual meetings.
• Support EVAWG Unit in organization, coordination and documentation of 16 Days Campaign in line with ESAR ACT advocacy priorities, nurturing collaborative relationships within diverse regional partners. 
• Support the EVAWG Unit in preparing advocacy messages and briefs related to ACT programme and the UNiTE initiative to amplify the 16 Days Campaign in East and Southern Africa, including coordinating meetings, preparing talking points, drafting text for articles, developing communication messages/plans, etc.
• Support the development of a mapping and exchange of approaches on strengthening women’s movements/ coalitions and social norms work by regional bodies e.g. AUC, SADC, IGAD and regional networks, in line with ACT work plan
• Support a mapping of promising practices for protecting diverse women human rights defenders and organizations from violence and threats of violence in the region and other promising practices within ACT Programme
• Support ACT Civil Society Regional Network and ACT programme partners to organize and document meetings, workshops, and learning sessions, including travel and related logistics for participants as required.

Learning goals include:

• Enhanced knowledge on gender equality, ending violence against women and girls 
• Enhanced knowledge on evidence-based programming approaches for EVAWG prevention and response
• Enhance knowledge on the analyzing and packaging data for advocacy and uptake by diverse stakeholders working on EVAW 

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrable knowledge of ending violence against women;
• Demonstrable experience working on advocacy for gender equality in Africa, preferably in East and Southern Africa

Qualifications

Education:

• University studies in one of the following disciplines: gender studies, gender and development, international relations, social work or or other relevant subjects is required related field; 
• Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher)

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 P.11 form with their applications.
• 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).  

Statements :

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.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.