Internship vacancy with UNISDR

Vacancy ISDR/I/14/2010

United Nations Core Values: - Integrity - Professionalism - Respect for diversity

Background

The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) is a multi-disciplinary and multistakeholder platform to enable societies to increase their resilience to natural, technological and environmental disasters and to reduce associated environmental, human, economic and social risk and losses. A range of United Nations organizations and international partners participate in cooperation with governments and civil society organizations.

The implementation of the ISDR is supported by a secretariat led by the special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. The secretariat’s main functions are policy coordination, advocacy and information management, at the international and regional levels, to ensure synergy between disaster reduction strategies and those in the socio-economic and humanitarian fields.

In January 2005, the world conference on disaster reduction adopted the Hyogo Declaration and the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. The Hyogo Framework constitutes the essential guide for implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and represents the key policy framework for reducing risk and to strengthen community resilience. The Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, established by the UN General Assembly in 2006, is the main global policy forum for disaster risk reduction, and is complemented by a system of regional, thematic and national platforms, which bring together all relevant stakeholders.

Organizational setting and reporting relationships

Building on previous years’ campaigns on education, school and hospital safety, UNISDR and its partners are launching a global campaign on “Making Cities Resilient”. The campaign aims to enhance awareness of the benefits of focusing on sustainable urbanization to reduce disaster risks. It will seek to engage and convince city leaders and local governments to commit to a checklist of Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient, and to work on these together with local actors, grass root networks and national authorities.

The position is located in the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) in Kobe, Japan. UNISDR Office in Kobe coordinates the Asia regional task force on urban risk reduction as an ISDR system thematic platform in Asia which plays an important role to support the above campaign. The Intern will report to the Head of the UNISDR Office in Kobe and work in close collaboration with UNISDR’s internal Campaign Task Team.

Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Head of UNISDR Office in Kobe and in close collaboration with the UNISDR Campaign Task Team, the Intern will be responsible for the following duties:

- Support the coordination work of the Asia regional task force on urban risk reduction.
- Support identification of existing tools and resources in such areas as land use planning or urban development planning for risk reduction, construction and risk management standards (seismic, climate hazards, floods, and landslides), risk profiling, microzonation, regulatory frameworks, community organization and/or others and propose a classifying system.
- Collect and organize information on cities participating in the campaign: this may include research on risk profiles and disaster risk reduction experience; follow-up with proponents for nominations. Maintain and enhance contact lists and new information on participating cities, and their activities.
- Reply to requests from participating cities in close collaboration with UNISDR regional offices and other staff members and campaign partners. Provide monthly updates on activities and progress of the campaign.
- Support moderation and analysis of on-line dialogues on specific standards and benchmarks for resilient cities, as outlined in the ten-point checklist of essential actions to build resilient cities.
- Support the overall implementation of the campaign by performing any other duties as required.
- Maintain the database of contacts for the office.
- Perform additional duties as deemed necessary.

Competencies

Professionalism:
Good academic and analytical skills.

Communication:
Ability to draft clearly and concisely, very good language skills.

Planning & organizing:
Ability to organize, plan and implement work assignments.

Teamwork:
Good interpersonal skills, works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals, ability to develop and maintain effective work relationships with different national and cultural backgrounds with sensitivity with respect for diversity.

Qualifications

Education:
Applicants must be currently enrolled in post graduate studies with experience in Urban and Environmental Planning, Natural Sciences or a related field.

Language:
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the advertised post, fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of French is an added advantage.

Other skills:
Excellent computer skills (Microsoft Office, email, and internet) are required.