Background
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP: we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories.
UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the United Nations Development System (UNDS) and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQs, regional bureaus/hubs and country offices forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.
The Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has corporate responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. Together with the Crisis Bureau, BPPS forms the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of global experts and practitioners providing timely development advice, delivering support to Country Offices and programme countries in a coherent manner to connect countries to the world of knowledge, resources and networks of best practice they need to achieve development breakthroughs.
The Quality Programming in BPPS focuses on assisting UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. It seeks to do so by enabling UNDP and others to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven by identifying, testing, learning, sharing and institutionalizing what works, including through effective development cooperation, and higher quality UNDP programming. It acts as a hub on all aspects of results-based management and development performance monitoring and analysis as well as a hub that identifies, collects, and shares ideas on new and better ways of working across the UNDP network, social innovators, and the development community.
The Quality Programming in BPPS aims to deepen UNDP’s and the international community’s understanding of what works and what does not work in effecting development change at country level in UNDP’s Strategic Plan programme priority areas, and how this understanding can drive knowledge creation and dissemination, innovation and scaling up, and more productive partnerships. UNDP’s increased engagement with the private sector has highlighted the need of the organization to identify and manage risk, reputational or otherwise. To manage such risks UNDP applies a due diligence process to inform the decision on engaging in any kind of a partnership with the private sector, as stated in the UNDP Policy for Due Diligence and Partnerships with the Private Sector (2023). The policy aims to ensure foresight and risk-informed decisions in the development and management of private sector partnerships. It sets out UNDP’s criteria for assessing and selecting private sector partners and systems to support risk management and risk-informed decision-making.
The Intern will be a key member of the Quality Programming team, which supports the elaboration of UNDP’s due diligence for private sector prescriptive policies and procedures, amongst others, as they relate to private sector engagement. In 2025, UNDP is developing a new Spot-Checking Methodology for its Private Sector Due Diligence (PSDD) Policy to strengthen quality assurance processes and ensure compliance across the organization. This methodology will assess whether due diligence processes are completed to a high standard and whether appropriate mechanisms for monitoring, mitigation, and corrective actions are in place.
The Intern will provide strategic support in policies, guidance and capacities related to risk assessment and management for partnerships with the private sector, in particular UNDP’s Policy for Due Diligence and Partnerships with the Private Sector. The Intern will provide inputs to the design of Private Sector Due Diligence Spotchecking.
Duties and Responsibilities
Research and Desk Review
Conduct background research on due diligence, spot-checking, quality assurance, and risk assessment best practices in UN, development, and private sector contexts.
Review relevant UNDP policies and guidance, including the PSDD Policy, Enterprise Risk Management Policy, and related tools.
Compile and synthesize findings from internal and external literature.
Process Mapping Support
Assist in mapping the steps of the PSDD process within the Quantum+ Risk Assessment Tool.
Help identify points where objective criteria, scoring, or automation could be applied.
Stakeholder Engagement
Assist in drafting interview guides, meeting notes, and follow-up summaries.
Support the coordination of interviews, workshops, and feedback sessions with internal stakeholders.
Tool and Template Development
Contribute to the design and refinement of the spot-checking working sheet, scoring system, and Key Risk Indicators (KRIs).
Help prepare user-friendly guidance and training materials.
Data Organization and Analysis
Assist in organizing qualitative and quantitative data from stakeholder feedback and spot-check testing.
Support the preparation of charts, summaries, and dashboards for internal presentations.
General Project Support
Maintain project documentation in SharePoint/Teams.
Support meeting scheduling, action tracking, and coordination between the consultant, BPPS, and IT teams.
Competencies
Research and Analytical Skills – ability to conduct background research, desk reviews, process mapping, and synthesize findings.
Data Analysis and Visualization – organize qualitative/quantitative data, prepare charts, summaries, dashboards.
Communication and Writing – drafting interview guides, meeting notes, user-friendly guidance/training materials.
Stakeholder Engagement – coordination of interviews, workshops, and feedback sessions.
Organizational and Project Support – maintaining documentation, scheduling, action tracking, coordination.
Required Skills and Experience
Education
Applicants to UNDP internships must at the time of application meet one of the following academic requirements:
Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree 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 above) and, if selected, must start the internship within one year of graduation.
Be enrolled in a postgraduate professional traineeship program and undertake the internship as part of this program.
Preferred fields of study: International Relations or Development Studies, Political Science, Public Policy or Public Administration, Law, Business Administration, Economics, Finance or related field, Data Science or Statistics.
Experience
Mandatory experience:
Relevant national/international experience in international relations, multilateral cooperation and/or development framework.
Experience in data analysis and visualization (specialized courses or certifications in data analysis tools is an asset).
Desirable experience:
Knowledge and application of large language models.
Previous experience in advocacy, strategic communications, or partnership building in the development context, especially within the UN framework.
Knowledge of and experience with SDG-related initiatives.
Language Requirements
Fluency in English, written and spoken, is required.
Deadline: 10 Sep 2025
