Intern - Humanitarian Affairs

UN Secretariat; New York (NY); On-site; USD 20,000 - 33,000; Full time

Job summary

United Nations Secretariat seeks an intern for the CERF Secretariat in New York to support monitoring, data work, and partnership activities. You will help analyze humanitarian developments, assist in anticipatory action frameworks, and draft responses to funding applications.

The role offers exposure to programmatic work, data visualization, and coordination with UN agencies. Fluency in English is required, with French desirable.

Qualifications

• Students in final year or recently completed in related field; no prior work experience required.
• Excellent knowledge of MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Teams.
• Desirable knowledge of statistics, Python and data visualization tools.

Responsibilities

• Monitor, analyze, and research humanitarian developments to support funding decisions.
• Assist in setting up Anticipatory Action (AA) frameworks through research and planning.
• Draft responses for funding applications and support partnerships and reporting activities.
• Support data collection, management, and maintaining information resources; prepare documents and briefings.

Skills

Monitoring

Data analysis

Data visualization

MS Office

Python (basic)

English fluency

Education

Relevant field of study

Tools

MS Word

MS PowerPoint

MS Excel

MS Teams

Python (basics)

Job description

Organizational context: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is part of the UN Secretariat, responsible for coordinating humanitarian actors to ensure coherent responses to emergencies. OCHA's mission is to mobilize and coordinate effective humanitarian action, advocate for those in need, and promote preparedness. This internship is within the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) secretariat in New York.

Job purpose: This internship within the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) secretariat aims to provide interns with hands‑on experience in humanitarian affairs. Interns will support CERF's mission by monitoring humanitarian developments, assisting in the setup of anticipatory action frameworks, and drafting responses to funding applications. The role contributes to effective and principled humanitarian action by supporting coordination efforts, data management, and partnerships. Interns will gain exposure to programmatic and partnership work, analyze complex data, and help improve the efficiency and transparency of funding allocations, ultimately contributing to alleviating human suffering in disaster and emergency situations.

Responsibilities: Interns will monitor, analyze, and research humanitarian developments, collaborating with OCHA desk officers to support funding decisions for underfunded emergencies and anticipatory action frameworks. They will assist in setting up Anticipatory Action (AA) frameworks through research, analysis, and work plan implementation. Responsibilities include reviewing and drafting responses for funding applications, and contributing to CERF's work on climate‑smart humanitarian action. Interns will support partnership and reporting efforts, including preparing annual reports and materials for advisory groups. They will also assist in testing and improving AI agents for CERF, prepare guidance, conduct trainings, and support Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators. Data collection, management, and maintenance of information resources are key duties, alongside supporting partnerships with Member States and UN agencies, and preparing documents like presentations and briefings.

Education: Applicants must be students in the final year of a bachelor's, master's, or Ph.D. program, or have completed such a program within one year of the internship start date. A field of study closely related to humanitarian affairs is required. Excellent knowledge of MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Teams is necessary. Knowledge of Statistics, Python, and data visualization tools is desirable. Fluency in English is required; French is desirable, and knowledge of another official UN language is an advantage.

Work experience: Applicants to the UN Internship Programme are not required to have professional work experience. However, a field of study that is closely related to the type of internship that you are applying for is required. Excellent knowledge of standard software applications, especially MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel and MS Teams is required. Knowledge of Statistics, Python, and data visualization tools is desirable.

Skills: Monitoring and analysis of humanitarian developments, research, data analysis and visualization, support for anticipatory action frameworks, drafting funding application responses, partnership support, document preparation (presentations, briefings), data collection and management, knowledge of humanitarian topics, communication, collaboration, problem-solving, proficiency in MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams), desirable knowledge of Statistics, Python, and data visualization tools.

Required languages: English

Desired languages: French