The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the UN agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The intern will work under the direct supervision of the Head of the Global Public Space Programme and will undertake the following duties:

• Support to develop technical and normative outputs, including spatial strategy, situational analyses reports, proposals, maps, plans, and designs for public spaces.
• Support to review normative tools, reports, research papers related to public space and public facilities.
• Support the drafting of proposals, applications, newsletters, media articles with local partners for advocacy, networking and resource mobilization.
• Contribute with planning and design inputs to ongoing public space related initiatives, including citywide and site-specific assessments.
• Contribute to write policy briefs, concept notes, research papers and reports on the work of inclusive and resilient public space, public facilities and sustainable urban design approaches.
• Support with preparation of workshops, community of practices sessions, site investigation, and other activities; write reports on workshops, meetings, charrettes, and other stakeholder engagements.
• Provide inputs into PFES publications reports, proposals, concept notes, policy documents, guidelines, information materials, presentations, and other dissemination materials.

Specific Duties:

• Assist in the design and implementation of NbS projects within public spaces, and urban forests. Collaborate to develop a guide on applying NbS in urban planning.
• Support in compiling NbS and biodiversity related work.
• Work on mapping and GIS tasks to identify suitable locations for NBS interventions and public space enhancements.
• Collaborate in the creation of educational materials and public outreach campaigns to raise awareness about the benefits of NbS and public spaces
• Support the development of public space design plans, considering sustainability, and community needs.
• Help with the organization of volunteer and community engagement events to involve local residents in NbS and public space maintenance.
• Compile and analyse data related to the environmental and social impacts of NBS and public space projects for reporting and decision-making purposes.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor. Alternatively:
• Collaborate to develop a guide on applying Public Space Methodology in community planning, design, and regeneration process.
• Assist in the study, design, and implementation of public space and facility on either neighbourhood or city level.  • Support identifying and mapping the approaches, tools, potential partners and sites for future collaboration in advancing inclusive and productive public space and facilities.
• Assist in drafting the report for public space and facilities, compiling relevant statements, studies, data to clarify the framework, trends, demands, approaches and impacts of inclusive and productive public space and facilities, from the perspective of social inclusion and economic value.
• Work on case studies world-wide to identify the public space and facility related best practices, principles and lessons learned.
• Collaborate in the creation of educational materials, training sessions and public outreach campaigns to raise awareness about how to implement inclusive and resilient public space and facilities.
• Help with the organization of international events to involve more stakeholders in and expand the network.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Qualifications/Special Skills

• Applicants must at the time of application, meet one of the following requirements: a. Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher),  b. Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree program (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent),  c. Have graduated with Bachelor’s degree, Masters, PhD or equivalent. Be computer literate in standard software applications (Microsoft Office Suite).  Have demonstrated a keen interest in the work of the United Nations and have a personal commitment to the ideals of the Charter.  Have a demonstrated ability to successfully interact with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and beliefs, which includes a willingness to try and understand and be tolerant of differing opinions and views.
• Preferred Areas of Study: Urban Planning, Urban Design, Environmental Sciences, Landscape Architecture or Architecture, or related field that is relevant for sustainable urban development and urban planning and design. 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 program (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent). Have graduated with a university degree and, if selected, must commence the internship within a one-year period of graduation. The candidate has a portfolio of maps and designs of which he/she is the author. Strong graphic representation skills, good hand drawing / sketching / are an asset. Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, in GIS software such as ArcGIS, QGIS, etc. and in graphic software such as Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, AutoCAD, etc are required. Ability on deploying quantitative and qualitive research methods and analytical techniques is desirable. For instance, geo-processing, geo-referencing, land use classification, and other GIS techniques is desirable. Have demonstrated keen interest in the work of the United Nations and have a personal commitment to the ideals of the Charter; Have a demonstrated ability to successfully interact with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and beliefs, which include willingness to try and understand and be tolerant of differing opinions and views. 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. Applicants must be a student in the final year of the first university degree (bachelor or equivalent), Master’s or Ph.D. Programme or equivalent, or have completed a Bachelor’s, Master’s or Ph.D. Programme