Internships

These internships are intended to promote a better understanding of international problems and give insight into the work of the UNCCD, while providing departments with the able assistance of outstanding young students specializing in a field related to their own work. 

The minimum internship duration is two months and maximum six months. Interns are not financially remunerated by the UNCCD secretariat. Costs and arrangements for travel, visas, accommodation and living expenses are the responsibility of the intern or his/her sponsoring institution. Interns of the UNCCD secretariat are not considered to be staff members. 

Applicants may not be related - i.e. spouse, mother, father, sister, brother, daughter, son - to a UNCCD staff member.

An intern is not a staff member, therefore the privileges and immunities agreed between the UNCCD and the host Government do not apply to interns.

An intern undertakes to conduct himself/herself at all times in a manner compatible with his/her responsibilities as an UNCCD intern.

The intern is required to keep confidential all unpublished information made known during the course of the internship and must not publish any reports or papers on the basis of information obtained, except with the prior written authorization of the UNCCD. These obligations will not lapse upon the expiration of the internship period.

Eligibility requirements:

Anyone fulfilling one of below requirements can apply for internship: 

• enrolled in the final year of an undergraduate university programme (e.g., a bachelors programme),
• enrolled in a graduate programme (e.g., a master’s or Ph.D. programme),
• a recent graduate with a university degree.

You may get academic credit from your institution of higher education for the internship. Check with your university to confirm their academic credit policy for internships.

Internship will not automatically lead to a job with the UNCCD, but with the experience acquired during internship you might be interested in applying for General Service or consultancy positions.

If you want to apply to positions at the Professional and Higher levels, you will need to wait at least six months after the end of your internship before you submit your application, and ensure that you fulfill not only the educational but also the work experience requirements that are outlined in each job opening.

How to apply 

UNCCD is advertising internship vacancies on the UN Career site https://careers.un.org/lbw/home.aspx. For the application to be considered, applicants are required to follow the application process outline on each vacancy and apply for positions through the link of a particular position on the UN Career site. 

Please apply for job opening as indicated on the vacancy announcement and do not address or copy your application to an individual at the UNCCCD secretariat, Global Mechanism or G20.