Background

The Office of Procurement (OP) within the Bureau of Management Services in UNDP, is responsible for development of procurement policy, corporate procurement services, procurement advisory services, as well as strategic procurement services to Country Offices and Central Bureaus. In addition, OP provides capacity building to the UNDP global procurement function.  OP supports UNDP’s programme delivery in line with UNDP's Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and follows best practices in public sustainable procurement and the rules and regulations of UNDP, the accountability framework, while ensuring appropriate risk management for UNDP.   We are a global team based in New York (USA), Copenhagen (Denmark) and in Cyberjaya (Malaysia), with additional Regional Procurement Specialists located in each Bureau Hub (Panama, Addis Ababa, Amman, Istanbul and Bangkok).     

 UNDP partners with the Global Fund to support countries in strengthening institutions to deliver health services in the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria in support of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets related to universal health coverage, access to quality essential health-care services and to safe, effective, quality, and affordable pharmaceuticals and other health products. Such support includes, centrally, the procurement and management of health products. To strengthen the Global Fund partnership and the health procurement service offer to UNDP Country Offices (COs), UNDP’s Bureau for Management Services and the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) have collaborated to create the Global Health Supply Centre (GHSC), which in addition to the procurement of health products, will provide Quality Assurance (QA) and Health Product Management (HPM) services to the Organization and its partners. Established in response to the mandate of UNDP’s Organizational Performance Group (OPG), the GHSC will streamline health procurement processes, improve responsiveness to Country Offices, and ensure the timely delivery of quality-assured health products to partner governments and stakeholders.

The Health Procurement Team (HPT) under the Office of Procurement is one of the three pillars of the GHSC and is designed to cater the needs of GF financed programmes and other health implementation programmes, to ensure uninterrupted and timely supply of quality assured health products, to mitigate the risk associated with health related procurement, to foster partnerships with agencies, establish and maintain framework agreements with manufacturers and qualified procurement agencies, and to negotiate the best value for money deals, thereby generating savings and volume discounts.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Objective

The intern will support the GHSC-HPT by providing administrative, data entry and communication assistance. This includes tasks such as data entry, minute-taking, tracking deadlines, and supporting the implementation of health procurement initiatives.

1. Key Responsibilities

• Assist in preparation of meeting materials, including reports, presentations and agendas;
• Assist in the organization and delivery of webinars through platforms such as Zoom and MS Teams.
• Assist in collection of the procurement and logistic information and update in online platforms (e.g. smartsheet/sharepoint) for the purpose of tracking deliveries, results etc.
• Assist in simplifying processes by developing and /or improving templates, systematic tools, e.g. developing alert systems, etc.
• Assist in updating the health product list, product specifications, delivery leadtime, sources etc.
• Conduct preliminary market research for different products and develop draft reports 
• Assist in maintaining database of suppliers per product category
• Support the team with the maintenance of the filing system in common drive, SharePoint, smartsheet and outlook filing system. 
• Support in Procurement plan consolidation exercises and data entry and maintenance of the dashboard. 
• To provide support in procurement of health products, e.g. support in analysis of the products’ list requested from Country Offices, bid management procedures for procurement cases submitted through international tenders
• Assist in the creation and updating of communication materials, including infographics, videos, and presentations for health procurement team.

Competencies

     -     Excellent communication skills;

• Excellent organizational skills;
• Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals;
• Excellent problem-solving skills 
• Excellent research skills, combined with a proven analytical aptitude and ability to tap into a vast array of traditional and new knowledge sources.

Required Skills and Experience

1. Desired Skills
   • Strong IT skills and excellent knowledge of office software packages (e.g. Microsoft Office suite: PPT, Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, Streams, Forms, SharePoint, Power BI, Power Automate, Power APPs). 
   • Language skills: Fluency in English required. Good working knowledge of French and/or another UN Language is an asset

Additional skills

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’s values and ethical standards;

  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

1. Eligibility Criteria
   • Interns are selected on a competitive basis. Applicants to UNDP’s internships must meet one of the following academic requirements:
2. Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher);
3. Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent);
4. Have graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.

1. Additional Information:

Interns may be paid a stipend under the conditions prescribed below;

• Costs and arrangements for travel, visas, passports, accommodation and living expenses are the responsibility of the interns;
• Where an intern is not financially supported by any institution or programme, such as a university, government, foundation or scholarship programme, a stipend intended to help cover basic daily expenses related to the internship, such as meals and transportation at the duty station, will be paid by the receiving office.
• The monthly amount of the stipend will be determined for each duty station based on the stipend rates published yearly by the OHR Policy and Compensation Unit.

• Where an intern is financially supported by an institution, government or third party, UNDP will, subject to the rules of such institution, government or third party, pay the intern the difference, if any, between the external financial support provided and the applicable UNDP stipend.

1. Further Career Opportunities:

The purpose of internships is not to lead to further employment with UNDP but to complement an intern's studies. However, a number of interns, having completed their studies and met the necessary requirements, have gone on to further assignments with the UNDP or elsewhere in the United Nations system.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Scam alert

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