For every child, care
UNICEF has been working in Cameroon since 1975 to allow women and children to fully realize their rights to development without restriction, as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF provides financial and technical support to Cameroon across seven areas to fully realize the rights of women and children. These areas include Health, HIV/AIDS, Water-sanitation-Hygiene, nutrition, education, child protection, and social inclusion. UNICEF focuses mainly on children and the most vulnerable and excluded families. Cameroon’s 2020 population is estimated at 26,545,863 people according to UN data. The population is young and generates strong socioeconomic demand. In rural areas, limited access to basic social services and the effects of climate change lead to household impoverishment and severe child deprivations. The task is immense but not insurmountable; it requires the energy of all stakeholders in Cameroon and outside of Cameroon: also, women, men, youth and children, government, technical and financial partners, donors, civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians, and communities. Everyone is invited to participate in the struggle to meet the challenges ahead. Together, we will act for Cameroon, a country that summarizes the challenges and hopes of Africa.
How can you make a difference?
To drive change for children, UNICEF in Cameroon is supporting the Government for the implementation of the national SBC Strategy, for the effective et efficient use of available services, both in humanitarian and development context. The results achieved during the last three years by SBC has considerable contributed to accelerate results for children in the domain of Child Protection, Education, Water, Sanitation & Hygiene, Adolescent and Youth Engagement, Health, HIV, Nutrition, climate… Strategies implemented in various sectoral domain, contributed to reach and engage Frontline workers, care givers, families and communities for positive change for children. For the coming years, demand generation along with community engagement, behaviour insight and AAP, Social and Community Listening will reinforce UNICEF’s leadership as a credible voice for and with children.
To strengthen field presence and ensure systematic community engagement, UNICEF will recruit 12 Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) interns, deployed in two cohorts of six interns each for a period of six months. During the first phase, six interns will be deployed across UNICEF Cameroon offices as follows: Yaoundé (Centre Region):1 intern, Douala (Littoral Region):1 intern, Buea (South-West Region): 1 intern, Bertoua (East Region): 1 intern, Ngaoundéré (Adamawa Region): 1 intern, and Maroua (Far North Region): 1 intern. Working closely with both international and national UN Volunteers (UNVs), the interns will contribute to strengthening community engagement efforts in Child-Friendly Municipalities, expansion of Accountability to Affected Populations, expansion of birth registration and implementation of the initiative to prevent child marriage.
The purpose and objectives of the UNICEF internship programme are
The intern position will ensure Cameroon SBC strategy facilitates increased engagement and participation from targeted groups, as well as ensuring better use of services available to achieve results for children.
Specifically, the intern position will contribute to:
Provide a framework by which current eligible undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students from diverse academic backgrounds are assigned to UNICEF offices, where their educational experience can be enhanced through practical work assignments.
Expose the interns to the work of UNICEF.
Provide UNICEF offices with the assistance of qualified students specialized in various professional SBC domain.
Responsibilities of the Internship
Under the supervision of UNICEF, the interns will provide operational, monitoring and documentation support in the following areas:
- Contribute to collect and compile activity data, document achievements and lessons learned, and contribute to periodic progress reports.
Remuneration and working conditions
The intern will observe the opening and closing hours of the office as follows:
Monday to Thursday: 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM with a break between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM; Friday: 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
Evaluation of the internship
The intern will have to produce mini reports on a weekly basis, highlighting his or her interventions or all the requests he or she has handled. The consolidation of the four weekly reports will constitute the monthly report, which will be submitted for assessment by the SBC supervisor at the field office, in collaboration with the Chief of Field Office and the Chief of SBC section. The validation of this monthly report will start the intern's process of payment. The final internship report will be based on all the monthly reports and will give rise to an overall assessment, resulting in the attribution of an internship certificate.
Minimum requirements
The following documents are required at onboarding stage
- Letter of verification from the college or university that the intern is currently enrolled in an undergraduate school and has completed at least two years of full-time studies at a university or equivalent institution towards the completion of an undergraduate degree. Recent graduates are allowed until 2 years after degree completion.
- Have good academic performance as demonstrated by recent university or institution records.
- Have no immediate relatives (e.g. father, mother, brother, sister) working in any UNICEF office.
- Have no other relatives in the line of authority which the intern will report to.
- Copy of Identification Card (ID)
- Certification of health insurance covering the full internship duration
For every Child, you demonstrate...
The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
Remarks
UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to delivering the best results for children.
UNICEF Interns must have proof of medical insurance covering their time at the duty station.
UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer, without compensation, if a visa or Proof of health insurance coverage is not obtained, or necessary medical/inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
There is no expectancy of employment at the end of this internship.