RBA Directorate/Front Office Intern

UNDP • New York, NY

8d

About The Position

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA) provides strategic oversight, quality assurance, management support, and regional analysis across country offices and global initiatives.

The RBA Directorate seeks a highly motivated graduate student to support the establishment of a structured documentation and task-tracking system. The intern will contribute to improving coordination, workflow efficiency, and knowledge management within the Directorate.

The intern will report directly to the Special Advisor to the RBA Director.

Requirements

• Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher in Economics, African Studies, History, Social Science, International Development, Development Studies or other relevant fields)
• Have graduated with a university degree (as described above) and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.
• Have 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.
• Excellent analytical skills are required and experience designing infographics is an advantage.
• Experience in the use of computers and office software packages; experience with digital task management, process automation, or workflow optimization tools is a strong advantage.
• Fluency in oral and written English is required

Nice To Haves

• Preferably some relevant experience in international development or related area; Knowledge of the UN system is an advantage,
• Knowledge of French is a major asset.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and update a centralized task-tracking system for Directorate activities
• Manage calendar coordination and support planning of strategic meetings and events
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive tasking log (deadlines, follow-ups, deliverables)
• Liaise with country offices and HQ units to ensure timely submissions and follow-ups
• Take meeting minutes and upload within 24 hours to shared platforms
• Maintain organized document repositories (SharePoint and shared drives)
• Ensure documentation is accurate, accessible, and up to date
• Support document review processes and provide feedback when requested
• Design and implement user-friendly tracking systems (dashboards, logs, reminders)
• Introduce automation solutions (e.g., Power Automate, task trackers)
• Identify inefficiencies and propose practical process improvements
• Support integration of AI-enabled tools for administrative and analytical tasks
• Develop and maintain a qualitative monitoring system for Directorate activities
• Track progress of key initiatives and provide status updates
• Conduct research and contribute to briefing notes, speeches, and talking points
• Provide minutes within 24 hours of meetings. Keep and maintain a ‘minutes’ folder on shared Directorate platform
• Work with the Directorate Executive Assistant to maintain a color-coded calendar (separate from the one she directly handles for the Director) of events and meetings
• Tasking log to keep track of deadlines, follow-ups, and general to-dos of Directorate requests and events. Populate and keep log up to date
• Regularly follow up with teams on quarterly events. Circulate table and ensure it is completed and always updated
• Stay in constant communication with and remain available to country offices/Headquarters units to ensure meeting of deadlines and submission of documents. Review the documents (if requested) and return with edits/feedback
• Either grant personalized access to tasking logs or create a system checklist to make sure documents are getting drafted in a timely manner, sent to be edited, and submitted to the Special Advisor
• Long term; conduct research on topics/events relating to briefing documents (speeches, talking points, etc.)
• Update and organize information on the RBA SharePoint to ensure documents are accurate and easy to access
• Design and maintain a simple, user‑friendly digital task‑tracking or monitoring system for Directorate activities, including automated reminders or visual status updates, and document lessons learned for sustainability.

Benefits

• UNDP offers a modest monthly stipend to help cover basic daily expenses related to the internship, such as meals and transportation at the duty station

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern