UNICEF Ghana Internship Job Opportunity

The UNICEF Ghana country office carries out cutting-edge work on Social Protection, in line with the country's progressive stance in implementing programmes and policies that protect its vulnerable citizens across the lifecycle. The Government of Ghana runs several flagship programmes such as Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme (LEAP), the school feeding programme, the Labour Intensive Public Works Programme and the National Health Insurance scheme which attempts to achieve universal health coverage by offering exemptions to specific vulnerable categories such as the poor, children and elderly.

In order to strengthen the effectiveness of SP systems, UNICEF is working closely with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection's Social Welfare Services and the LEAP secretariat, the Ghana Health Services, the National Health Insurance Authority and the Office for the Head of Local Government in testing improved ways in which multiple social services at decentralized level can collaborate and complement each other in delivering comprehensive support to vulnerable households. This linkages Initiative involves piloting new processes, procedures and information systems for such linkages to function at district level, and to advocate for adequate national budgets with key stakeholders at all levels. Learning from the experiences in districts throughout the country, the goal is to systematically identify bottlenecks and opportunities, synthesizing programmatic and administrative best practices to promote at national level.

How can you make a difference?

A key part of the work will involve learning from the linkages in different districts and across different programmes in Ghana, to see what works and does not work in the Ghanaian context. You would, in this internship, help to set up and implement the Monitoring and Evaluation framework for the Linkages Initiative, tracking the progress across dozens of districts to gather data and evidence and helping to systematically present the findings and results in a way that it can be effectively used by decision makers. This will help strengthen future iteration of the initiative, support gradual nation-wide scale up, and help the government of Ghana and UNICEF to more efficiently and effectively address multi-dimensional poverty and vulnerability in the country.

Beyond this, the intern will be involved in other areas of the UNICEF Ghana Social Protection agenda, such as on public finance for social protection, social accountability strengthening or systematizing and promoting research and evidence.

Tasks to be completed

The intern will undertake the following activities:

1. Provide inputs to review and strengthen the M&E framework for the Linkages initiative
2. Support in data collection from the districts involved in the testing phase
3. Contribute to the report laying out the findings from the testing phase of the initiative
4. Help organize the national stakeholders  workshops to discuss findings and next steps
5. Help to develop and produce advocacy and dissemination materials based on evidence and recommendations
6. Support dissemination activities as required.

Expected Deliverables 

1. Inputs to the M&E Framework for the Linkages Initiative
2. Inputs given to the M&E report
3. Support provided in preparing and holding the national stakeholders workshop
4. Advocacy and dissemination materials designed

Supervision and Reporting Arrangement

The intern will be coached and closely supervised by the Social Protection Specialist at the UNICEF Accra Office. S/he will work in close collaboration with Social Protection, Policy and Evaluation and Child Protection teams. At the end of the internship intern and supervisor must complete the respective internship evaluation forms

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Proof of enrolment in an undergraduate or advanced programme 
• Reference letter from school confirming student requires internship. OR
• Up-to date university transcript or Statement of result/certificate evidencing completion of first degree within the last two years (if applicable).
• Expected field of study should be Social Sciences, particularly Sociology, Development Studies, Economics, Social Protection, Social Services or something similar
• Developing country work experience is considered an asset.
• Previous experience with conducting monitoring and evaluation, doing advocacy and organising events will be considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required.  Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
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For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.