Intern – research and project management

Work Location

Panama City

Expected duration

12.01.-11.07.2026

Duties and Responsibilities

The internship is located with the Regional Office for Central America and the Caribbean (ROPAN), Division for Operations (DO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Panama City (Panama). The internship is for the period of six months with a desired starting date in January/February 2026, is UNPAID and full-time. Interns work five days per week (40 hours) under the supervision of professional staff of the office to which they are assigned. For more information on UNODC please visit www.unodc.org. The intern shall undertake the following duties which may include, but are not limited to: • Support the work and activities of the Global Firearms Programme in the region, including its normative and intergovernmental work, technical assistance activities, and tools development work; • Assist in the preparation of technical assistance workshops, meetings, high-level events and conferences and support related follow up actions; • Conduct research on both legal documents, official and open sources on various aspects related to firearms issues and contribute to the preparation of technical documents, background papers, country profiles, news events, presentations, reports, summaries, talking points and speeches; • Conduct legal research and analysis of legislation, case law and support its dissemination through the firearms section of the Sherloc portal; • Support the work of the GFP Community of Practitioners against Firearms Trafficking; • Conduct regular media reviews on firearms related incidents and events and disseminate weekly briefs among the GFP team, and support related follow up actions, including research, tweets etc.; • Supports the maintenance and regular updating of the GFP webpage; • Draft ordinary correspondence and communications, attend and take notes at meetings; • Perform other tasks as necessary.

Qualifications/special skills

• Applicants must meet one of the following requirements: (a) be enrolled in, or have recently completed, a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher); (b) be enrolled in, or have recently completed, the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum bachelor’s degree or equivalent). Applicants to the UN Internship Programme are not required to have professional work experience. However, a field of study that is closely related to the type of internship that you are applying for is required. Applicants must be a student in the final year of the first university degree (bachelor or equivalent), Master’s or Ph.D. Programme or equivalent, or have recently completed a Bachelor’s, Master’s or PH.D. Programme. Do you meet any of the above criteria? If yes, please indicate which one and attach proof to the application. Please note that you will have to provide an official certificate at a later stage. Applicants must have good knowledge of standard software applications, especially MS Word, MS PowerPoint. Click or tap here to enter text.and MS Teams. Ability to draft news articles and/or social media posts in desirable. Ability to design surveys and polls is desirable. Candidates for the UN Internship Programme are required to cover the cost of travel including visa, accommodation, health insurance and other living expenses for the duration of the internship. Will you be able to cover all the above-mentioned expenses? Have you completed a UN Internship before? If yes, please include the UN entity as well as concrete dates?

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. Fluency in spoken and written English and Spanish is required for the internship. Knowledge of an additional official UN language is an advantage. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish are the official languages of the United Nations Secretariat.

Additional Information

Not available.

Intern Specific text

Interns are not financially remunerated by the United Nations. Costs and arrangements for travel, visas, accommodation and living expenses are the responsibility of interns or their sponsoring institutions. Interns who are not citizens or permanent residents of the country where the internship is undertaken, may be required to obtain the appropriate visa and work/employment authorization. Successful candidates should discuss their specific visa requirements before accepting the internship offer.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

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