Overview
The intern will support the Directorate team in identifying key actors, assessing financial instruments, evaluating technologies, developing strategies, analyzing equity, and creating a strategic roadmap for whale conservation financing.
Key Responsibilities
- Identify key actors, institutional roles, and enabling conditions across shipping, insurance, conservation, and climate finance sectors.
- Map key stakeholders in priority geographies.
- Identify and assess candidate pilot geographies.
- Conduct interviews with stakeholders.
- Assess the feasibility of blended finance tools, avoidance incentives, insurance-linked mechanisms, and biodiversity or carbon crediting approaches.
- Map potential capital partners.
- Draft term sheets or financial flow diagrams.
- Evaluate existing and emerging technologies for whale-safe shipping and biodiversity crediting.
- Assess technology readiness, cost, scalability, and integration requirements.
- Develop deployment pathways that align technology capabilities with local regulatory and operational constraints.
- Identify data and MRV requirements necessary to integrate with financial mechanisms.
- Apply behavioural science approaches to understand decision-making dynamics and design incentive structures and communication tools.
- Create a communication and engagement strategy.
- Assess benefit-sharing mechanisms for coastal communities, Indigenous groups, and small island states.
- Propose governance models that ensure transparent fund flows and inclusive participation.
- Ensure equity across resource mobilization design.
- Synthesize findings into a comprehensive roadmap for scaling the initiative.
- Identify sequencing, near-term actions, and decision points.
- Prepare a presentation and report suitable for internal UNCDF decision-making and external partner engagement.
Required Experience
Prior experience or internship exposure in a UN entity, multilateral organization, development finance institution, consulting firm, or banking / financial services environment is an asset.
Qualifications
- Applicants must meet one of the following requirements:
- Be enrolled in a postgraduate degree programme (such as a master’s programme, or higher);
- Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (such as bachelor’s degree or equivalent);
- Have recently graduated with a university degree and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation;
- Be enrolled in a postgraduate professional traineeship program and undertake the internship as part of this program.
Field of Study required: International Affairs, International Development, Economics, Finance, Business Administration, Sustainability, Environmental Studies, or related fields.
