International Trade Centre Internship 2018 at UNDP in Sri Lanka

UNDP is looking for International Trade Centre Interns at UNDP in Sri Lanka.

International Trade Centre (ITC) is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations (UN). It is the only multilateral agency fully dedicated to supporting the internationalization of SMEs. ITC’s mission is to foster inclusive and sustainable growth and development through trade and international business development. ITC Headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

International Trade Centre projects and programmes contribute to the global efforts to achieve UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development and the Aid for Trade agenda.

ITC works at three levels:

• Strengthening the integration of the business sector of developing countries and economies in transition into the global economy,
• Improving the performance of trade and investment support institutions for the benefit of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), and enhancing the abilities of trade support institutions to better support them,
• Improving the international competitiveness of SMEs.

International Trade Centre is the lead implementing agency for the “EU – Sri Lanka Trade Related Assistance: Increasing SMEs trade competitiveness in regional and EU markets” funded by the European Union (EU). The Department of Commerce (DoC) of the Ministry of Industry is the focal point for the project in Sri Lanka.

Project objectives are as follows:
Overall Objective: Contribute to Sri Lanka’s inclusive trade-led growth and regional integration, thereby contributing to poverty alleviation,
Specific Objective: Increase trade competitiveness of Sri Lankan SMEs in regional and EU markets.

The following are the project expected results (ER):

• ER 1. Coherent trade strategy for export competitiveness designed and implemented, including policies, regulatory reforms and trade negotiations as shaped by the WTO, regional integration process, EU GSP+ scheme
• ER 2. Enhanced efficiency of cross-border procedures and SMEs’ capacities to comply with cross-border procedures for exporting to SAARC and EU
• ER 3. Improved compliance and quality infrastructure services to meet quality and SPS requirements in the regional and EU markets
• ER 4. Increased SME competitiveness in export-oriented sectors (spices, food and ITO/BPO industry)

To support the implementation of the project and the achievement of its expected results, a national project office is established in Colombo, Sri Lanka, located within the premises of the DoC. The project office consists of a National Project Coordinator, a National Project Adviser and a National Project Administrative Assistant. The team is responsible for the coordination and day-to-day management of field operations, provision of technical support to project implementation, and outreach, communication and development of working relations with stakeholders in Sri Lankan provinces.
The intern will work under the overall supervision of the Sri Lanka National Project Coordinator. He/she will carry out the following duties, as required:

• Support preparations for project events, workshops, working group meetings and other events in Sri Lanka in coordination with HQ staff, consultants, beneficiaries and partners in Sri Lanka;
• Provide support to incoming missions of experts by attending workshops, meetings and other events as required to assist with logistics and note-taking;
• Provide support and assistance in the preparation of project-related documentation such as project work plans, progress reports etc..
• Assist in collecting data for monitoring and reporting on project results.
• Provide assistance to translate project documents to/from Sinhalese and/or Tamil

• Undertake research in support of the work of the project team, to keep the team abreast with the developments in the country and identify synergies and opportunities;
• Prepare briefing materials, write-ups and presentations on the findings (word, powerpoint) ;
• Provide research support on any other country-specific issues relevant for the project and its expected results.

Featured Image: www.un.org/youthenvoy