United Nations internships give students and recent graduates two to six months of work inside a UN office. The best known is the UN Secretariat Internship Programme, which you apply for on careers.un.org (Inspira), but UN agencies such as UNDP, UNICEF, WHO and the ILO run their own programmes with their own rules. The most important difference between them is pay: Secretariat internships are still unpaid in October 2026, while many agencies pay a monthly stipend.
There is no single deadline for UN internships. Offices post individual openings all year, and each one stays open for about two weeks. This guide covers who is eligible, what interns do, what each type of internship pays and what it leaves to you, how to write the cover letter and how selection works. Facts were checked against UN and agency pages on 25 October 2026.
United Nations internships at a glance
- Main programme: UN Secretariat Internship Programme (departments and offices such as DESA, OCHA, UNEP, UNODC and the regional commissions)
- Where to apply: careers.un.org, category “Internship”, through an Inspira account
- Duration: minimum two months, maximum six months, usually full time
- Pay: Secretariat internships are unpaid; UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, ILO, UNHCR, WFP and others pay stipends under their own policies
- Eligibility: final-year bachelor’s students, master’s and PhD students, or recent graduates
- Languages: English or French for the Secretariat, depending on the office
- Fees: none at any stage
- Deadline: each opening has its own closing date, typically about 15 days after it is posted
Are UN internships paid? The current position
The UN Secretariat’s own internship FAQ states that Secretariat internships are unpaid and that interns pay their own travel, accommodation, insurance and living costs. That rule comes from the Secretariat’s internship instruction, ST/AI/2020/1.
A change has been proposed but not adopted. In a 2024 report (A/79/566/Add.1) the Secretary-General asked member states to approve a centrally funded stipend from 1 January 2026: 10 per cent of the monthly daily subsistence allowance for the duty station for in-person interns, half that for hybrid or remote interns, plus travel, health insurance and a USD 500 technology allowance for remote interns. The budget advisory committee (ACABQ, report A/79/746, January 2025) supported a three-year pilot. As of October 2026 no Secretariat-wide stipend is in force, and current New York internship notices still say interns are unpaid. Some guides claim the Secretariat has paid interns since 2023; that is not correct.
Agencies are a different story. Each fund, programme and specialised agency sets its own policy, and many pay:
| Organisation | Pay | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| UN Secretariat | Unpaid | Interns cover travel, visa, housing, insurance and living costs |
| UNDP | Monthly stipend | Rate varies by duty station; if you have outside funding, UNDP pays the difference |
| UNICEF | Monthly stipend in most offices | Rate set locally; not every internship is paid |
| WHO | Living allowance for interns who need it | Since January 2020; medical and accident insurance during the internship |
| ILO | Stipend for basic living costs | Set by duty station, for interns without other funding |
| UNHCR, WFP, FAO, UNFPA, UN Women | Stipend | Amounts and conditions in each vacancy notice |
| UNESCO | Unpaid | Check the notice for any local exceptions |
Always read the vacancy notice. It states whether that particular internship pays, how much and under what conditions.
Free certificate: what you actually get
Many listing sites advertise a “free certificate” as the main benefit of a UN internship. The Secretariat’s official pages do not list a certificate among the terms. What you can rely on is the experience itself and a reference from your supervisor, which you should ask for before you leave. If your university needs a completion letter for credit, raise it with your supervisor at the start. Agencies vary; check the notice.
What UN interns actually do
UN interns are assigned to a team under a staff supervisor and work on that team’s real tasks. The vacancy notice lists them. Typical work in a Secretariat office includes:
- Research and drafting: background notes, briefing papers and summaries of meetings.
- Data work: collecting, cleaning and charting statistics for a report.
- Communications: social media posts, web content, newsletters and event material.
- Meeting support: preparing documents, taking notes and following up after intergovernmental sessions.
- Administrative support in areas such as human resources, finance or procurement.
Field offices of agencies like UNDP or UNICEF tend to involve more programme work: monitoring projects, preparing reports for donors or helping with community outreach. Interns are not staff members and cannot represent the organisation officially.
Who is eligible for United Nations internships?
| Requirement | UN Secretariat rule |
|---|---|
| Education | Enrolled in the final year of a bachelor’s degree, enrolled in a master’s or PhD, or recently graduated |
| After graduation | The FAQ says within one year of graduation; some current notices set no limit, so read each one |
| Field of study | Closely related to the work of the office |
| Language | Fluent English or French, depending on the office; another UN language is an advantage |
| Family ties | Children and siblings of UN Secretariat staff are not eligible |
| Insurance and visa | You arrange and pay for medical insurance valid for the whole period and any visa |
| Experience | No professional experience required |
Agencies set their own rules. WHO, for example, requires applicants to be at least 20 and to have completed three years of full-time university study, and it accepts graduates within 18 months of their last qualification. UNDP accepts final-year bachelor’s students, postgraduate students and graduates who start within a year of graduating.
Eligibility edge cases
- Second- or third-year students in a four-year degree are not yet eligible for the Secretariat. Wait for your final year.
- There is no upper age limit in the Secretariat rules.
- Many local agency internships require the legal right to live and work in the host country. A UNDP Copenhagen notice, for example, was open only to people already allowed to live and work in Denmark.
- After a Secretariat internship you must wait six months before applying for a Secretariat staff job, according to the UN Office at Geneva.
Costs you need to plan for
For an unpaid Secretariat internship you carry every cost. New York and Geneva are among the most expensive cities in the world, so this decides whether you can accept an offer.
| Cost | Secretariat internship | Paid agency internship |
|---|---|---|
| Flights | You pay | Usually you pay; some agencies give a travel lump sum |
| Visa | You pay; the UN provides a note to support the application | Usually you pay, with similar support |
| Accommodation | You find and pay for it | Paid from the stipend |
| Medical insurance | Required for the whole period at your cost | Some agencies, such as WHO, provide cover |
| Daily living | You pay | Paid from the stipend |
If you get an unpaid offer, look for funding before you accept. Some universities and governments sponsor interns, and some Secretariat offices accept remote or hybrid arrangements that cut costs.
How to apply on careers.un.org
- Search: on careers.un.org, set Category to “Internship” and filter by duty station or department.
- Read the notice: note the job opening ID, the competencies listed, the education requirement and the closing date.
- Create your Inspira profile: fill in education, work history, languages and references. Incomplete profiles are not reviewed.
- Write a cover letter for this opening: include the job opening ID and answer what the notice asks for.
- Attach proof: official evidence of enrolment or graduation.
- Submit before the closing date: you can apply to more than one opening, with a separate application for each.
- Wait: you may get an acknowledgement email. Only shortlisted applicants are contacted, usually by the hiring manager.
Agencies use their own portals. WHO, for instance, takes internship applications only through its Stellis system, and UNDP and UNICEF post internships on their own careers sites. Openings for summer internships in New York tend to appear from February to May, but offices post year-round.
Writing the cover letter and Inspira profile
Hiring managers read many applications for each opening, and they screen against the competencies in the notice. A good cover letter for a UN internship covers:
- The opening: job ID, your degree, university and expected graduation date.
- Match to tasks: two or three concrete examples that show you can do what the notice lists, such as data analysis, drafting or communications.
- Competencies: show professionalism, communication, and planning and organising through examples, not adjectives.
- Motivation: why this office and its mandate, in two or three sentences.
- Availability: start date and how long you can stay.
A sample opening line, for illustration only: “I am applying for internship opening 12345 in the Statistics Division because I spent my final-year project cleaning and mapping national household survey data, the same kind of work your team describes for the SDG database.” It names the opening, gives a specific skill and links it to the office’s work. Use your own details.
In the Inspira profile, describe your past roles with what you did and produced, list the software you use and give three references who will answer.
Selection process
After the closing date, applications are pre-screened for eligibility. The hiring manager then reviews the eligible ones and may set a short written task or interview shortlisted candidates, usually online. Successful applicants get an offer that sets dates, the work arrangement and the conditions, including proof of insurance and, for some duty stations, a medical certificate. Unsuccessful applicants are often not contacted, so if you hear nothing after a few weeks, keep applying elsewhere.
Common mistakes
- Sending one generic cover letter to every opening, without the job ID.
- Applying before your final year of a bachelor’s degree.
- Leaving Inspira profile sections blank, which can get you screened out.
- Accepting an unpaid offer in New York or Geneva without a plan for rent and insurance.
- Paying a “processing fee” to anyone. The UN charges nothing and never asks for bank details.
- Believing that an internship leads to a UN job. It does not, and the Secretariat requires a six-month gap before you apply for staff posts.
UN internships compared with similar programmes
| Programme | Where and how long | Funding | Who can apply |
|---|---|---|---|
| UN Secretariat internship | UN offices worldwide, 2 to 6 months | Unpaid | Final-year bachelor’s, master’s, PhD, recent graduates |
| EC Blue Book traineeship | Brussels or Luxembourg, 5 months | About €1,572 a month | Graduates; nationality rules apply |
| Millennium Fellowship | Your own campus, one semester | Free programme, no stipend | Undergraduates |
| METI Japan Internship Program | Japan, up to 30 business days (or online) | Flights, housing, JPY 3,000 a day | Final-year students and graduates from DAC-list countries |
If you need pay, start with agency internships or the Blue Book. The Millennium Fellowship, run with UN Academic Impact, is a free way to get a UN-linked programme on your CV while you are still an undergraduate.
Who should apply, and who should not
I would apply for a Secretariat internship if you are in your final year or doing a master’s in a field close to an office’s work, you can fund two or more months in the duty city (or find a sponsor), and you want to understand how the UN works from inside.
I would aim at paid agency internships instead if you cannot cover living costs yourself, and skip UN internships for now if you are early in your degree or expect the placement to turn into a job.
No fees, ever
The UN does not charge a fee at any stage of recruitment and does not ask for bank details. Apply only on careers.un.org or the agency’s own careers site.
United Nations internships FAQ
Are United Nations internships paid in 2026?
UN Secretariat internships are unpaid; a stipend was proposed for 2026 but has not been adopted. Many agencies, including UNDP, UNICEF, WHO and the ILO, pay stipends under their own policies.
When is the deadline for UN internships 2027?
There is no single deadline. Each opening on careers.un.org has its own closing date, usually about two weeks after posting, and offices post all year.
Do UN interns get a free certificate?
The Secretariat does not list a certificate as a benefit. Ask your supervisor for a reference or completion letter, and check the vacancy notice for agency internships.
Can I apply for a UN internship after graduation?
Yes. The Secretariat FAQ accepts graduates within one year of graduation, and some current notices set no time limit. Agencies have their own rules; WHO allows 18 months.
Sources and updates
Secretariat eligibility, costs, the unpaid status, the no-fee rule and the application steps come from the official United Nations internship FAQ on un.org and from internship openings on careers.un.org. The stipend proposal and its status come from the Secretary-General’s report A/79/566/Add.1 and the ACABQ report A/79/746 (28 January 2025), published on documents.un.org, with the October 2026 status confirmed against current New York notices. WHO rules come from the WHO internships page; UNDP stipend and eligibility wording comes from UNDP internship vacancy notices. Other agency pay details come from the vacancy notices summarised by UNjobnet. The six-month rule is reported by the UN Office at Geneva. Checked on 25 October 2026. I will update this post if the General Assembly approves a Secretariat stipend.
I am Jude Chinecherem, a final-year MBBS student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I know what it feels like to want an education your family cannot afford. When my parents could not pay for my schooling, I had to learn how to find scholarships and work the system out on my own, with nobody to guide me. I came out the other side, and now I share everything I learned so the next student does not have to figure it out alone. This is the advice I wish someone had given me back then.
