The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a global, CEO-led organization of over 200 leading businesses working together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world. We help make our member companies more successful and sustainable by focusing on the maximum positive impact for shareholders, the environment and societies.

Our member companies come from all business sectors and all major economies, representing combined revenues of more than USD $8.5 trillion and 19 million employees. Our global network of almost 70 national business councils gives our members unparalleled reach across the globe. WBCSD is uniquely positioned to work with member companies along and across value chains to deliver impactful business solutions to the most challenging sustainability issues.

Together, we are the leading voice of business for sustainability: with a vision of a world where more than nine billion people are all living well and within the boundaries of our planet, by 2050.

The Business & Human Rights project aims at operationalizing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and increasing the number of companies knowing and showing that they respect human rights. To achieve this, we:

• Inspire, inform and advocate for business action,
• Facilitate peer-to-peer learning to capture, highlight and disseminate solutions,
• Connect companies and promote partnerships,
• Represent the voice of leading business in global platforms and inter-governmental processes.

Job Overview

We are offering one full-time, paid internship position to carry out an analysis of human rights disclosures of WBCSD member companies.

From July through September (3 months) the intern will carry out a review of the most recent human rights disclosures of WBCSD member companies. The companies’ disclosures and reports will be assessed against the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark’s (CHRB) Core UNGP Indicator Assessment methodology. The intern will receive a training on the methodology and work closely with a second intern to complete the assessment of WBCSD members.

The findings will be used

• To provide confidential scoring dashboards with analysis and anonymized peer group data to WBCSD
• As a basis for our bi-annual Business & Human Rights Issue Brief that examines key developments and trends in the business and human rights landscape and explores areas in which business has made progress or has room for improvement.
• Provide a performance baseline to track progress of WBCSD members over time.
• Inform the projects focus areas and objectives going forward.

Responsibilities and duties

Key responsibilities will include:

• Systematically analyze approximately 40 WBCSD member company human rights policies and disclosures against CHRB’s methodology;
• Identify and write up good practice examples from leading companies;
• Identify trends, commonalities and good practice examples by sector and region;
• Provide editorial support and other activities to support the project team.

Qualifications and competencies

• University degree in a discipline related to business and human rights (preferably), sustainability or corporate communications – master’s degree is preferred;
• Fluency – both written and oral – in English;
• Ability and willingness to quickly learn and apply CHRB’s methodology for evaluating human rights disclosures in a collaborative atmosphere with a fellow intern;
• Ability and willingness to read and analyze hundreds of pages of English language text each day independently once the training phase is complete;
• Ability and willingness to incorporate feedback from the technical lead to continue to refine analysis;
• Background in business and human rights and business and/or corporate sustainability reporting is a plus;
• Proven research, analytical, writing and organizational skills with strong attention to

Logistics

The contract period will be for three months based from home or, COVID-19 restrictions permitting, at the WBCSD offices in Geneva, Switzerland. The intern reports to the Manager, Social Impact, and will work in a team with another intern. Candidates must hold a valid Swiss work or student permit and/or be a Swiss or EU national.

We will be screening and interviewing candidates at the end of the job posting period. Please note that WBCSD will only respond to candidates selected for the interview process.

Closing date for applications is 8 June 2020. Interviews will be held via videoconference the week commencing 15 June 2020. Candidates should be available to start full time on 1 July 2020.

The Work Environment

WBCSD offers a competitive, modern, and flexible working arrangement:

• Geneva-based organization with offices in London, New Delhi, Singapore and New York City
• Competitive compensation and benefits
• State-of-the-art facilities and ICT-enabled working tools
• Flex-time and part-time possibilities
• Dynamic working atmosphere
• Open culture encouraging interaction and sharing of ideas and opinions
• Sustainable commuting incentives