Paid internships at three international bodies, from Nigeria

Updated on 28 October 2026.

This guide is for a Nigerian student, or a graduate of the last two years, who wants a paid internship with a big international body and has never applied for one. Three bodies pay their interns and take applications from anybody who fits, on their own websites, with no agent and no connection: Africa's trade bank (the African Export-Import Bank, Afreximbank), which pays its interns in Cairo; the UN's children's agency (UNICEF), which pays a monthly stipend to every intern, some of them working from home; and the UN's health agency, the World Health Organization (WHO), which pays a living allowance to the interns who need it. Applying to all three is free. This guide takes you from your papers to your first day and your first stipend, one stage at a time: what you do, where, what it costs, how long it takes, and what comes next. Start with the part right below this one: who each internship takes, where you apply and the alerts to set. Then read "Where the internships stand today" and Part 1 once, and come back to the stage you are on. Every rule, figure and date in this guide comes from the official page that sets it, as on 28 October 2026. Where a line says "people who did it", it is what interns wrote online about their own internships, not a rule.

Nobody can promise you an internship or a visa, including us. Each body picks its own interns, and many people apply.

Who each internship takes, where you apply and the alerts to set

Who each internship takes

Afreximbank (Cairo, Egypt).

• You are aged between 20 and 32 in the year you apply.
• The bank prefers students: "Students with proof of enrollment in full-time undergraduate or postgraduate study programmes in a recognised institution of learning in the year of the internship are preferred." Its form asks "Are you currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate programme?" and takes a yes or a no. The bank's posting opens the internship to students: a graduate is not who it is written for.
• It is most interested in economics, business administration, finance, accounting, social sciences, statistics, law, sciences, engineering "or related fields".
• You are fluent in English or French, and you have "a working knowledge of the other". Arabic or Portuguese is "an added advantage".
• The internship is open to students who are nationals of the bank's member countries, to students of African descent abroad, and to non-African students "whose vision for the transformation of Africa resonates with the mission of the Afreximbank Group". Whether Nigeria is on the bank's list of member countries: we cannot tell yet. Entry is on merit.
• Children of Afreximbank staff cannot take part.

UNICEF (offices all over the world, and some from home).

• You are at least 18.
• You are enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate or PhD programme, or you graduated within the past two years. A corps member who graduated less than two years ago is inside this line.
• You speak English, French or Spanish well; some offices also ask for the office's own working language.
• No mother, father, sister or brother of yours works with UNICEF, and no other relative of yours is in the line you would report to.
• Your results are strong. Work you have done that fits the internship counts in your favour.

WHO (Geneva, its regional offices and its country offices; WHO has an office in Abuja).

• You are at least 20 on the day you apply.
• You are studying, or you finished within the last eighteen months, in health, medicine or a social field that touches WHO's work (WHO's words: "related to the technical work of WHO"), or in management, administration, communications or external relations. Each vacancy names the courses it takes: one of the two Geneva internships open today names health economics, statistics and data analytics. If your course is not on a vacancy, that one is not yours. A PhD student can apply.
• Before the internship starts, you have finished three years of full-time study at a university, or at an institution counted as equal to one. In a Nigerian university that is 300 level finished: a 400 level student is inside it.
• You are fluent in a working language of the office you would work in.
• You hold a valid passport of a country that is a member of WHO, no relative of yours works for WHO, and you have never done a WHO internship before.
• Your university must be on the world list of recognised universities that WHO uses (the World Higher Education Database, at whed.net).

How the months are counted. The two years (UNICEF) and the eighteen months (WHO) count from when you finished your degree, not from when you pass out of service. Which day of your degree they count from (your last exam, your result or your convocation): we cannot tell yet. Apply while you are inside the line on the earliest of those days.

Where you apply

Afreximbank: the bank's own job posting. Open afreximbank.com, go to Careers, then press "Internship Opportunities". It opens the bank's posting on its recruitment site (Workable): Afreximbank, Internship Opportunities, opens in a new tab. You apply on that page. The form asks for your name, email, phone and address, your CV, a cover letter, a scan of your passport ("please make sure that you have 1 (One) year validity"), your nationality, your date of birth, whether you are enrolled now, the name of your degree, and yes or no to the language line and the age line. There is no fee to pay on it.

UNICEF: UNICEF's job site. Every UNICEF internship is its own vacancy on UNICEF's job site, opens in a new tab. Open one that fits, press "Apply Now", and fill in your profile for that role, with a CV and a cover letter. UNICEF's own words: "all UNICEF vacancies are advertised on the global Careers website and applications should be submitted via the e-recruitment system."

WHO: WHO's careers site (Stellis), and nowhere else. WHO's own words: "There is no possibility to apply for an internship at WHO outside Stellis." Open WHO's internship vacancies, opens in a new tab, register, open a vacancy that fits and apply, with a cover letter written for that one internship.

The alerts to set

UNICEF's alerts. Set two alerts on UNICEF's job site. First: under Contract type, tick "Internship" and nothing else, press "Send me jobs like these", type your email and confirm. This one brings every internship, including the ones done from home, which are listed under the city of the office (the one open today is listed under Rome). Second, for an office in Nigeria: tick "Internship", open "West and Central Africa Region" under Locations, tick "Nigeria", and subscribe again. UNICEF will "email you new jobs that match this search". The first time, it sends you an email to confirm: open it and confirm, or nothing comes.

WHO's alert. Register on WHO's careers site (Stellis) and log in. Go to your Profile, then Preferences, and switch on a job alert with internships as your search. WHO's words: "You will then receive email alerts when jobs matching your criteria are published."

Afreximbank has no alert. Its posting has been up since 5 October 2026 and prints no closing date, so it can close any day. Apply this week.

Where the internships stand today

On 28 October 2026 the three stood like this. These are examples that expire; open each page for the internships open on the day you read this.

How to read a closing time. UNICEF prints the deadline with its time zone. In November, "W. Europe Standard Time" and "W. Central Africa Standard Time" are both Nigeria's hour, so "10 Nov 2026 11:55 PM" is 11:55 pm on 10 November in Lagos. From the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October, Europe's clock is an hour ahead of Nigeria's: 11:55 pm "W. Europe Standard Time" is then 10:55 pm in Lagos. WHO shows its closing time in your own phone's or laptop's time zone ("automatically reflected in your personal device's system settings"), so on a device in Nigeria the time you see is your deadline. Send every application the day before its deadline and the hour never matters.

What you will see shared online. Posts shared online in October 2026 print a deadline of 31 October 2026 for Afreximbank, and posts this year print a stipend of US$1,500 a month (about ₦2.00 million). The bank's posting prints no closing date, and its money is two sums: a US$1,000 stipend, and US$500 for housing only for interns who move from their home country. Read the posting itself, never the post that shares it.

From today: what you can do this week

Find the row that is you. Every move in it is one you can do today from Nigeria. Applying is free, on each body's own page; a passport, if you need one, is the only fee (Stage 1).

Part 1. Before you start

What this is

An internship here is a short spell of real work inside the body, as a student or a fresh graduate, with money paid to you each month. It is not a job and not a scholarship. Each body says it in its own words:

• Afreximbank gives "A monthly tax-free stipend of USD 1000 and housing allowance of USD 500 for interns relocating from their home countries, payable at the end of each month, to help defray living costs". US$1,000 is about ₦1.33 million and US$500 about ₦667,000, so an intern who moves to Cairo gets about ₦2.00 million a month, the two together. The bank also gives a hotel for your first week, the transfer from the airport, the residence visa "if so required" and medical insurance.
• UNICEF: "All our interns are entitled to a stipend as a contribution towards living expenses, paid by UNICEF or a partner institution." Its pages print no amount; each vacancy gives its own terms. UNICEF's stipend amount: we cannot tell yet.
• WHO: "Interns do not receive a salary. They do however receive a living allowance." It goes to interns "who need financial support". After WHO picks you, you fill a form saying any other money you get, such as a bursary (the Declaration of Interests), and WHO works out your allowance from it. The most it pays "will differ according to the location of the duty station". In Geneva, its vacancies of October 2026 print up to CHF 1,680 a month for an intern who does not already live in Geneva, about ₦2.74 million, and CHF 20 a working day in lunch vouchers, about ₦33,000.

People who did the Afreximbank internship wrote online in 2026 that it ran six months in Cairo and moved them between the bank's departments, with work in transaction reviews, internal analysis, treasury, research, reporting and memo writing. One intern visited the bank's regional offices in Uganda and Nigeria.

The three bodies, in plain words

Afreximbank is a bank whose job, in its own words, is "to promote and finance trade in Africa". Its interns work in Cairo. It "typically recruits experienced mid-career professionals" for its jobs, so the internship is how it takes in students: by its posting, it wants them to "leave with a better knowledge of the Afreximbank Group mandate and operating model", and it expects them to "contribute fresh and diverse ideas".

UNICEF is "the United Nations agency for children", working "Across more than 190 countries and territories". Its internships are posted one by one by its offices around the world, each with its own length, place and deadline. Some are done from home: on 28 October 2026 one internship for its Rome office was "Home-based (Remotely)" and "Paid, Fulltime".

WHO is the World Health Organization, the UN's health agency. Its internships are in its headquarters in Geneva, its regional offices and its country offices. Its office for Nigeria is at the United Nations House, Plot 617/618, Central Area District, Abuja.

Which one is yours

Apply to every one you fit. They are separate employers and nothing stops you holding three applications at once. Choose by these lines, in this order:

1. Your age. Afreximbank counts the year: if you turn 20 this year it takes you now, and turning 33 or more this year rules it out. WHO counts the day: you must be 20 on the day you apply. UNICEF takes you from 18 and has no top age on its page.
2. Your stage. In your first or second year: UNICEF, and Afreximbank if you are 20 or older this year and have its French. WHO waits until 300 level is done. Three years of university done: all three, if your course fits WHO. Graduated up to eighteen months ago: UNICEF, and WHO if your course fits. Graduated eighteen months to two years ago: UNICEF. More than two years ago: none of the three is written for you; Afreximbank's internship is yours again if you start a master's. (How the months are counted: the line under Who each internship takes.)
3. Your course. WHO takes health, medicine, social fields, management, administration, communications and external relations, and each vacancy names its own. Afreximbank names economics, business, finance, accounting, social sciences, statistics, law, sciences and engineering "or related fields". UNICEF takes any course and reads the vacancy's own needs.
4. Your languages. Afreximbank needs both English and French, one fluent and one working. UNICEF takes English, French or Spanish, and some offices ask their own language too; WHO asks a working language of the office you would work in. Read each vacancy's language line.
5. Where you can live. At home: a UNICEF internship done from home or in an office in Nigeria, or a WHO internship at its Abuja office when one is posted (your alert brings it). Abroad: Afreximbank in Cairo, or a UNICEF or WHO office in another country. Abroad you need a visa: at WHO you pay for it yourself; UNICEF may give a sum towards it.

If you are still in school. An internship is full time. Afreximbank prints no start month or length (people who did it wrote online in 2026 that theirs ran six months in Cairo); the home-based UNICEF internship open today is full time for 26 weeks from about 30 November 2026. Before you accept one, agree with your head of department how you will hold it beside your session, or choose one that starts after your final exams. Apply now: the day an offer comes is the day to settle this.

The French line

Afreximbank's posting asks for "Fluency in English or French and a working knowledge of the other", and its form asks you to answer yes or no: "Are you fluent in English or French, with working knowledge of the other language?" The order is this:

• If you have both, apply to Afreximbank today.
• If you have no French, start learning it this month, and meanwhile apply to UNICEF and WHO, whose vacancies name their own languages. Apply to Afreximbank once your French is a working knowledge you can use in an interview: answering yes to a question you cannot meet wastes your application.

If you are serving now

The rules of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) give leave to travel outside Nigeria only with the Director-General's approval, and leave in a service year is at most 14 days, apart from the 21 days' vacation at the end. A corps member who travels outside her state without the State Director's written permission forfeits her allowance for the days away and has her service extended by double the time. An internship in Cairo or Geneva runs for weeks or months, so plan one abroad to start after you pass out. An internship from home is full time, and the NYSC rules say a corps member does not leave her station or miss any official activity "without the written consent of the appropriate authority in his establishment", so during service you would need your place of primary assignment's written consent. Whether NYSC itself allows a corps member a second full-time engagement beside her primary assignment: we cannot tell yet. Until that is known, the safe choice is a start after you pass out: a UNICEF vacancy asks for "the earliest date you can start", so give your passing-out date.

Where each internship is lived, and the visa

• At home, with no visa. A UNICEF internship done from home, a UNICEF internship in an office in Nigeria, or a WHO internship at its Abuja office, when one is posted.
• Cairo. Egypt's online visa (its e-Visa) is not open to Nigerian passports: Nigeria is not on its list. Afreximbank gives the "Relevant residence visa for the duration of the internship programme, if so required." Where in Nigeria you apply for your entry visa to Egypt, what it costs and how long it takes: we cannot tell yet.
• Geneva. A WHO internship in Switzerland counts as work there: "internship activities with an International Organization that take place within Swiss territory is considered to fall under the category of gainful employment by the Swiss authorities." WHO tells interns to "check with the Swiss Embassy in their country about the type of visa"; for a resident of Nigeria that is the Embassy of Switzerland in Abuja. WHO gives you "a letter confirming their internship" and, on request, "a specific visa support letter", and "All costs for visas are borne by the intern candidate." Never travel on a visit visa: "an intern cannot, under any circumstances, undertake an internship in the host country of the duty station on a tourist visa." Which visa a WHO intern needs, its papers, its fee and how long it takes: we cannot tell yet.
• Another UNICEF or WHO office abroad. UNICEF "will provide relevant supporting documents for our visa applications", and a lump sum towards travel and visa costs "may also be granted when funding is available". You lodge the visa with that country's embassy for Nigeria once you hold the offer (Stage 7).

The fee trap

UNICEF and WHO say in their own words that they charge nothing at any stage. UNICEF: "UNICEF does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, traveling, processing, training or any other fees), and it does not request any banking information." WHO: "WHO never asks for money for recruitment". Afreximbank's posting and its form ask no fee anywhere. A real internship is always on the body's own site first: UNICEF says "all UNICEF vacancies are advertised on the global Careers website", and WHO takes applications only on Stellis. So an email that asks you for a processing fee, a visa fee, a training fee or a "certification" fee to get one of these internships, or an offer that is not tied to a vacancy you applied to there, is not how any of them takes interns. UNICEF warns of emails sent from unicefjob.com, which is not UNICEF. In 2025 a Nigerian fact-checker reported a fake UN job offer that asked a job seeker in Nigeria for US$99 (about ₦132,000) for a "certification"; the job seeker borrowed the money to pay it. Do not pay, and do not send your bank details. If it has happened to you, UNICEF's advice is to "contact immediately local law enforcement authorities".

You do not need to know anybody. A WHO intern who had worked in sexual and reproductive health in Nigeria wrote online in 2025 that she just applied and gave it her best, and that you do not need someone high up to pull strings.

Part 2. The whole journey on one page

Stage 1. Get your papers ready. A passport with at least a year left, a CV, a cover letter you rewrite for each internship, your enrolment letter or your certificate, and your results. Free, except a passport if you have none or yours runs out within a year: ₦200,000 for the 10-year passport.

Stage 2. Apply to Afreximbank. The bank's posting, from afreximbank.com, Careers, Internship Opportunities. Free. One sitting.

Stage 3. Set your UNICEF alerts and apply. UNICEF's job site: tick Internship (one alert for every internship, a second for Nigeria), press "Send me jobs like these", apply to each that fits. Free.

Stage 4. Set your WHO alert and apply. WHO's careers site (Stellis): register, switch on a job alert, apply to each that fits with its own cover letter. Free.

Stage 5. The wait and the interview. Only the people on the shortlist hear back. WHO: if you hear nothing four to eight weeks after the vacancy closes, you were not shortlisted that time. A shortlist brings an interview, and at WHO sometimes a written test.

Stage 6. The offer and its papers. Afreximbank's offer; UNICEF's reference and background checks, and your own health insurance; WHO's offer letter, which you sign and send back, a medical form your doctor fills, certified proof of your studies, your referees' contacts and the form where you declare any other money you get.

Stage 7. The visa and the travel, or none. None at home. Cairo: the entry visa from an Egyptian mission, with the bank's residence visa if needed. Geneva: a Swiss visa from the Embassy of Switzerland in Abuja, with WHO's letters, at your cost.

Stage 8. Your first day. Cairo: the bank meets you at the airport and puts you in a hotel for your first week. Geneva: your WHO insurance starts on your first day, and the lunch vouchers with it. At home: your laptop and your connection.

Stage 9. Your first stipend. Afreximbank pays at the end of each month. UNICEF pays a monthly stipend. WHO pays the living allowance it worked out from your form.

Stage 10. What follows. A certificate and a supervisor's letter of recommendation at WHO on request; no job is promised by any of the three, and you may apply to their vacancies like anyone else.

The money. Applying to all three costs nothing. Afreximbank pays a stipend of US$1,000 a month and, to an intern who moves to Cairo, US$500 for housing: together about ₦2.00 million a month, with a week's hotel, insurance and the residence visa if required. WHO pays up to CHF 1,680 a month in Geneva, about ₦2.74 million, worked out from your form after you are picked. UNICEF pays a monthly stipend whose amount its pages do not print. Part 7 has every figure.

The time. Afreximbank's posting prints no length; people who did it wrote online in 2026 that theirs ran six months. UNICEF's internships "normally" run six to twenty-six weeks, WHO's six to 24. From your application to your first day, no official page gives a time; a UNICEF intern in Ghana wrote online in 2026 about an interview in November, an offer on 31 December and a start on 5 January.

Part 3. Stage by stage

Stage 1. Get your papers ready

Back to the short stages

Why. All three forms are online and short, but each asks for papers you may not have in your hand today. Get them once and they serve all three.

Do. Put these in one folder on your phone and your laptop, each as a clear PDF:

• Your passport's picture page. Afreximbank's form asks you to upload your passport and "make sure that you have 1 (One) year validity". If you have no passport, apply for one this week: the bank's form will not take your application without it, and a first passport takes "42 days after Successful Enrolment" (below). UNICEF and WHO do not ask for it to apply, so apply to them meanwhile. If yours ends in less than a year, renew it now.
• Your CV, in English. UNICEF's advice: "Begin your CV with your key expertise in 3-4 lines." Then "Add your relevant professional experience next, followed by your education and professional qualifications including any special training", and after them "your languages, any special IT or technical skills, and volunteer work". If you are just starting out, UNICEF says you can also add "any special experiences or interests".
• A cover letter for each internship. UNICEF: "should normally not exceed 1 page", with "a 2-3 paragraph overview of why you are suitable for the position". WHO: "The letter should not exceed three paragraphs. Please write one specific letter for each position to which you apply." Afreximbank's form has a box for it.
• Proof that you are enrolled, or that you finished. A letter from your faculty or registry for this session, or your certificate or statement of result. WHO asks for it before an offer: "Interns must provide proof of enrolment in a course of studies or proof of completion of their last qualification", and later "certified copies".
• Your results. UNICEF's vacancies ask for "excellent academic performance as demonstrated by recent university or institution records".
• Two referees. The names, emails and phone numbers of two people who will speak for you (a lecturer, a supervisor), asked before you list them. WHO asks for "the contact details for reference checks" when it picks you, and UNICEF runs "rigorous reference and background checks".

Check your university on the world list. WHO "only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED)". Search your university's or polytechnic's name at whed.net before you apply to WHO.

Your passport. The Nigeria Immigration Service's standard passport is applied for online at passport.immigration.gov.ng, then you appear at the office you chose for your photograph and fingerprints. The 64-page, 10-year passport is ₦200,000 and the 32-page, 5-year passport ₦100,000, "Exclusive of Bank Charges". A renewal takes "21 days after Successful Enrolment"; a first passport takes "42 days after Successful Enrolment".

Cost. Free, except the passport if you need one.

Time. An evening for the CV; an evening for each cover letter; a few days for a letter from your faculty.

You are done when your folder holds your passport page (or your passport is applied for), your CV, your proof of enrolment or of completion, and your results, and you have one cover letter drafted for Afreximbank.

If your university is slow. On these internships, the only paid help is getting a document out. Get your documents out: your transcript or your letter from school, collected and sent where it must go. A quote per document, before any work starts, with our charge and the official fee side by side. Rekoja's desk, opens in a new tab. We charge nothing for applying to Afreximbank, UNICEF or WHO, your cover letters, your referees or your visa: you do them yourself.

Next. Apply to Afreximbank (Stage 2), and the same day set your UNICEF and WHO alerts (Stages 3 and 4). These three run at the same time.

Stage 2. Apply to Afreximbank

Back to the short stages

Why. It is open now, it pays a fixed sum printed on its posting, and the bank gives the residence visa and a week's hotel.

Do.

1. Open afreximbank.com, go to Careers and press "Internship Opportunities". It opens the bank's own posting: Afreximbank, Internship Opportunities, opens in a new tab.
2. Read the posting to the end.

3. Press Apply and fill in the form in one sitting. It asks for:

   • your first name, last name, email and phone ("The hiring team may use this number to contact you about this job.");
   • your address, with "your city, region, and country";
   • your CV ("Resume"), as a PDF or Word file;
   • your cover letter, typed into the box;
   • your passport, uploaded, with a year's validity;
   • your nationality, your date of birth and the name of your degree;
   • yes or no: "Are you currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate programme?";
   • yes or no: "Are you fluent in English or French, with working knowledge of the other language?";
   • yes or no: "Are you aged between 20 and 32 in the year in which you apply for the internship?";
   • your education (school, course, degree, dates), which the form does not require; fill it in anyway.
4. Submit.

Your cover letter. The bank says why it takes interns (Part 1, The three bodies). Say in your first paragraph what you study and what you have done that touches trade, finance or Africa's economy; in the second, what you would bring to the bank; in the third, the languages you speak and the date you can start.

Cost. Free. The form has no fee in it.

Time. One sitting.

You are done when you have submitted the form. Keep a screenshot of the last screen.

If it goes wrong.

• You have no passport. Start one this week (Stage 1) and apply when it is in your hand: the form will not take your application without it.
• Your passport ends within a year. Renew it first (Stage 1); the form asks for a year's validity.
• You cannot say yes to the language question. Do not apply yet. Start French, and apply to UNICEF and WHO meanwhile (Part 1, The French line).
• Someone writes to you asking for money "to process" your internship. It is not the bank. Do not pay (Part 1, The fee trap).

What the bank prints and what it does not. The posting prints no closing date, no length and no month of start. How long the internship runs, the months it starts and whether the bank pays your flight: we cannot tell yet. People who did it wrote online in 2026 that their internships ran six months in Cairo.

Next. Set your UNICEF alerts (Stage 3), if you have not.

Stage 3. Set your UNICEF alerts and apply

Back to the short stages

Why. UNICEF posts each internship on its own, all through the year, each with a short deadline. The alert is how you see them in time.

Do.

1. Open UNICEF's job site, internships, opens in a new tab.
2. First alert: under Contract type, tick "Internship" and nothing else. Press "Send me jobs like these", type your email and subscribe. This one brings every internship, including the ones done from home, which are listed under the city of the office.
3. Second alert, for an office in Nigeria: tick "Internship", open "West and Central Africa Region" under Locations, tick "Nigeria", and subscribe again. Open each confirmation email UNICEF sends and confirm.
4. When an internship comes that fits you, read it whole: its place, its dates, its "WORKPLACE" line (home or office), its languages and its deadline.
5. Press "Apply Now" and fill in your profile for that internship. UNICEF: "Carefully review the requirements for each internship opportunity and customize your profile to highlight your suitability for the role." You can save it and come back: "Once you begin, you can save the progress of your online application and return to it later."
6. Attach your CV and a cover letter written for this internship, and submit. "You'll receive a confirmation email when your application is submitted."

The one open now that you can do from home. On 28 October 2026: "Supporter Content, Knowledge Management Intern", UNICEF's fundraising team, listed under its Rome office (its "duty station") but done from home, "WORKPLACE Home-based (Remotely)", "Modality: Paid, Fulltime", "26 weeks, tentatively starting on November 30th, 2026", closing 10 November 2026 at 11:55 pm Nigerian time. It is content and knowledge work for the fundraising team, and it gives "Additional consideration ... for any past experience in communications, marketing, journalism, or public relations." It asks you to "mention the earliest date you can start". You must have your own health insurance for the whole 26 weeks: UNICEF makes the person picked "solely responsible" for the "health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract". Its page does not name the kind, so ask in your reply to the offer what it accepts. Apply if your course and your skills fit it.

What you need. Your profile, your CV and your cover letter (Stage 1). UNICEF offers a free online course, "Preparing a Written Application", opens in a new tab, on its learning site, Agora.

UNICEF Nigeria's own internships. "All UNICEF vacancies are advertised on the global Careers website", so an internship at UNICEF's office in Nigeria comes to you through your Nigeria alert. Who UNICEF Nigeria's own calls for students take and what they ask: we cannot tell yet.

Cost. Free.

Time. Ten minutes for the alerts; an evening for each application.

You are done when your alerts are confirmed, and you have applied to each internship that fits you before its deadline.

If it goes wrong.

• No alert email comes. You did not confirm the first email. Search your inbox and spam for UNICEF's confirmation, or subscribe again.
• An internship asks a language you do not have (the Algiers internship asks professional Arabic). Skip it.
• You hear nothing. "Due to the high number of applications only shortlisted candidates will be contacted." Keep applying as each alert comes.

From people who did it. A UNICEF intern in Ghana wrote online in 2026 about finding the internship through a post shared online, applying on UNICEF's site, being interviewed in November, picked on 31 December and starting on 5 January, for six months.

Next. Set your WHO alert (Stage 4), if your course fits WHO.

Stage 4. Set your WHO alert and apply

Back to the short stages

Why. WHO posts its internships one by one "on a continuous basis", each with its own deadline, and takes applications only on its careers site.

Do.

1. Open WHO's internship vacancies, opens in a new tab. WHO says its site works best in Firefox: "Retry access using Firefox browser, which provides optimum experience." Do this on a laptop if you can. On a phone, install Firefox from the Play Store and open the link in it.
2. Register and log in.
3. Go to your Profile, then Preferences, and switch on a job alert with internships as your search. Save it.
4. Fill in your profile once: your languages, your experience, your qualifications and training, your publications and your computer skills. With no work experience, WHO's advice is to "review your experience considering your academic career or any activities you have done" and show how they taught you to work in a team, make decisions and solve problems.
5. When an internship fits you, apply with a cover letter of no more than three paragraphs, written for that one internship: why that internship, what you would bring, and what you want to learn. WHO: "Please do not use a generic letter."
6. Submit before the closing time. "If you have submitted your job application successfully, you will promptly receive an automated acknowledgment e-mail."

The two open now. Both in Geneva, both 24 weeks, both closing at 11:59 pm on 11 November 2026, Nigerian time:

• Health Emergency Response Financing (job 2604626), from 4 January 2027: three years done in public health, health policy, health financing, health economics or data science, or "a closely related quantitative field, such as statistics, data analytics, information systems, business analytics or computer science", with "strong practical knowledge of data management tools e.g. Excel, R", and you are enrolled, or you graduated within the last eighteen months.
• Environment, Climate Change and One Health (job 2604481), from 18 January 2027, for a master's or PhD student, or someone who finished a master's or PhD in the last eighteen months, with three years of full-time study in sociology or anthropology, global affairs or public health. An undergraduate or a first-degree graduate cannot apply to this one.

Both start in January 2027. If you are picked in December, the Swiss visa may not be ready by the start; which visa an intern needs and how long it takes: we cannot tell yet. So on the day of the offer, agree your start date with WHO in writing (Stage 6). Apply anyway: WHO's next internships come through your alert all year.

What you need. Your profile, your CV and your cover letter (Stage 1). A WHO intern who had worked in sexual and reproductive health in Nigeria wrote online in 2025 that the thing that got her in was reading the job description carefully and showing in her CV and cover letter exactly how she fitted the role, with someone else reading it before she sent it.

Cost. Free.

Time. An hour for the profile and the alert; an evening for each application.

You are done when your alert is on, and you have applied to each WHO internship that fits you before its close.

If it goes wrong.

• The site will not load or will not submit. Use Firefox, on a laptop if you can. WHO's help desk is globalservicedesk@who.int, with the vacancy and a screenshot of the error. Do not try on a Saturday before 10 am Nigerian time: WHO maintains the site "every Saturday morning, from 07:00 to 09:30 CET (Geneva time)", which is 07:00 to 09:30 in Nigeria until the last Sunday of March, and 06:00 to 08:30 from then until the last Sunday of October.
• You do not fit this one. "There is no limit to how many internship vacancies you can apply to." Wait for the next.

Next. The wait (Stage 5).

Stage 5. The wait and the interview

Back to the short stages

You have applied. Now the body reads, shortlists and interviews. You do nothing but keep applying to new internships as your alerts come.

What happens.

• UNICEF: "Due to the high number of applications only shortlisted candidates will be contacted." "if UNICEF wants to interview you, either in person or by phone, we will contact you", at the contact details on your application. Do not write to ask for an interview.
• WHO: "Only successful candidates will be contacted." "Should you not hear back within four to eight weeks after the internship vacancy closed, you can assume that you were not shortlisted this time round." "If shortlisted for the WHO internship, the technical unit will contact you to conduct an interview. The interview process may also include a written test component." WHO may also ask you to show your language level: "you may be requested to demonstrate that your language capabilities are at the same level that has been indicated in your application". The whole selection "may take several weeks, or months to complete".
• Afreximbank: the posting prints nothing about the shortlist or the interview.

Do. Answer every email and call the same day. Keep your phone on and the number on your form working. Prepare for an interview before it is offered:

• Read the internship's description again and pick three things it asks for.
• For each, have one true story ready from your studies, your project, your service or a job: what the situation was, what you did, and what came of it.
• Have your answer ready to "why this internship", in two sentences.
• For WHO, ask your own questions at the end: WHO says "we recommend you ask as many questions and seek clarification as necessary".
• Test your camera and your connection the day before an online interview, and have a quiet room.

Time. WHO: four to eight weeks after the close before you know you were not shortlisted. UNICEF and Afreximbank print no time. The UNICEF intern in Ghana wrote online in 2026 that the offer came on 31 December after an interview in November.

You are done when an offer comes, or the time passes. A no from one internship does not stop the next: WHO says "If not selected, you may apply again to other posted internship positions".

Next. The offer (Stage 6).

Stage 6. The offer and its papers

Back to the short stages

Afreximbank. The posting prints nothing about the offer. When it comes, read what it says about your start date, your length, your flight, your insurance and your visa, and answer it within the time it gives. The bank's posting promises "Medical Insurance for the duration of the Internship" and the "Relevant residence visa ... if so required".

UNICEF. Your offer depends on checks: "All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks." The vacancy puts on you "the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract". If you work from home, no visa applies. Have a health insurance policy that covers the whole internship before your start date: UNICEF makes you "solely responsible" for it, "valid for the entire period of the contract".

WHO. Five things, each when WHO asks for it:

1. Your proof of enrolment or completion, in certified copies: WHO asks "certified copies of proof of enrolment" in your course, or proof that you finished. WHO's pages do not say who certifies them: ask in your reply to the offer which stamp it accepts.
2. Your referees' names and contacts, for WHO's reference checks: "the contact details for reference checks" (Stage 1's two referees).
3. The Declaration of Interests, a legal form where you declare "any financial support in the form of grants bursaries, scholarships, etc." WHO decides your living allowance from it. Fill it in truthfully: it is the form your money is worked out from.
4. The WHO medical certificate of fitness for work, "prior to the start of their internship".
5. The offer letter. "The only document that WHO signs is the WHO Internship Offer Letter which must be countersigned directly by the intern candidate as a condition to start any internship." Your insurance is confirmed in its Terms and Conditions. WHO signs only its own offer letter: if your school needs a placement or SIWES form signed, WHO will not sign it.

WHO says: "Interns are requested not to send any documents until specifically asked to do so." Send each paper when it is asked for, not before.

Do. The day an offer comes, write down its start date, its place and what it asks you to send, and start the slowest one first: the visa, if the internship is abroad (Stage 7). If your internship is in Geneva, tell WHO the day you accept when your visa will be lodged in Abuja. Your weeks must run back to back ("These weeks must be consecutive"), so a late visa moves the whole internship later, or shortens it: agree the new dates with WHO in writing before the old start date. If you are still in school, settle your session now (Part 1).

Cost. None of the three charges you for the offer. A medical examination for WHO's certificate is at your own clinic and its cost; WHO's page prints none.

You are done when you have accepted the offer in writing, sent every paper it asked for, and (for WHO) countersigned the offer letter.

Next. The visa and the travel (Stage 7), or your first day at home (Stage 8).

Stage 7. The visa and the travel, or none

Back to the short stages

At home: no visa. A UNICEF internship from home or in Nigeria, or a WHO internship in Abuja, needs no visa. Go to Stage 8.

Cairo (Afreximbank).

• Egypt's online visa is not open to Nigerian passports, so your entry visa comes from an Egyptian mission. Where in Nigeria you apply, the visa's fee and how long it takes: we cannot tell yet.
• The bank gives the "Relevant residence visa for the duration of the internship programme, if so required." Ask the bank, in your reply to its offer, which letter you take to the Egyptian mission and whether the bank applies for the residence visa after you arrive.
• Keep the passport you applied with: the bank's form asked a year's validity. Egypt's own passport rule for your entry visa: we cannot tell yet.
• The bank gives the "Transfer to the hotel on arrival and vice versa on departure at the end of a successful internship programme". Whether it pays your flight: we cannot tell yet.

Geneva (WHO).

• The internship counts as work in Switzerland. You apply at the Embassy of Switzerland in Abuja, with WHO's letters: 157 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja, email abuja.visa@eda.admin.ch, visas by appointment Monday to Thursday, 08:00 to 11:00.
• WHO gives "a letter confirming their internship" and, on request, "a specific visa support letter from their WHO Office". Ask your WHO office for both the day you accept.
• Which visa a WHO intern needs, its papers, its fee and how long it takes: we cannot tell yet. Ask the embassy the day you accept.
• Never travel on a visit visa to start an internship: "an intern cannot, under any circumstances, undertake an internship in the host country of the duty station on a tourist visa."
• "All costs for visas are borne by the intern candidate." "The approved travel cost for some interns from least developed and middle-income countries may be covered": ask your WHO office whether yours is.
• Your insurance does not cover the journey: "Insurance coverage before the start date of the internship and after the end date of the internship, including travel to and from the duty station location, is the sole personal and financial responsibility of the individual intern." Buy travel insurance for the flight.

Another UNICEF or WHO office abroad. UNICEF "will provide relevant supporting documents for our visa applications", and a lump sum towards travel and visa costs "may also be granted when funding is available". WHO's intern gets her own visa at her own cost with WHO's letters. You lodge it at that country's embassy for Nigeria.

A home before you fly. WHO "does not assist intern candidates in identifying accommodation", and advises against paying any advance or deposit before you arrive: "we recommend abstaining from making advance payments ... in advance of your arrival". WHO's own reminder: "living in Geneva is expensive and finding accommodation can be challenging." In Cairo, the bank gives your first week in a hotel: find your room during that week. Your first month's rent and any deposit come from the money you bring, because the housing allowance is paid at the end of the month.

You are done when your visa is in your passport and your ticket is booked for the start date.

Next. Your first day (Stage 8).

Stage 8. Your first day

Back to the short stages

Cairo. The bank meets you: "Transfer to the hotel on arrival". You stay in "a hotel chosen by the Bank (bed and breakfast only) for one week during the induction period". Use that week to find your room. The first month's rent comes from the money you bring; your US$500 housing allowance, paid at the end of each month, covers the rent after. Your medical insurance runs "for the duration of the Internship".

Geneva. Your WHO insurance starts on your first day: "WHO provides all interns with medical and accident insurance coverage during the duration of the internship period." Your hours: "Monday to Friday, eight hours per day." Your lunch: "Interns based in Geneva receive daily lunch vouchers of a value of CHF 20 accepted in WHO cafeterias", about ₦33,000 a working day. Your time off: "the equivalent of 2.5 days per month".

At home. A home-based UNICEF internship is full time, on your own laptop and your own connection. Have both ready, and a quiet place to work, before your start date.

You have arrived on your first day at the bank, at WHO, at the UNICEF office, or logged in from home.

Next. Your first stipend (Stage 9).

Stage 9. Your first stipend

Back to the short stages

• Afreximbank: US$1,000 a month, about ₦1.33 million, "tax-free", and US$500 a month for housing, about ₦667,000, for an intern who moved from home: "payable at the end of each month". So your first payment comes at the end of your first month. Bring enough money to live on until then.
• UNICEF: a monthly stipend, "as a contribution towards living expenses". Its amount: we cannot tell yet. Ask for it in writing before you accept.
• WHO: your living allowance, as worked out from your Declaration of Interests after you were picked; in Geneva up to CHF 1,680 a month, about ₦2.74 million, for an intern who does not already live there. That is the most WHO pays, not what you will get: "The exact amount of the living allowance will be calculated for each intern, after selection". Plan your Geneva months on the money you have, and count the allowance when WHO tells you its amount. WHO's pages do not say on which day the first one is paid, so bring enough to live on until it comes.

You are done when the first stipend lands in your account.

Stage 10. What follows

Back to the short stages

• WHO: "certificates are issued to individual interns upon request. In addition, each intern may ask their supervisor to write a letter of recommendation". Ask for both in your last week. WHO is plain that the internship "is not connected with WHO employment activities and there should be no expectation of such"; former interns "are free to apply as external candidates to any vacant positions". You can do only one WHO internship: "An individual can only undertake one internship with WHO."
• UNICEF: "There should be no expectation of employment at the end of an internship." UNICEF adds that interns may apply for certain positions within UNICEF, "subject to internal policies". Keep your UNICEF profile and alerts.
• Afreximbank: the posting says nothing about work after. Its stated aim is that interns "leave with a better knowledge of the Afreximbank Group mandate and operating model, which they will put to use as they develop their careers".
• Your visa ends with the internship. Plan your return date before you fly.

Part 4. What can stop you

Your age. Afreximbank: 20 to 32 in the year you apply. WHO: at least 20 on the day you apply. UNICEF: at least 18.

Your stage. WHO needs three years of full-time university done before you start, and, if you have finished, an application within eighteen months of finishing. UNICEF needs you enrolled or graduated within two years.

Your languages. Afreximbank's French line (Part 1). An office that asks its own language.

Your passport. Less than a year left stops your Afreximbank form. WHO needs a passport of a WHO member country.

Your university. Not on the world list WHO uses (whed.net) stops a WHO application.

Your family. A parent, brother or sister working at UNICEF stops a UNICEF internship; a relative on WHO's staff stops a WHO internship; a parent on Afreximbank's staff stops the bank's.

Your service year. Travel outside Nigeria during NYSC needs the Director-General's leave (Part 1).

A WHO internship already done. "An individual can only undertake one internship with WHO."

A visit visa. Starting a WHO internship on one is barred, and for Cairo the bank gives the residence visa: travel only on the visa your internship needs.

A fee. Paying anybody for a place loses your money and gets you nothing. None of the three charges.

Part 5. If you already did some of this

• You applied to Afreximbank before. The posting of 5 October 2026 is the one open now. If you applied before that date, apply to this one.
• You have a UNICEF or WHO profile. Log in, update it with this year's results, and switch the alerts on (Stages 3 and 4).
• You have an offer. Go to Stage 6, then start the visa the same week (Stage 7).
• You were not picked. Apply to the next internship as your alert brings it. At WHO "you may apply again to other posted internship positions"; at UNICEF each internship is its own vacancy.

Part 6. The time, stage by stage

• Stage 1, your papers: an evening for the CV, an evening for each cover letter; a passport renewal 21 days after enrolment, a first passport 42 days.
• Stage 2, Afreximbank: one sitting. The posting has no closing date.
• Stage 3, UNICEF: ten minutes for the alerts; each internship by its own deadline.
• Stage 4, WHO: an hour for the profile and the alert; each internship by its own close.
• Stage 5, the wait: WHO, four to eight weeks after the close before you know you were not shortlisted; the selection "several weeks, or months".
• Stage 6, the offer: as the offer gives.
• Stage 7, the visa: Switzerland's for a WHO intern: we cannot tell yet. Egypt's: we cannot tell yet.
• Stage 8 to 9, the internship: UNICEF "normally" six to twenty-six weeks; WHO six to 24 weeks, consecutive; Afreximbank's length is not printed, and people who did it wrote online in 2026 that theirs ran six months.

The whole journey: no official page states it.

Part 7. The money, all of it

Every amount in the order you meet it.

What the table leaves out. Your flight, unless the body pays it; your first month's rent and any deposit; your food and transport until your first payment at the end of the first month.

Applying to all three is free, and the bodies say so in their own words. UNICEF: "UNICEF does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process". WHO: "WHO never asks for money for recruitment". Afreximbank's form asks no fee.