UNDP’s ongoing project “Civil Society for Enhanced Democracy and Human Rights” is aimed at comprehensively supporting civil society development in Ukraine with the purpose of contributing to democratization and better protection and promotion of human rights, youth civic engagement as well as sustainable development as per the Global Agenda 2030.

The Project follows a human-rights-based approach to programming under which policies, processes and activities are anchored in the system of rights and corresponding obligations established by international law, and ensures gender mainstreaming in all its components providing opportunities for equal participation of women and men in capacity building, advocacy and grant activities. Specific activities planned for remaining period of project implementation for 2020-2022 should take into account other donors’ initiatives related to the key project areas and specifically designed for Ukraine.

Civil Society Project Coordinator is responsible for coordination, implementation and closure of the Civil society for enhanced democracy and human rights in Ukraine (CSDR) project under the Democratic Governance Portfolio. The incumbent will promote UNDP’s mandate as a gender-responsive organization with zero tolerance to any kind of discriminatory and abusive behaviour, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse.

 Functions / Key Results Expected

Under the direct supervision of the Programme Specialist, Democratic Governance (Team Leader), the Civil Society Project Coordinator will be responsible for the following key tasks:

• Ensure overall operational management of the project “Civil Society for Enhanced Democracy and Human Rights” (CSDR) and delivery of results in accordance with the project document and work plans and other joint agreements between the Government and UNDP;
• Ensure timely preparation, revision and implementation of annual and detailed implementation work plans for CSDR, and other related documents for the implementation and completion of the project activities;
• Provide inputs to the UNDP DG policy briefs, policy documents, strategies, joint inputs to the documents developed by the UN CT on the subject areas related with democratic governance, human rights, civil society and youth civil engagement.
• Build capacity of and maintain ties with the key partners and stakeholders at the national and regional levels. Establish and maintain dialogue with government officials, both local and national, NGOs, partners, donors and communities to provide knowledge and understanding, ensuring an accurate interpretation of the project’s mission, achievements and results;
• Ensure mainstreaming of gender equality and women’s empowerment considerations at all stages of the project implemenation, promote a safe and enabling environment free of any kind of discrimination and abusive behaviour, and use gender-responsive communications principles in line with the UNDP corporate standards.
• Provide substantive input to the project activities, ultimate in-project quality assurance for achieving the overall project outputs and outcomes, ensure timely implementation of project activities, including reporting on progress vis-à-vis planned activities and expected outputs and outcomes;
• Manage the project office, staff facilities and services, as per the project work plan and adapting where necessary to ensure the successful project completion;
• Coordinate and supervise the work of CSDR team members subordinated to the Project Coordinator, experts and consultants, including the preparation of the terms of reference, facilitation of recruitment, engagement of national experts and subcontractors, forward planning of project activities and budget expenditures, activity scheduling, monitoring of work/results and reporting;
• Act as a principal representative of the project during Board meetings, evaluations and in discussions and, hence, be responsible for preparation of review and evaluation reports such as the Mid-Term and Annual Project Report (APR) for the consideration of the UNDP management and donors;
• Assume direct responsibility for managing the project budget in compliance with the project’s business processes with UNDP Ukraine Standard Operating Procedures, ensuring that:

-          project funds are made available when needed, and are disbursed properly;

-          accounting records and supporting documents are kept;

-          required financial reports are prepared;

-          financial operations are transparent; and the project is ready to stand up to audit at any time;

• Maintain the professional networking and partnership building as well as coordination with the national and regional authorities, CSOs, private sector and international development organizations or projects;
• Keep close cooperation with the UNDP CO on different issues regarding project implementation and project closure processes and procedures;
• Provide support to coordination and monitoring of grant competitions among CSOs, and ensure the management of grant cycle according to UNDP procedures;
• Provide substantive expertise to institutional support to the members of UNDP supported CSO hubs Network and promoting its work in engaging citizens in decision making at the subnational level;
• Represent the project during the public events, PR and media activities, ensure the proper communication and promotion of project results, success stories and lessons learned among key stakeholders, donors and wide audience through UNDP communication channels;
• Ensure coordination of the CSDR activities with other stakeholders at national level. Ensure the cross-programme linkages with relevant UN projects and programmes and other stakeholders’ projects for mutually reinforcing impact;
• Provide technical advisory support to UNDP in engagement with Government of Ukraine, line Ministries, including Ministry of Youth and Sports, and other relevant governmental institutions to support the implementation and successful completion of CSDR initiatives;
• Ensure coordination with relevant working groups and information on the CSDR activities and results are shared;
• Support UNDP in partnership building and resource mobilization initiatives, including contribution to the development of the next phase of the project;
• Prepare updates to UNDP with situation analysis (political, social, and economic) in the field of the programme implementation, when required;
• Ensure that the Atlas Project Management module is updated on a regular basis;
• Coordinate an exit strategy at least 6 months ahead of the project closure date; ensure closure of the project is done according to the established procedures;
• Ensures that all reports and evaluations, including the final project evaluation are done through gender responsive approach;
• Be familiar with other projects within Democratic Governance and other UNDP portfolios to ensure coordination and synergy with their work; 
• Perform other duties as requested.

 Measurable outputs of the work assignment:

• Full and appropriate implementation of the project “Civil Society for Enhanced Democracy and Human Rights” in line with UNDP Financial Operational Policies and Procedures and UNDP SOP;
• Partnerships with project stakeholders developed and maintained;
• Project reports produced in time and of a high quality;
• Project overall results, experiences and lessons learned captured and disseminated at the national and regional levels;
• Quality monitoring and closure activities completed.

 Performance indicators for evaluation of results:

• Relevant outputs of the project annual work plan are fully and timely implemented;
• Funds delivery for CSDR project is reached 100%;
• CSDR operational requirements are carried out in strict accordance with UNDP rules and procedures.

 Competencies:

    Competencies expected of the individual:

• Ability to manage project/programmes for results, including the ability to translate strategic aims into achievable annual work plans; and prepare project/programme reports in a timely manner;
• Ability to handle politically sensitive issues and establish partnership with government authorities and CSO’s and within UNDP;
• Sound judgment and maturity to foster a positive work environment;
• Familiarity with national legislation on recovery issues;
• Demonstrated strong coordination and facilitation skills;

Corporate Competencies:

• Leadership;
• People Management;
• Communication;
• Delivery;
• Innovation
• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Demonstrates corporate knowledge and sound judgment
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge Management and Learning;
• Development and Operational Effectiveness;
• Management and Leadership;
• Conflict Management;
• Result orientation;
• Teamwork;
• Self –management and emotional intelligence;
• Gender mainstreaming.

Results-Based Project Development and Management:

• Assesses programme financial performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into programme work;
• Researches linkages across programme activities to identify critical points of integration.

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Generates new ideas and approaches, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
• Documents and analyses innovative strategies and new approaches.

Client Orientation:

• Researches potential solutions to internal and external client needs and reports back in a timely, succinct and appropriate fashion;
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines.

Innovation and Marketing New Approaches:

• Generates new ideas and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
• Documents and analyses innovative strategies/best practices/new approaches.

Global Leadership and Advocacy for UNDP’s Goals

• Performed analysis of political situations and scenarios, and contributes to the formulation of institutional responses
• Uses the opportunity to bring forward and disseminate materials for global advocacy work and adapts it for use at country level  

 Recruitment Qualifications

Education:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in political or social sciences, international relations, development studies, public administration or related field;

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of proven experience in component/project/programme coordination, policy development and analysis, managing teams or project component preferably in international organizations or CSOs;
• Experience in delivering capacity development, advisory and advocacy services to the Government in the relevant fields;
• Knowledge of civil society context, human rights situation and gender equality issues in Ukraine;
• Experience of working with relevant stakeholders from the governmental and non-governmental institutions involved into civil society, democratisation and human rights issues at the national and sub-national levels;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems;
• Familiarity with UNDP project management procedures and experience with ATLAS is an asset, PRINCE2 qualification will be considered as an advantage;

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English, Ukrainian and Russian is required (both spoken and written).