Duration of assignment: Inception Phase 14.01.2022 – 31.08.2022. It is envisaged that the implementation will be prolonged for Phase I (01.09.2022 – 31.08.2026).

Location: Kyiv, Ukraine.

Expected start date: 1^st of February 2022.

Description of the assignment context

The overall goal of the UCORD project is that citizens, businesses and public authorities contribute to and equally benefit from effective and coherent regional development that fosters improved quality of life, resilience, peace and social cohesion in Ukraine. The project consists of three components: 1) Support to Regional Development Agencies, 2) Improved public services delivery with a focus on environment, 3) Social cohesion through culture. The project will work at the national level and in target regions covering two cycles of state strategies for regional development.

Assignment

General management tasks as Deputy Team Leader and under Component 1:

• Support Project Leader in day-to-day steering, management and operations of UCORD. Specifically coordinate with all Component Leads, and UCORD staff in regions.
• Represent the project in relevant official meetings with national and international stakeholders.
• Planning and supporting effective policy dialogue in the project implementation areas.
• Developing a network with national, regional and local authorities, private sector, civil society, academia and media for effective project implementation.
• Capacity building of RDAs for increased institutional capacities and governance
• Support the RDAs in inclusive strategy development and planning
• Support the process of RDAs to transform into an inclusive platform for regional strategy development and implementation, uniting public authorities, business, civil society, academia and development partners
• Support RDAs to become an effective implementation and coordination platform for the whole region
• Under the supervision of TL, efficient management and coordination of activities under component 1, including implementing partners
• Provision of technical assistance and capacity building to partner institutions at the national and regional levels, ensuring sustainability, effective upscaling and dissemination of project results
• Ongoing monitoring of progress and achievement of planned outputs and outcomes in line with the logframe
• Constant monitoring of the national and regional contexts, identification of new development opportunities that can be covered by the project to amplify the project impact
• Ensure know-how exchange, sharing of experience and good practices within SDC Governance Network
• Provide other services of relevance for the implementation, as stated in the contract with SDC

Main tasks during the Inception phase:

• Various meetings with SDC and stakeholders
• Contribute to the development of ProDoc with LogFrame and budget
• Criteria and method for selecting target regions
• Support the development of funding modalities, suitable to component 1 activities
• Selection and verification of target regions for phase 1
• Baseline surveys, develop regional profiles
• Stakeholder analysis, identify partnerships

Qualifications:

• Profound knowledge and understanding of Ukraine’s political context, governance system and key reform priorities (in particular in local self-government, decentralization, regional development and cohesion, public services provision)
• Strong familiarity with pertinent legislation and policies, as well as good practices in the above areas
• Min 10 years of experience in policy advice, facilitation, advocacy and support in implementation of complex reforms
• Proven ability to work with a wide range of stakeholders (government, parliament, regional and local authorities, local self-government associations, private sector, civil society, international development partners, international financial institutions, etc.)
• Min 10 years of demonstrated experience with capacity building programs/coaching in the areas of decentralization, local self-government, regional development and cohesion, public services provision at multiple governance levels
• Min 5 years of experience in project cycle management and monitoring and evaluation systems with large-scale projects
• Competence in consolidating data and writing evidence-based, results-oriented reports
• High level of understanding of conflict-sensitive and culture-sensitive topics
• Strong communication skills and fluency in written and spoken Ukrainian and English

Evaluation of response & selection

Interested applicants should send their proposals to NIRAS no later than January 24st, 2022 9 a.m. Kyiv time.

The proposal should contain the following documents:

a) A short explanation of the applicant’s suitability for the assignment (maximum one A4-page)

b) Up-to-date CV indicating relevant experience and qualifications, indicating at least three contact references.

Deputy Project Leader, Regional Development Advisor will be selected based on the expert’s competence and suit-ability – based on the requirements described above. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted to be followed by an interview with selection panel.

Proposals and questions should be sent by email to: [email protected]