Community Liaison Coordinator (Ternivka, Dnipropetrovsk region)

Details

Mission and objectives

The UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund, promotes gender equality, reproductive health, youth empowerment. The organization was created in 1969, the same year the UN General Assembly declared “parents have the exclusive right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children”. Together with partners, UNFPA works in 150 countries, and in Ukraine since 1997. Our mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
UNFPA in Ukraine works for:
• creating conditions in which every young person can fulfil the potential, lead a healthy lifestyle, know their reproductive rights and take an active social life;
• conducting sexual and reproductive health campaigns to improve access to health and care services and improve its quality, especially for young people;
• combating gender stereotypes in society (through the media, compulsory education for civil servants on gender mainstreaming, the improvement of national gender policy and anti-discrimination expertise of school textbooks);
• providing information and services to gender-based violence survivors through the creation of crisis centres, supporting the work of mobile teams of psycho-social and support, providing expert support and raising general awareness in society.

Context

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Dnipropetrovsk region, located in the southeast of the country, has become a safe haven for nearly half a million of internally displaced Ukrainians, coming primarily from the neighboring Luhansk and Donetsk regions. With the current number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) standing at 466,890, nearly half of the pre-war population of the region’s capital city Dnipro.
Among those displaced, nearly every second person is a child or a young adult: more than 20% are children and adolescents aged under 18, and 25% are youth and young adults aged under 40. Shortly after the start of the Russian invasion, the city of Dnipro also became a host place for the regional authorities of the two eastern regions, Luhansk and Donetsk, suffering from the armed conflict already for a decade.
Despite the day-to-day missile and artillery attacks on its territories, the Dnipropetrovsk region stands as a beacon of resilience, leading in the implementation of youth projects, addressed to the local youth and their displaced peers.
In 2023, the region was recognized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports with the highest number of Youth Best Practices Award.
The project goal is to enhance resilience, coping capacity and mental health of young people from the Luhansk, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk regions (IDPs and those living and working close to the front line).

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of UNFPA, the UN Community Volunteer will:
• Conduct surveys, interviews, and focus group discussions to gather comprehensive information on the humanitarian needs of affected population with a particular focus on youth.
• Liaise with regional state administration and/or municipal authority(s) to coordinate efforts and consolidate needs assessment data.
• Cooperate with other partners at the regional and/or local levels to ensure cohesive and complementary actions in response to the crisis.
• Assist in providing essential support to local and internally displaced young people, including referral and facilitating access to specialized services such as GBV and SRH support, targeted psychosocial support, counseling, and trauma-informed interventions.
• Ensure the effective implementation, monitoring, and reporting of project activities in the field.
• Conduct regular thematic awareness-raising activities aimed at reaching the most vulnerable communities.
• Ensure UNFPA’s visibility on the products and services.
• Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.
Results/Expected Outputs:
• Effective support provided to local youth and young IDPs through the implementation of various activities tailored to meet their humanitarian needs, including the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid, establishment of support mechanisms and referral systems, and enhancing the provision of psychosocial support, counseling, and trauma-informed interventions.
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment.
• Prepare a final statement of achievements highlighting your contributions to volunteerism in humanitarian response and development, including reports on the number of young people assisted, activities participated in, and capacities developed.
Host entity support to the UN Volunteer includes, but is not limited to:
• Introductory briefings about the organization and office-related context including security, emergency procedures, good cultural practice and orientation to the local environment;
• Support with arrival administration including setting-up of bank accounts, residence permit applications and completion of other official processes as required by the host government or host entity;
• Structured guidance, mentoring and coaching including a clear workplan and performance appraisal;
• Access to shared host entity corporate knowledge, training and learning;
• Inclusion of the volunteer in emergency procedures such as evacuations;
• Leave management;
• DSA for official travel, when applicable;
• All changes in the Description of Assignment occurring between recruitment and arrival or during the assignment need to be formalized with the United Nations Volunteer Programme.
Furthermore, UN Community Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work.
As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:
• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and taking active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Provide end-of-assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities.
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.