Country/Context background: Alliance2015 members, Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe (WHH), have been jointly working together in Ukraine since February 2022, using their combined resources and reach, to ensure a quick and effective emergency response to assist the population affected by the conflict.
This response, known as JERU (Joint Emergency Response in Ukraine), is working across Ukraine to help internally displaced people (IDPs), returnees and vulnerable host community members through multipurpose cash assistance, in-kind food and NFI assistance, protection services and support for livelihoods. JERU implements a significant proportion of its programme in partnership with local and national NGOs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
About the role: It is envisaged that this role will run until end of December 2025 on an unaccompanied basis and will be based in Poltava, Ukraine, with regular travel around the programme areas in Sumy, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Dnipro, Zaporhzhzia, Khmelnitsky and Ternopil. The Salary for this role is based on Grade 4 (€45,457 – €50,509).
The role will report to the Programme Director (PD), and will provide high-level technical support and advice to support the different Heads of Projects implementing emergency programming across Ukraine.
Your purpose: The Rapid Response Coordinator (RRC) will provide leadership for the overall development and coordination of JERU’s rapid response mechanism, ensuring it is delivered to a very high standard. By providing high-level technical advice and support, the RRC will ensure that rapid response and preparedness plans are in place and that rapid response activities for the Ukraine programme are implemented successfully and according to the respective project budgets, donor guidelines and timeframes, whilst meeting the highest standards of quality and accountability. The RRC will use their expert knowledge to continuously improve standards and practice around rapid responses, positioning and preparing the country team and their partners to respond quickly and effectively to rapid onset emergencies and will work closely with the Heads of Projects, the partners and JERU’s partnership team in this regard. The role will also be responsible for positioning the organisation to respond to an ever-changing context and donor environment and for the development of JERU national partner’s expertise in rapid response programming more generally.
In this role, the RRC will:
Coordination and Leadership:
- As the designated in-country focal point and technical expert for rapid response, maintain familiarity with, and ensure adherence to, sector standards and tools.
- Coordinate and advice on JERU-led emergency assessments and participate in other relevant joint assessments as requested by the PD/CD.
- Provide high-level technical leadership in the implementation of JERU emergency programmes, ensuring adherence with JERU Ukraine country strategy.
- Ensure that JERU’s internal mechanisms are optimised to support rapid response.
- Develop and maintain a strong network of key contacts with other INGOs, local partners, OCHA and other UN agencies to ensure complementarity and avoid duplication of activities.
- Participate actively in relevant clusters, coordination meetings and fora and act as JERU representative, as requested by the PD/CD.
- Develop and document lessons learned and success stories, sharing information where appropriate, and promoting good relations and collaboration with other actors.
- Working closely with MEAL colleagues and providing technical advice to ensure evaluations and reviews of our rapid response across Ukraine take place in a timely and appropriate manner.
- Develop high-quality strategies and plans that contribute to raising the profile of JERU as a lead response expert organisation in Ukraine.
- Provide monthly situation reports for frontline regions.
- Work actively with partners to build their capacity and to develop, improve and harmonize tools for emergency programming.
- Participate in donor calls and meetings, preparing and presenting regular, informative project updates.
Programme Management, Quality and Development
- Plan rapid responses in collaboration with JERU teams and partners, ensuring clear follow up to recommendations from relevant assessments.
- Assist in the development of funding proposals in line with JERU country strategy.
- Provide expert strategic input into the planning, implementation, technical development, monitoring and evaluation of JERU rapid responses in Ukraine.
- Support project launch and closure, collect and disseminate lessons learned and success stories and support learning initiatives across all grants.
- In close collaboration with the PD, support and guide Heads of Projects in developing accurate financial forecasting for rapid response interventions and monitor expenditures on rapid response activities, ensuring resources are optimised and spending is in line with JERU financial procedures and donor requirements.
- Ensure that programme partners understand and adhere to donor strategy, donor guidelines, formats and processes.
- Support Heads of Projects in procurement processes for emergency responses where needed, coordinating closely with relevant departments.
- Ensure that donor proposals, budgets and reports are of high quality, up to date and delivered in a timely manner in accordance with internal policies/procedures and donor requirements.
- Work closely with Heads of Projects and partner teams to develop objectives, indicators, activities, and clear monitoring frameworks (including, where appropriate, remote monitoring plans) for each rapid response project in collaboration with the Programme Director.
- In close coordination with the partnership team and the MEAL team, conduct regular field visits to support and provide technical advice to programme partners and closely follow and monitor programme implementation.
Staff and Partner Management and Development:
- Support the identification and development of the programme team staff dedicated to emergency response projects, including the preparation of ToRs, job description, induction and training.
- Act as technical lead, providing technical advice to programme staff working in rapid response and collaborate closely with their line managers for their Performance and Development Reviews (PDRs).
- Actively build the capacity of team members on rapid response mechanisms, its standards and its practice.
Your skills and experience will include:
Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:
- Relevant Masters’ degree or equivalent
- At least 5 to 7 years of relevant experience, with a minimum of 3 years of management or technical advisory experience in multi-sectoral programmes in a complex emergency context, with proven experience in all aspects of the programme cycle.
- Strong technical experience of managing and/or coordinating rapid response mechanisms between a group of NGOs.
- A proven record of working in partnerships with national NGOs.
- Knowledge of cash-based interventions.
- Experience in external representation with authorities and other relevant stakeholders.
- Good command of English – spoken and written.
- A proven record of effective team and people management.
- Experience of building capacity of partners and staff.
- Understanding and experience of mainstreaming issues of gender equity into project planning and implementation.
- Sensitivity to cultural differences, and the ability to work in a wide variety of cultural contexts.
- Excellent knowledge in proposal and report writing.
- Excellent teamwork skills and the ability to build good relations both internally and externally.
- Proven experience of building capacity of partners and staff.
- Analytical and problem solving skills.
- Proven financial management skills.
- Ability to organise and prioritise workload, using initiative when appropriate.
- Ability to cope with stress; work under pressure often to strict deadlines.
- Strong facilitation and interpersonal skills.
- Proven influencing and negotiating skills with internal and external audiences.
- Commitment to Concern’s ethos and values.
- Sound IT skills, including Word and Excel.
How to apply
Apply with a CV and Cover Letter through our website:
CVs should be no more than 4 pages in length.