Liaison Officer – Eastern Ukraine in CARE

Location: Dnipro

Reporting line manager: Area Manager

Duration: 12 months 

Conditions: Employment contract, gross monthly salary starting from  Euro  1679 depending on proven relevant experience for the post. Moving allowance to Dnipro: Euro 600 lump sum (one time), applicable for staff recruited from outside the base. Annual leave of 28 days per fiscal year.

Starting date: ASAP  

CARE INTERNATIONAL

CARE International (CI) is among the world’s largest international non-governmental humanitarian relief and development confederations. Drawing on more than 75 years of experience, through its 21 Members, as both a practitioner and thought leader, CI’s work reaches over 100 countries worldwide to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. 

CARE’s vision is to seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice; where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE focuses heavily on women and girls, and the areas of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion are at the center of our work because we know that we cannot overcome poverty and social injustice until all people have equal rights and opportunities. We recognize that power relations between people and within systems and structures are unequal and that these are entrenched in our broader systems, structures, and institutions.

At the core of the CI Confederation is a globally distributed Secretariat, which provides coordination and support to its Members in areas including governance, strategic planning, communications, membership development and accountability, advocacy, humanitarian response, and program development. In addition, the Secretariat represents the CI Confederation at the United Nations and the European Union, and with other external stakeholders.

Context in Ukraine

On 24th February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marked a significant escalation to the conflict that started in 2014. It continues to profoundly impact the lives of people across the country at various levels. The front line is continuously shifting and there are areas controlled by Russian forces as well as cities under siege. Aerial attacks on military installations and critical civilian infrastructures are conducted in the whole territory of Ukraine, often resulting in collateral civilian casualties. The conflict has caused the largest population movement in Europe since World War II, with 6.24 million displaced within Ukraine and 7.68 million refugees having fled to neighboring countries. By October 26, OCHA had counted 17.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. 

CARE UKRAINE

CARE Ukraine prioritizes a locally led response and is partnering primarily with Civil-Society Organizations (CSOs), National NGOs, local authorities, and when needed, INGOs with a longstanding presence in the country and access to hard-to-reach areas. CARE Ukraine deliberately and strategically prioritizes partnerships with local and national Women Led andWomen Rights organizations (WLO’s/ WRO’s), further strengthening the Gender in Emergencies (GiE) principle and the Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) approach.

In the first few weeks after the escalation of the war, virtually all humanitarian aid inside Ukraine was organized and implemented by local actors. These groups (together with local authorities) remain the principal aid providers but are quickly being exhausted of funds, fuel, and physical energy. Thereby, a considerable proportion of CARE’s resources is dedicated to strengthening and supporting the capacities of local partners. 

As of May 2022, CARE Ukraine has established partnerships with more than 20 national organizations (incl. four WLOs/WROs) and five international NGOs. From more than 45 million € that have been raised for Ukraine thus far, around 70% is allocated to local and national partners. Through the activities that have been implemented so far, CARE Ukraine has been able to reach 759,651 people, including IDPs and affected populations in hard-to-reach areas.

While CARE Ukraine’s country office is currently located in Lviv, we are continuously working on strategically expanding CARE’s presence and reach with a coordination office in Kyiv as well as area offices in Dnipro and Odessa, covering both the East and South of the country. 

Role Objectives

The Area Liaison Officer supports the Area Manager and area program teams in maintaining and developing CARE's relations with oblast level authorities. He/She will liaise with relevant officials to ensure timely and effective coordination of CARE’s area offices in the target oblasts. He/She will be responsible to keep healthy relationships with the local authorities of the target oblasts, raions and hromadas as well as with CARE’s stakeholders, including humanitarian agencies, civil society organizations and relevant official bodies/offices. The position is decisive in terms of promoting the role of CARE in oblasts by fostering its image, brand and representing the organization in coordination meetings with key stakeholders; map the various governmental actors, LNGOs/CSOs and other groups; assist with organizing trainings workshops and other events. He/She plays a key role in successful conduct of the CARE’s mission in those governorates and reports directly to the Area Managerof intervention.

The position holder will be essentially responsible for:

1. Overall coordination in representing CARE with the Government entities and other key stakeholders in the targeted areas including reinforcement healthy and effective relationship with them:

• Support senior staff for meetings with government entities whenever demanded including interpretation/translation process. 
• Regularly communicate with local authorities’ focal points, to support effective inter-organizational communications. 
• Manage timely and accurate dissemination and response to government orders, information, documents and letters related to CARE’s program. 
• Facilitate obtaining team’s movements and permits for program operation and activities implementation in the targeted areas with the relevant stakeholders and government authorities.

1. Develop and maintain awareness of relevant governmental laws, policies and procedures that have significant impact on CARE’s operation in the targeted areas: 

• Updating of contact list for the key stakeholders.
• Keep abreast and monitor of policies and procedure developments in relevant oblasts and regularly and internally share summaries with the Area Manager and Area Safety & Security Coordinator on changes impacts on CARE and its program and to support CARE compliance with domestic legislation and guidance. 
• Capture and share lessons learned for ensuring adequate collaboration with different levels of local authorities and its official bodies in the target areas 
• Ensure proper archiving and filing of all incoming and outgoing documents related to assignment. 
• Coordinate with other INGOs to analyze and document best practices for engaging with the local authorities and obtaining programs/projects approvals 
• Regularly (or on an ad hoc basis) internally discuss bureaucratic impediments suffered by CARE’s field offices in the target areas and follow up issues with respective bodies.

1. Building the capacity of the relevant government entities to overcome challenges and to facilitate delivering programs/projects outputs to the beneficiaries timely and in a proper manner:

• Through regular feedback from relevant government entities to identify key areas for development and specific capacity building needs of their staff and offices and to be shared with Area Manager and Safety and Security Coordinator to be included in developed proposals. 
• By close coordination with Area Manager and Safety and Security Coordinator to invite relevant governmental sides to trainings, workshops, assessments and other events.
• Support monitoring and evaluation processes of CARE projects/Programs and joint visits with authorities at oblast/hromada/raion level.

Additional job responsibilities:

• Support Area Manager and area office programme teams with interpretation/translation of relevant documents, external correspondence, meetings and workshops.

Essential criteria:

Mandatory:

• University degree in social sciences, international relations, development, or a related field.
• Strong written and oral English and Ukrainian; knowledge of Russian would be considered an asset.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Experience of liaison and representation with senior level authorities in the target areas 
• Good knowledge of governance and administrative structures within Ukraine. 
• Ability to work in diverse cultural and challenging field environments.
• Knowledge of humanitarian coordination mechanisms, international NGO and UN mandates 
• Demonstrated diplomatic communication skills with ability to build a strong network with a variety of stakeholders 
• Ability to work under pressure and to deadlines. 
• Ability to absorb complex written and verbal information and communicate effectively. 
• Works effectively in partnership and gains confidence of stakeholders and colleagues 
• Demonstrated ability to make strong judgements independently 
• Excellent networking skills 
• Ability to plan develop and deliver outreach talks and coordination meetings to relevant stakeholders. 
• Prioritizes tasks and organizes own time effectively 
• Commitment to the organization's mission and principles.
• Able to do required regular travel within a designated Local Authority area and may also require travel outside the area, thus flexibility is required to meet this need as it appears. 
• His/her service may incorporate an “Out of hours” service. The post holder will need to fulfil listed duties as may be required of the service 
• An understanding and observance of impartiality and confidentiality 

Desired 

• Ability to engage and influence government authorities and its departments to achieve results. 
• Ability to strengthen effective working relationships at all levels. 
• Flexible and adaptable style/approach towards the requirements of the role and the business demands 

Expected:

• Strong analytical skills for identification of key issues 
• Strong skills in MS office (Excel, Word, etc.).
• Good communication, negotiation and organizational skills.
• Ability to work as part of a team and culturally sensitive and able to work in multi-cultural team.
• Unquestionable personal code of ethics, integrity, diversity, and trust.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to effectively advocate on behalf of CARE.
• Knowledge of humanitarian principles, standards and other humanitarian related issues.
• Strong belief in human rights and gender equality.
• Strong confidentiality ethic, demonstrate flexibility, and versatility in adjusting to changing environments and requirements as necessary.
• Demonstrated high attention to details. 
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize tasks and produce results in a timely and quality manner

Accountability within CARE:

A commitment to CARE values and CARE’s integrity framework is critical to working with CARE. Any candidate offered a job with CARE will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability:

• Comply with CARE’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a CARE staff or partner.

Safeguarding:

Children and vulnerable adults who come into contact with CARE as a result of our activities must be safeguarded tothe maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that CARE shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

Gender equality:

CARE is committed to meeting the standards of the CARE International Gender Policy (2019). Through this policy, CARE seeks to promote the equal realization of dignity and human rights for girls, women, boys and men in all diversities, and the elimination of poverty and injustice. Specifically, this policy seeks to improve the explicit incorporation of gender in programmatic and organizational practices.

How to Apply:

Please send your complete application package (CV, motivation letter) only in English to <[email protected]>, no later than 12st of June 2024, with Liaison Officer East as the subject title of your email.  Please name your documents Surname_CV, Surname_Cover Letter Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.