Consultant – Social Protection Advisor – Ukraine Cash Consortium – Remote with travel

Background:

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.

The USAID/BHA funded ‘Ukraine Cash Consortium’ (UCC) was established in April 2022 to meet basic needs through provision of multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) and non-cash humanitarian aid to vulnerable Ukrainians, while also enhancing access to reliable information and the protection environment. It is a partnership primed by Mercy Corps and including the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and People In Need (PIN) as well as multiple Ukrainian civil society organizations.

As the conflict moves into the second year, linking humanitarian cash programming with government-led shock responsive social protection mechanisms is an increasing priority across government and humanitarian actors. Cash transfers have a long history in Ukraine through social protection programs with many programs targeting different vulnerable populations across the country. Since the escalation of the conflict the Government of Ukraine has established a solid platform for delivering large scale humanitarian assistance yet alignment and integration between the international humanitarian response and locally systems are still in a nascent phase.

The UCC has taken several steps to consider elements of existing social protection systems into programme design and are working in coordination with the Cash Working Group on harmonization of humanitarian cash programming across different actors. The foundations for identifying and actioning linkages between humanitarian cash and social protection are set in terms of the intent of the UCC and the enabling environment in Ukraine. The UCC is now seeking to identify an experienced social protection expert to support the consortium’ social protection strategy development including as the response makes efforts to transition to locally led shock-response systems.

Purpose / Project Description:

The Consultant will lead the development of the UCC’s strategic direction as it considers alignment and integration with the government’s shock responsive social protection mechanisms and referrals to appropriate social protection services within the country. The Consultant will lead key research to analyze and identify entry points and any required strategic shifts for the consortium requiring coordination across consortium partners alongside proactive engagement in external facing social protection fora.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will:

Research and learning

• Based on previous mapping exercises, research, and guidance notes related to the response, conduct a mapping of referral pathways for entry points to social protection programs in Ukraine.

Strategic direction on social protection

• Lead the process of defining the consortium’ strategic direction on social protection through consultation with UCC partners.
• Feed into internal strategic discussion on resource development to identify packages of social protection work for presenting to potential donors.
• Provide technical advice and high-level talking points on the Perekhid Initiative for UCC senior management.

Internal and external coordination and representation

• Lead the UCC sub-working group on social protection.
• Provide direct support to the UCC in developing strategies for national level advocacy on social protection.
• Represent the UCC in social protection coordination groups and provide guidance to partner staff as requested for external engagements on social protection.

Workshops and trainings

• Lead the development of an in-person social protection workshop on behalf of the UCC for the wider humanitarian community.
• Provide in-house capacity building sessions for UCC partner staff.

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant will accomplish/deliver the following:

• UCC Staff training on Social Protection and links with humanitarian cash;
• Chair the Cash2SP UCC sub WG and minutes of meetings;
• UCC strategy on linking cash2SP;
• UCC workshop with partners on linking cash2SP;
• Presentation of strategy to OCU and SC;
• Donor presentation on linking cash2SP for the UCC.

Timeframe / Schedule:

50 days

The Consultant will report to:

UCC Cash Technical Advisor / UCC Director when the Technical Advisor is not working.

Required Experience & Skills:

• 5-10 years of experience in a technically relevant field.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to build effective partnerships and work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience multipurpose cash assistance, and Social Protection programming and implementation.
• Proven analytical and conceptual thinking, high level research, project management knowledge and skills.
• Proven management experience at a strategic level in a complex, dispersed organization with evidence of leading, facilitating and integrating Social Protection across a wide network, providing clarity and focus, strategic planning and decision making and the delivery of agreed results.
• Politically astute, with high impact influencing and persuasive skills and personal gravitas to gain respect and build and maintain strong, credible relationships, with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required, knowledge Ukrainian is an asset.
• Willingness to travel to Ukraine.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity
We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our stakeholders and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.