Country Director – Ukraine

The Opportunity

In the MEEE Region, Save the Children currently operates a significant portfolio of programmes in 19 countries across Eastern Europe, the Caucuses and the Middle East. It has a workforce of over 2,000 staff and annual expenditure for 2022 is expected to be in excess of $ 300 million. A large portion of these programmes consist of responses to large humanitarian emergencies (Yemen, Ukraine and Syria). We also work in countries with chronic humanitarian situations (Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq) as well as regular, smaller emergencies (Bosnia Herzegovina, Greece, and the refugee and migration influx into Turkey and Europe).

Since the significant military escalation in Ukraine of the 24th February 2022, an estimated 4.9 million people have fled to neighbouring countries and an estimated 7.1 Million people are now internally displaced. Continuing armed conflict has led to considerable damage to infrastructure and significantly impacted basic services leading to widespread humanitarian needs that continue to grow.

Save the Children along with key national and international actors on the ground is responding to those needs. The Country Director in Ukraine will be overall accountable for leading and supporting the Save the Children response to the humanitarian response in Ukraine with an expected annual budget in excess of $ 100M.

In tandem with the Ukraine Senior Management Team (SMT), the CD will lead the scale up of the response to meet urgent humanitarian needs across Ukraine and be the primary Save the Children representative with the government, donor representatives, peer agencies and local communities.

Save the Children response in Ukraine is expected to have a national footprint providing humanitarian assistance across a number of key technical areas, including for child protection, education, health, nutrition and water and sanitation.

The CD will work with the technical programme teams to ensure that a high quality of programming is delivered to vulnerable populations in need of humanitarian assistance, including programmes that will be delivered through a range of institutional partnerships.

Finally, the CD is accountable for appropriate fiscal management of the Ukraine response and ensuring strong management of risks, including in relation to safety and security, donor compliance and key legal and regulatory risks.

Key Areas of Accountability:

Country Strategy and Leadership

* Lead on the humanitarian response plan and operational plans’ development. The CD ensures that the humanitarian response plan identifies and addresses significant issues facing children, and is developed in line with Save the Children’s overall strategy and the theory of change;

* Ensure the development of a clear advocacy and partnership strategy based on key short- and long-term humanitarian and development needs for children;

* Ensure strategic growth of the country programme portfolio along with the quality of delivery to become the leading agency in responding to the needs of children affected by the current conflict

* Ensure that the focus of the organisation remains on the rights and needs of children and deliver improved outcomes for children through implementation of high-quality programs;

* Develop and maintain strong relations with Save the Children Member organisations and their donors;

* Engage Save the Children staff, partners and other stakeholders to create real shared ownership and collaboration.

* Following initial scale up of the humanitarian response, lead and champion a process to develop a medium-term strategy for Save the Children in Ukraine that is aligned to and driven by the external context;

Representation, Coordination, Advocacy and Partnerships

* Regularly undertake high-level representation at a national, regional and international level with Government partners, media as well as donor representatives and NGO counterparts, including within the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT)

* Develop the capacity of senior national staff to ensure they can represent the agency in different forums and meetings;

* Identify opportunities and materials to contribute to effective communication and media to promote Save the Children programs;

* Establish effective networks with donors, civil society and government in country to increase the impact and sustainability of Save the Children’s work across Ukraine

* Establish systems for communication with local Government partners, relevant line departments and community representations in the project area(s) with a particular focus on new project locations

* Help shape broader sector strategies through influencing the inter-agency coordination forums, ensuring that the specific needs of children are being addressed;

* Ensure that partners’ and Save the Children’s work is coordinated with efforts of other agencies and the Government at both national and regional levels

* Collaborate with the colleagues in the region to deliver regional and sub-regional programmes and advocacy

* Ensure strong coordination and collaboration with the regional response to the Ukraine crisis, particularly the responses in Poland, Romania and Lithuania;

* Ensure strong coordination and collaboration with the MEEE regional office across all key functional areas

Strengthening Operations delivery and staff capacity

* Develop and maintain efficient and effective operating systems, and ensure compliance with all Save the Children KPIs, Humanitarian Principles and Essential Standards;

* Together with the Deputy Country Director for Programme Operations – ensure that a robust operational platform is put in place to support the rapid scale up of the humanitarian response

* Work with the DCD Operations to ensure that adequate support and oversight is provided to all field locations, particularly in the early stages of the response;

* Ensure strict compliance of programme activities with Save the Children and partners’ policies and practice with respect to child protection, code of conduct including child safeguarding;

* Ensure optimal staff structure and well-planned growth or decrease of operations due to change in funding streams;

* Ensure that adequate systems and processes are put in place to ensure robust management of key risks as outlined in the country risk framework;

* Create an environment of continuous learning, where staff are encouraged and supported to grow and develop and are willing to be held accountable for their commitments;

* Developing and coaching staff to optimise their potential in pursuit of Save the Children’s objectives;

* Identify national staff with high potential and develop succession plan for them to take over the roles of international staff;

* Role modelling and leading the way on Save the Children’s values and ways of working.

Fundraising

* Lead the team in responding to the new business opportunities; ensure development of high-quality concept notes and proposals in line with the approved humanitarian response plan;

* Ensure effective collaboration with members to preposition the CO for upcoming funding opportunities;

* Ensure donor landscape assessment and in coordination with members develop and implement donor engagement strategy and plans;

* Network with donors in the country and represent Save the Children at donor events.

Programme management and implementation

* Assume overall oversight of programs’ implementation in Ukraine;

* Ensure timely delivery of the projects and full compliance with donor rules and regulation;

* Ensure management oversight over programme implementation including timely delivery of programmatic activities within the agreed budget outputs, outcome and impact indicators;

* Ensure key quality standards for programme delivery are met in line with Save the Children standards and applicable international standards such as the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS);

* Ensure timely preparation of quality reports to donors and members in compliance with the internal requirements and relevant external donor requirements; ensure timely submission of requests for awards amendments;

* Have oversight over the development of 6-12 month master budgets and take overall leadership on the implementation of country office budgets;

* Regularly visit and monitor projects and provide timely feedback to the project teams;

* Oversee effective functioning of supply chain systems to procure, store and distribute stock, supplies and services for the timely delivery of project objectives at country level;

In order to be successful you will bring/have:

Essential

* Extensive management and leadership experience in NGO sector; Strong experience record of effective team management in both humanitarian response and development contexts;

* Experience of building, leading and developing a team of senior staff with different backgrounds and expertise;

* Strong diplomacy skills with the ability to effectively resolve challenges across multiple stakeholders and multiple topics

* Building Effective Teams and Partnerships: inspiring others to collaborate. Previous experience of working with local partners in emergency, recovery and development contexts and displaced populations

* Extensive experience in regional responses

* Experience of building personal networks at a senior level, resulting in securing new opportunities for the organisation

* Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy-in;

* Experience of managing multi-donor, multi-site programmes;

* Good understanding of programme, financial and operational management processes

* Strong budget management skills and experience of developing and negotiating successful partnerships with institutional donors

* Security management experience in insecure environments

* Strong networking and influencing skills and experience in advocacy

* Experience of national/international level representation with media and key stakeholders, and co-ordination with other NGOs and UN

* A high level of written and spoken English

* The capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances.

* Commitment to the aims and principles of Save the Children. In particular, a good understanding of the Save the Children’s mandate and child focus and an ability to ensure this continues to underpin our programmes.

Desirable

* UN, SIDA, OFDA, ECHO and/or DFID programme management experience

* Education to Masters level in a relevant subject or equivalent field experience

* Media trained

* Fluent in Russian or Ukrainian

The Organisation

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information:

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application, and include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/careers

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.