OPERATIONS MANAGER (Ukraine Nationals Only)

12 month Contract

ActionAid is a global federation working for a world free from poverty and injustice in 45 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, and America. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression.

Our strategy is to build international momentum for social, economic, and environmental justice, driven by people living in poverty and exclusion. In practice, this means working closely with people living in poverty and exclusion, civil society organisations, social movements, and supporters.

Together, we deliver grassroots programmes, provide emergency relief and campaign for things such as women’s economic rights, tax justice and climate justice.

ActionAid’s Humanitarian Approach

Emergencies are a strategic priority for ActionAid. We believe that crisis and disaster-affected people have the right to assistance. Our emergency responses are guided by our Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) and Humanitarian Signature – our federation-wide, non-negotiable approach to humanitarian preparedness, response, and recovery which all humanitarian interventions must adhere to, and which is built around the pillars of:

• Aiming for all programmes to be women- and young-people led, supporting women, young people, their organisations and networks to have more influence at the national, regional and global level.
• Shifting the power from North to South, international to local, from a male dominated system to one where women, young people, their organisations, and networks play a central role.
• Working with communities and local organisations to hold agencies (e.g. national governments, donors and INGOs) accountable.
• Supporting community resilience to prepare for, mitigate, respond, recover, and build back better from crises. Interventions with a long-term perspective.

ActionAid’s response to Ukraine Crisis

Given the acute situation in Ukraine and its global impact, ActionAid has decided to immediately respond to the humanitarian crisis.

Building on ActionAid’s existing partnerships and alliances in countries bordering Ukraine, we are setting up a local partner-led humanitarian response focusing initially on refugees, strengthening women’s and young people’s leadership, and providing immediate humanitarian relief, psychosocial counselling support and prevention of gender-based violence. ActionAid

Spain (Alianza) is the lead for this response, supported by the ActionAid International Humanitarian and Resilience Team (IHART) in line with ActionAid’s internal emergency classification policy.

Our response will include:

• Multi-sectoral assistance to Ukrainian refugees in neighbouring host countries, including food, shelter, winterisation support, health, Non-Food Items (NFIs), livelihoods, rental support and/or water, sanitation, hygiene, both in-kind and via cash assistance; and language support.
• Multi-sectoral protection services for refugee women and girls affected by/at risk of SGBV and trafficking, including case management, protection counselling, psychosocial support, legal assistance, safe spaces, referral to specialised service providers and/or economic autonomy support.
• Multi-sectoral support to refugee girls, boys, and youth, including psychological first aid and psychosocial support; educational support, including educational kits and learning materials, provision of Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) to support refugee families in meeting education-related costs, and/or learning support for out-of-school children and youth; and/or child and youth-friendly spaces and recreational activities.
• Target groups will include refugee women and girls affected by/at risk of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), trafficking and sexual exploitation; refugee children and youth (girls and boys), elderly women and men, women and girls, and men and boys with disabilities.

ActionAid has well established global safety and security systems which are supported by a global network of security focal points (SFPs). The ultimate responsibility for safety and security sits with the member/country leadership and related governance structures. About 2/3 of ActionAid’s members are either members or affiliates, with their separate boards, and 1/3 are country programmes, currently supported through the governance structures of ActionAid International. ActionAid Spain (Alianza) is a member of the ActionAid federation with a separate board of governance.

Responsibilities:

• Manage and oversee all of AA’s operations in Ukraine to ensure our strategic goals are achieved, in order to support the humanitarian programme activities, including but not limited to logistics, admin, finance and translation/interpretation.
• Develop an updated operations plan and budget to support implementation of AA programmes in Ukraine
• Identify and manage the Office space on a day-to-day basis
• Liaise and oversee agreements with suppliers and contractors
• Lead on legal matters related to registration, opening bank accounts and work permits
• Oversee the guest-house management for International Staff in Kyiv
• Work with Security Advisor to develop and update relevant SOPs and ensure staff are aware of them
• Advise the Humanitarian Manager on risk management and mitigation concerning operations in Ukraine
• Coordinate and build networks with other Operations Officials in partner NGOs, UN and other INGOs
• Mentor staff to ensure they are supported to carry out their roles
• Ensure that the staff are informed, fully understand and comply with ActionAid staff rules and regulations
• Ensure appropriate procedures and systems are in place around administration, finance and logistics.
• Ensure smooth workflow and coordination between support functions and programme staff.

Qualifications & Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of experience working with an NGO or equivalent role in another organisation
• Relevant degree in humanitarian studies, logistics and business administration or relevant equivalent experience
• Technical skills in all aspects of emergency and/or operational response operations and ability to solve problems and find solutions independently
• Proven ability to set clear priorities and handle challenging workloads
• Ability to think ahead and be proactive in implementing relevant procedures after sign off
• Demonstrated ability to work in multi-cultural and diverse team
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, fluency in English and relevant local languages
• Working experience in an INGO is an asset

Attributes

• Committed to the values of ActionAid and feminist leadership
• Proactively finds innovative and creative solutions, is efficient and reliable, adapts to change and uncertainty, is decisive and acts with integrity
• Building good relationships with staff members, involves others when solving problems and treats others with consideration and respect
• Contributes to building core skills among more junior members of staff
• A positive and outgoing attitude.
• Ability to demonstrate an openness and willingness to learn about the application of gender/gender mainstreaming, women’s rights, and diversity for all aspects of development work