In Ukraine, UNDP operates in five programmatic areas of support: government capacities for crisis response and management; sustaining provision of public services; emergency works facilitating return and reconstruction; incomes, livelihoods and the private sector response; and civil society and maintenance of the social fabric.

Today Ukraine is facing its most serious challenges since achieving independence in 1991. The ongoing war has already resulted in significant loss of life, unprecedented displacement, internally and towards neighboring countries, and devastating destruction of infrastructure. The war has already resulted in significant loss of life; unprecedented displacement, internally and towards neighbouring countries; and devastating destruction of infrastructure. Eighteen years of socio-economic achievements in Ukraine are at risk. UNDP’s core engagement is to preserve development gains as fully as possible, and to return Ukraine to pathways towards achieving the SDGs as quickly as possible.

UNDP launched its Resilience Building and Recovery (RBR) framework for Ukraine on 11 April 2022 to immediately respond to the development and humanitarian challenges. The overall objective is to preserve development gains in Ukraine, mitigating risks of descent into a governance and service delivery crisis, embedding activities for recovery from the onset of the humanitarian effort, and facilitating a swift return to development pathways and processes for national attainment of the SDGs.

The project Support for the Stabilisation and Recovery of War-Affected Communities (frontline areas, areas to which IDPs return and hosts) was launched in 2022 thanks to generous financing of the Government of the Kingdome of the Netherlands. It seeks to to protect development gains alongside the provision of time-critical assistance. The project’s approach aims to unlock the inner development potential of the community by fostering synergies between local residents and authorities, to ultimately strengthen the collective ability to i) respond effectively and in an inclusive manner to challenges arising during and as a consequence of the return and recovery process and ii) collaborate to enhance the community development process.

The Project Harnessing the potential of vulnerable groups for stabilization and recovery of eastern and southern regions of Ukraine has been designed to provide comprehensive support across three interlinked strategic directions: the re-establishment/enhancement of security service provision, including in areas that were significantly affected by the war and temporarily not under the control of the Government of Ukraine; the creation of inclusive and participatory mechanisms for community-led reintegration of veterans and their family members, enhancing service provision to the veteran community while at the same time unlocking their social and human capital to the benefit of community recovery; and supporting the meaningful engagement of women, and especially young women, in planning, implementation, and monitoring of recovery processes, in supporting the social fabric and resilience of their communities, thus unlocking the gender transformative potential of the recovery and social cohesion processes. The project is generously funded by the Government of Germany through the Stabilization Unit within the German Federal Foreign Office and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France.

Both projects include extensive activities seeking to build capacities of civil society and non-governmental organization to participate in the recovery processes, including through the design and implementation of grant projects. The Small Grants Associate will be responsible for assisting and supporting in the management and oversight of the grant-making process, its operations and efficient delivery of the results ensuring high quality and accuracy of work.

The incumbent will promote UNDP’s mandate as a gender-responsive organization with zero tolerance for any kind of discriminatory and abusive behaviour, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse.

Assistance in developing, implementation and monitoring of grants programs, preparing and maintaining related records, reports, and documentation:

•     Providing initial review of grant applications for completeness and compliance, assist with tracking grant applications and managing timelines and deliverables;

•     Processing and sending final grant agreements, amendments, and routine correspondence, keep Project team abreast of progress of agreements/amendments/correspondence;

•     Supporting monitoring grantee performance to ensure achievement of project performance targets and proper use of funds by reviewing grantee programmatic and financial reports, performing site and events visits to grantees;

Facilitating liaison and cooperation between the Project, donors and key partner stakeholders:

•     Assisting in the development and maintenance of knowledge and familiarity with current and potential partners, support to establishing and maintaining strategic contacts with relevant partners, follow-up proactively on plans and agreed actions;

•     Supporting organization and coordination of capacity development activities, meetings, training sessions, conferences and other project events in online and offline format through liaison with project partners, maintaining events’ calendar, providing input to compilation and preparation of agendas and briefings, background and presentation materials, engaging and registering participants, documenting the results.

Perform other duties within their functional profile as assigned by the Small Grants Officer and Community Security and Social Cohesion Specialist and/or UNDP management.

Institutional Arrangement 

Under the overall guidance of the Community Security and Social Cohesion Specialist, operational daily supervision of Community Security and Social Cohesion Coordinator and direct supervision of Small Grants Officer, the Small Grants Associate will be responsible for assisting and supporting of the management and oversight of the grant-making process, its operations and efficient delivery of the results.

Achieve Results:   LEVEL 1: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work
Think Innovatively:   LEVEL 1: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
Learn Continuously:   LEVEL 1: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
Adapt with Agility:   LEVEL 1: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process
Act with Determination:   LEVEL 1: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
Engage and Partner:   LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
Enable Diversity and Inclusion:   LEVEL 1: Create ethical culture,  identify/address barriers to inclusion

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Business Direction & Strategy – Entrepreneurial Thinking – Ability to create clarity around UNDP value proposition to beneficiaries and partners and to develop service offers responding to client needs based on UNDP’s organizational priorities and mandate.
Business Direction & Strategy – Negotiation and Influence – Ability to reach an understanding, persuade others, resolve points of difference, gain advantage in the outcome of dialogue, negotiates mutually acceptable solutions through compromise and creates ‘win-win’ situations.
Business Development – Knowledge Facilitation – Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally.
Business Development – UNDP Representation – Ability to represent UNDP and productively share UNDP knowledge and activities; advocate for UNDP, its values, mission and work with various constituencies.
Business Management – Partnerships Management – Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.
Business Management – Communication: 

• Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels

External Relations & Advocacy – Partnership management – Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships, and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder funding platforms

Required Skills and Experience

• Experience in engaging with local stakeholders;
• Previous work experience in the UN System or Develoment sector will be desirable
• Previous experience within UNDP or other UN agencies, a governmental, other multilateral or civil society organization is highly desirable.
• Experience in grant management, especially in the areas of community security, local development, social cohesion, civic engagement, support to civil society is an advantage.

• Fluency in the UN language of the duty station is required.
• Fluency in the national language of the duty station is required for local personnel.