Grants and Сapacity Building Associate

Background

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 economic impact of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, launched on 24 February 2022, will be significant at national, regional and global levels as per initial analysis and forecasts from the IMF and OECD. UNDP’s early projections  suggest that 18 years of development gains could be wiped out in the next 12 to 18 months with 90 percent of the Ukrainian population potentially facing poverty and extreme economic vulnerability should the war deepen.

Entrepreneurs from the east and south parts of Ukraine face three main challenges: displacement, loss of assets and need for integration into the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Both the City and the Oblast Administration have structured economic support and recovery interventions, focusing on supporting local businesses and businesses looking to relocate in the Region. 

To address those challenges, and in alignment with national and local plans and strategies, UNDP has structured support interventions to:

•             Support local economies by boosting the capacities of local MSMEs, equitably targeting women- and men-led businesses;

•             Support relocation processes of businesses from the eastern, southern and central regions of Ukraine. 

These interventions aimed in the short- and medium-term will build up on the incentives set by local authorities, as well as on the subsequent phases of recovery, where support will focus on strengthening businesses to become export-oriented with the aim of continuing the internationalization of Ukraine’s economy. 

Businesses in the cities and oblasts will benefit from the interventions since the projects will be also open to local businesses. Interventions like matching businesses for shared facilities will benefit host businesses with consultants. 

The Grants and Capacity Building Associates supports to the implementation of the grant programmes and capacity building activities of the project.

The Grants and Capacity Building Associate works in collaboration with project coordinators as well as with other projects’ personnel and UNDP CO team to ensure relevant requirements are fulfilled in a timely manner with the required quality, following the highest standards in line with UNDP guidelines and procedures. 

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.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective will be achieved through the following components:

•             Assistance in developing, implementation and monitoring of grants programs, prepare and maintain 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;

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

•             Developing and maintaining 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.

Competencies

Core

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

Education requirements 

• Secondary Education is required 
  OR  
• Bachelor’s degree in Development studies, Business administration, Public Administration,  Economics, Law, Social Sciences will be given due consideration

Work experience 

• Minimum 7 years with Secondary Education  
  OR 
• 4 years Bachelor’s degree of  progressively responsible work experience in the development sector with relevant work experience, specifically related to: coordinating large-value projects with donors and  supporting capacity development of local government institutions and strengthening government systems.

Skills

• Experience in engaging with local stakeholders;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.);
• Knowledge of finance management system used by UNDP would be considered as an asset;
• Previous work experience in the UN System or Develoment sector will be desirable 

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