Human Resources Expert. Проведення оцінювання спроможності АРР у сфері управління персоналом

Location: Ukraine, UCORD’s pilot oblasts

Expected start date: 17 July 2023

Duration of Assignment: July – October 2023

Number of working days: up to 30 

1. Context

Ukraine’s Cohesion and Regional Development Project, UCORD is a technical assistance project supported by Switzerland through the Swiss Cooperation Office in Ukraine (SDC) and implemented by the consultancy company NIRAS Sweden AB.

UCORD aims at citizens, businesses and public authorities to contribute and equally benefit from recovery actions and coherent regional development that fosters improved quality of life, resilience, peace and social cohesion in Ukraine. The project will work in 4 pilot oblasts of Ukraine: Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Ternopil, Vinnytsia oblasts as the starting points, targeting capacity development and awareness raising initiatives spread through the whole country. UCORD consists of the three components:

Component 1 embeds the regional policy development in Ukraine through supporting and strengthening the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in pilot oblasts. More about the role of RDAs as per the Ukrainian legislation is presented in the Annex 1 herewith.

Component 2 seeks to improve public services delivery in WASAW (water supply, sanitation and waste management) sector with a focus on environment.

Component 3 aims at construction social cohesion through culture, dialogue and creative industries.

Within Component 1 it is foreseen to provide support to the Reginal Development Agencies (RDAs) from 4 pilot oblasts (Sumy, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil) in their institutional strengthening and transforming their organisational structures. For this UCORD will address the vision of the RDAs, their purpose and role in regional development, governance arrangements, main functions, priorities, organisational arrangements and staffing and financial requirements. UCORD aims to ensure the pilot RDAs have the necessary policies and manuals of procedures in place to guide all their actions and decisions. It is also planned to support the RDAs to develop business plans, which will be their operational answer to the regional and local recovery plans and strategies, their primary focus for the medium term, and other actions identified as a priority for developing their oblasts. It is also planned to support the pilot RDAs in developing their communication strategy for both internal and external communication. The described support is planned to be provided within 4-months interim period. During this period UCORD will be able to establish the level of RDAs cohesion, whether they are capable to build partnership with UCORD and among themselves, whether RDAs are ready to share their knowledge and experience; how effective RDAs are in creating commong understanding with their  advisory boards and partners.

2. Objective of the Assignment

The assessment will be performed with reference to international best practices under thorough supervision from the international expert (External Assessment Team Coordinator) and based on the developed Guideline for the Organisational Assessment of the Regional Development Agencies in Ukraine (Guideline).

The Human Resources (HR) expert is expected to: a) conduct a Qualitative Organizational Measurements – comprehensive assessment of the HR function within every of the four pilot RDAs to evaluate their effectiveness, efficiency, and alignment with best HR practices available in RDAs or similar organisations from EU countries. The assessment will be conducted based on the RDA Organizational Assessment Guidelines methodology and self-assessment tools (questionnaires/tests provided in the Guideline), bilateral and group on-line meetings (planned by the HR expert) for understanding, researching and documenting the human resources policies findings. The HR expert expert will update and finalise the assessment tool to ensure a systematic and comprehensive approach across all 4 RDAs – the tool will be approved by UCORD prior to utilisation; b) identify strengths, weaknesses, gaps, and opportunities for improvement in the RDAs’ HR policies, procedures, and practices; c) provide actionable recommendations to enhance the HR function’s performance, alignment with organizational goals, and overall effectiveness; d) prepare a relevant section to the Organisational Assessment Report for each pilot RDA e) develop RDAs Capacity Building Programme to address the identified gaps and recommendations, including training, mentoring and coaching sessions, as well as policy revision, to build the capabilities of RDAs in HR.

3. Methodology and Scope of Work

a) the HR expert will undergo a briefing session by the External Assessment Team Coordinator on organisational assessment steps, b) the HR expert will get acquainted with the provided Guideline, including the Organisational Assessment Plan, c) the HR expert should review relevant HR policies, procedures, and documentation, as well as relevant reports and data from RDAs, including staff recruitment system, job descriptions, salary grids, professional performance assessment system, staff development plans of the 4 pilot RDAs, d) the HR expert in cooperation with 4 pilot RDAs will conduct interviews with HR staff, senior management, and a representative sample of RDAs employees to define efficiency, transparency and functionality of the existing organisational structure and HR policies, e) the HR expert should analyze the collected data and provide a clear assessment of the current state of the HR function, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

These activities will be done under the supervision of the External Assessment Team Coordinator who will ensure that the conclusions formulated for each RDA by the external assessment experts are conclusive and correlated among them.

While working over the HR assessment, the HR expert should cover all HR-related areas within each of the 4 pilot RDAs, including but not limited to:

• Organizational structure and design of RDAs, distribution of competences and organizational relationships established in RDAs
• Recruitment and selection processes operational in every RDA
• Workforce planning and talent management
• Performance management systems present in in RDAs
• Training and development programs
• Compensation and benefits policies
• Employee relations and engagement
• HR policies and procedures

4. Required deliverables

• Workplan:
  Prepare a workplan to guide the delivery of this assignment

• HR section to the Organisational Assessment Report:
  Prepare a comprehensive report detailing the findings, analysis, gaps and recommendations of the HR assessment
• Presentation:
  Deliver a comprehensive presentation of the assessment findings and recommendations to the pilot RDAs, the Supervisory Board, and UCORD

• Capacity Building Programme:

1. Training Modules: Develop customized training modules to address the identified gaps and enhance the skills and knowledge of RDAs staff.
2. Coaching and Mentoring: Provide coaching and mentoring support to the relevant RDAs staff to reinforce learning and facilitate implementation.
3. Policy Revision: Review and revise HR policies and procedures to align with the identified recommendations, Ukrainian legislation as well as best HR practices available in RDAs or similar organisations from EU countries

5. Qualifications

The HR expert should have:

• proven experience in conducting HR assessments for development agencies or similar organizations
• At least 10 years of proven experience working with HR management, organizational development
• profound knowledge on best practices of HR management in the RDAs or similar organisations from EU countries
• strong analytical, communication, and report-writing skills to effectively deliver the assessment findings and recommendations
• Experience in designing and delivering training programs, coaching initiatives, and policy development
• Knowledge of English is an asset

6. Reporting

All outputs should be delivered in Ukrainian.

The HR expert reports to UCORD Deputy Project Leader & Regional Development Adviser and maintains regular communication throughout the assessment process. The HR expert will provide progress updates and seek clarification or guidance, as needed, to ensure the assessment meets the RDAs expectations. The HR expert will work closely with External Assessment Team Coordinator to ensure that the conclusions formulated for each RDA by the HR expert and other external assessment experts are conclusive and correlated among each other. 

Interested candidates can submit their application by sending CV  outlining the relevant expertise and experience to [email protected] up to July 2, 2023

Only short-listed candidates will be notified.