Chief of Party – Ukraine

Position description

Winrock is seeking a Chief of Party to lead an anticipated $10M donor-funded project to support vulnerable populations through comprehensive, trauma-informed services; prevent and address human rights violations such as gender-based violence, exploitation, human trafficking, and conflict-related violence and abuses; and strengthen related policies and their implementation at the national and subnational levels.   

The Chief of Party (COP) will be responsible for leading a high-quality, results oriented activity to achieve the objectives and expected results. S/he will provide overall strategic and managerial leadership of the activity in collaboration with all major stakeholders. S/he will bring a strong perspective, vision and strategy on achieving the goal and objectives of the Activity. The COP’s responsibilities should include the overall planning, technical leadership and coordination of all activities including the work of any sub-partners. S/he will oversee staff and sub-partners to ensure quality of activities and products developed under the project. The COP must have regular communication with the Agreement Officer Representative (AOR). The COP serves as the principal liaison to USAID, GOU counterparts, and other relevant implementing partners and stakeholders.

This role does not include any expatriate benefits. candidates must be eligible to work in country without sponsorship.   

The position is contingent upon receipt of donor funding.  

 ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:  

Program Management

• Manage the program, maintaining clearly defined delegation of responsibilities among the various team members.
• Lead annual planning and ensure timely, high-quality implementation of activities.
• Oversee and support monitoring and evaluation of program implementation, through implementation of a comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plan.
• Oversee the program budget, monitor spending, and ensure that all activities are reflected in annual budget allocations, in compliance with Winrock policy and donor guidelines.
• With support from field and home office staff, prepare and submit timely and accurate program, financial, and procurement reports to the donor and Winrock.
• Maintain close communication with the donor, reporting regularly for formal review sessions and providing ongoing updates of program progress. 
• Hire, supervise, and motivate project staff as well as manage their performance.

• Continuously identify and escalate risks, issues, and opportunities to the Home Office staff and proactively suggest possible solutions for timely resolution. 

• With Security Manager and DCOP, serve as a key member of the Incident Management Team. 

• Co-develop and oversee the implementation of the project security plan. 

• Act as Security Focal Point when needed. 

Technical Leadership and Capacity Building

• Provide technical leadership to build partnerships and achieve stakeholders’ buy-in to jointly implement project activities. 

• Lead strategies to improve policy implementation and frameworks to better prevent violence and exploitation (sexual, labor, online, and other forms) improve services for survivors, and increase ability of public and private service institutions to protect and respond to human rights violations.  

• Design and lead interventions that sustainably build the capacity of key stakeholders in government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and service providers.  

• Lead on the integration of gender and inclusion considerations in all activity planning, implementation and monitoring. This includes equitable access to activities for men and women and age-specific approaches to reach children and youth, applying Winrock’s safeguarding policies. 

• Ensure ethical and equitable engagement with survivor leaders, providing space and capacity strengthening for them to be able to contribute to the design, implementation and monitoring of activities, based on their interests. 

• Oversee subgrants to NGOs and collaborate with them in mutual partnerships. 

• Represent the program and Winrock to donors, local and national government entities, and business communities. 

• Work with colleagues to leverage and align program work with other efforts to maximize impact. 

Apply an adaptive management and learning approach to iteratively assess project results and impact. Adjust project approaches to replicate successful activities and correct activities that are not yielding desired results.  

• Oversee and contribute to annual deliverables and communication products that showcase the progress of activities and achievement of program results.  

• Provide strategic leadership for the overall security management of Winrock’s operations in Ukraine, including ICT security. In collaboration with the corporate ICT teams, ensure that ICT infrastructure is adapted to mitigate risks from cyberattacks, political instability, and potential data breaches, while maintaining a secure environment for staff, partners and participants . 

Coordination and Communication  

• Serve as the principal liaison with the donor, key government officials, and international and local organizations, representing Winrock International.  

• Coordinate and collaborate government counterparts, private sector firms, NGOs, research institutes, and other development projects, and other relevant parties as needed to leverage resources and maximize results.  

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:  

•  Proven leadership qualities, excellent management skills and significant relevant experience in project management and staff supervision;
• Demonstrated experience managing programs in an active war zone or other similar context; 
• A Master’s degree or higher, or equivalent demonstrated experience, in a relevant thematic area; 
• Minimum of seven (7) years of senior experience in managing projects of similar scale and complexity with large teams of local and international personnel; 
• Demonstrated skills in planning, adaptive management, budgeting, and communication with donors, working with government at the national and local level; 
• Substantial experience working on counter-trafficking, protection of vulnerable populations, gender equality, or other similar thematic areas; 
• Fluency in English and Ukranian (both spoken and written)

Application instructions

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