British Embassy

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer. We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow. The FCDO operates an agile workforce and to facilitate this, you may be required to undertake other duties from time to time, as we may reasonably require.

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Job Category

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Programme Roles)

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Job Subcategory

Political

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Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)

Who we are :

The British Embassy in Kyiv is part of a world-wide network, representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas and is now looking for a Governance Advisor to work across two British Embassy development programmes focused on inclusive governance reform in Ukraine. This includes work to advance political inclusion and empower marginalised groups, to support Ukraine’s social recovery and strengthen more inclusive and effective institutions, systems and services, and to safeguard democracy and open societies.

Our Governance Advisor will sit at the centre of the UK’s commitment to supporting Ukraine respond to the short- and long-term needs created by the war as well as helping Ukraine to realise its Euro-Atlantic ambition. Supporting Ukraine is the UK’s top foreign policy priority. As part of this, our development assistance increased ten-fold since the start of the full-scale invasion. You will sit within a fast-paced, dynamic but supportive ‘Programmes Team’ of ~60 people who are passionate about making a real difference to the lives of Ukrainians.

Within this Team you will work across two new and ambitious programmes. The first, Social Recovery programme is an innovative and agile programme designed to help Ukraine to deal with the social consequences of war. It involves building public sector governance and service delivery capacities, driving critical institutional and sectoral reforms across social protection, social services and social inclusion, and fostering a more inclusive, participatory and sustainable recovery for Ukrainians in all their diversity. In the first year, you will help to mobilise and deliver the first phase of the two-year ‘SPIRIT’ programme. This includes supporting the development of a new ‘Social Recovery and Reform Office’ in the Ministry of Social Policy. You will also use your technical skills and expertise to shape the design of a sophisticated and responsive multi-year successor programme.

The aim of the programme to support Ukraine’s democracy is to ensure that every Ukrainian citizen can participate in political processes and know their concerns will be responded to. You will join the team during the design process and your role on this programme will be to find ways to practically support the participation and representation of citizens in Ukraine’s democratic institutions and processes, during wartime and during the transition out of martial law when it happens. You will help to identify the most pressing issues Ukraine faces in terms of democratic resilience, and help to mobilise and oversee the delivery of this programme.

We recognise we need to underpin our technical programming with a strong understanding of Ukrainian political dynamics, particularly the informal dynamics, and how these play out in decision making, progress on reform and opportunities for more inclusive approaches. We are looking for someone who has a strong grasp of Ukrainian politics and ‘how change happens’ in Ukraine’s wartime context, to help us deliver.

The role will be split between the Social Recovery and the Governance Teams. You will be managed by the Head of the Governance Team.

The role entails:

Programme delivery on social recovery (40%):

Deliver high-quality governance advice to quality assure and guide the mobilisation and implementation of British Embassy Kyiv’s flagship Social Recovery programme. Support delivery of an innovative, localised and agile intervention, which strengths more inclusive, effective and efficient social systems and lays the foundation for future reform and recovery.
Undertake robust inclusive political analysis and institutional analysis to influence Ukraine’s national social policies and strategies and develop innovative approaches to inform the prospects for sustainable reform.
Provide technical advisory support to the Government of Ukraine in pursuit of ambitious institutional and sectoral reforms aligned with EU accession requirements, including through the development of a new Social Recovery and Reform Office within the Ministry of Social Policy.
Capture and utilise governance/political inclusion trends, evidence and learning to identify risks and opportunities for further engagement across the social recovery and inclusion portfolio, and to inform successor programming.
Oversee greater alignment between governance and social reform conversations, bolstering both democratic and demographic resilience, finding ways to enhance the role of women, people with disabilities and other excluded groups in public sector decision-making.
Build capability of others to do no harm, benefit poor and excluded people, and deliver transformational change in public sector governance and service delivery.

Programme delivery on democratic resilience (40%):

Use analysis of the trends in Ukraine’s democracy, to identify the risks and opportunities for engagement and undertake programme scoping in different thematic areas (e.g. political rights, civil society, inclusive political processes, elections, media) to shape sophisticated approaches to supporting Ukrainians under and after martial law.
Contribute to discussions on how a problem-driven approach to governance and advocacy could be applied in Ukraine and the risks and opportunities of this approach.
Provide high quality written inputs into programme documents and help to mobilise the programme, by overseeing a range of different procurement processes (commercial, accountable grants, MoUs etc.) to select new suppliers and to ensure they are set up to deliver in line with FCDO expectations.
Oversee the strategic and technical delivery of the programme, helping to ensure the programme is responsive to the context and adapts to new opportunities.
Establish close ways of working with the wider Programme Team, Political Team and HQ to ensure strong join up between the programme and other parts of the ODA portfolio and with UK diplomacy.

Cross-Embassy engagement (10%):

Play an active role in relevant Embassy cross-mission Delivery Groups, particularly on Democracy and Governance and Social Recovery and Inclusion.
Alongside two other Embassy Governance Advisers, quality assure governance work across the portfolio and provide governance advice as needed, to ensure interventions think and work politically.
Liaise with colleagues in HQ, including the Reforms Hub, to ensure programme insights and learnings are fed into relevant briefings and policy work on social recovery and democratic resilience.

Coordination and representation (10%):

Represent the UK, leveraging our political influence and programmes to help advance and promote our social recovery and democratic resilience ambitions in Ukraine.
Build networks

with government counterparts, civil society, technical experts, and like-minded missions to keep your understanding up to date and improve coordination.

Resources Managed :

As Lead Advisor for the Democratic Resilience Programme, the jobholder will be expected to take decisions on the use of resources for a £40m programme. As Lead Advisor for the Social Recovery programme, SPIRIT, the jobholder will be expected to take decisions on the use of resources for a £25m programme in addition to next stage Social Recovery and Inclusion programming at scale.. The role might also entail line management responsibilities.

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Essential qualifications, skills and experience

Our ideal candidate will have:

Excellent communication skills with written and spoken fluency in English and Ukrainian at C1 level (according to CEFR* or equivalent)
At least 4 years’ experience working professionally, in the development sector in Ukraine (international organisations, Embassies, civil society and/or Government of Ukraine at national or local level).
Experience working on international assistance/donor programmes in Ukraine and/or the region, with experience of designing new programmes and overseeing performance and partner delivery.
An understanding of Ukraine’s internal politics and political systems and how elections, parliament, political parties, civil society and the media can help to foster more inclusive politics.

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Desirable qualifications, skills and experience

It would be beneficial to have :

Direct experience of work to promote empowerment, accountability and/or inclusion in Ukraine.
A passion for fostering accountable, inclusive and rights-based politics in Ukraine.
An understanding of the informal networks that govern how change happens in Ukraine.
Comfortable using research and social and political analysis to identify issues and design programmes that respond in strategic and politically-savvy ways.
Demonstrable resilience to manage multiple projects concurrently is an advantage. It also requires flexibility and tolerance for uncertainty and change.
A creative, well-networked and influential self-starter who can conceptualise, challenge and lead debates on policy and programming.

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Required behaviours

Changing and Improving, Communicating and Influencing, Leadership, Making Effective Decisions, Seeing the Big Picture, Working Together

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Application deadline

11 December 2024

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Grade

Senior Executive Officer (SEO)

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Type of Position

Full-time, Fixed term, with possibility of renewal

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Working hours per week

40 hours gross

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Region

Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia

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Country/Territory

Ukraine

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Location (City)

Kyiv

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Type of Post

British Embassy

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Number of vacancies

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Salary Currency

USD

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Salary

3,969.15 gross per month

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Type of Salary

monthly

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Start Date

1 February 2024

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Other benefits and conditions of employment

This is a full-time, fixed-term contract until the 31st March 2026 (with the possibility of renewal), for 40 working hours per week including 1 hour per day for lunch. The jobholder will need to be based in British Embassy Kyiv and on average, to be in the office 3 days a week. But there is flexibility and individual circumstances can be discussed.

The start date mentioned in the advert is just an expected start date. The appointment can start earlier or later depending on several factors.

This is an advisory position and we expect the successful candidate to accredit to the Governance Cadre as part of the application process. This means they will be tested against 3 technical competencies at interview which are:

Technical Competency 1: Applied Governance and Political Economy Analysis
Technical Competency 2: Accountable and Inclusive Politics
Technical Competency 3: Public Sector Governance and Service Delivery

*Please see Governance Technical Competency Framework for additional detail on the technical competencies

They will also be expected to participate in a short written test before interview and to make a presentation at the interview.

The successful candidate will benefit from:

Working in a diverse, multi-cultural team of Ukrainian and British colleagues with wide-ranging experience. A well-balanced work/life culture and a friendly and supportive team.
Medical and dental plan (non-contributory for the employee and contributory for qualified dependants, applicable after successful probation period).
24 working days of annual leave and additional public and privilege holidays.
System of performance-based bonuses for high-achievers every twelve months.
Participation in staff gatherings organised by the Social Committee (team get-togethers, Christmas Party etc.) as well as cultural events hosted by the Ambassador.
Direct contribution towards to accelerating Ukrainian victory and supporting the country’s recovery from the consequences of war.

The British Embassy does not provide a hardship allowance.

Learning and development opportunities:

The jobholder will have the opportunity to accredit to the FCDO’s Governance Cadre as part of the application process, joining a strong network of FCDO governance experts across the world. As an accredited adviser, you have the opportunity to enhance your learning and share your experiences by spending 10% of your time a year supporting other Embassy/HQ teams deliver their governance objectives.

All applicants should have the right to live and work in Ukraine. The British Embassy does not sponsor work permits.

Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy in Kyiv is subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Ukrainian employment law.

This is an official employment, and the salary is subject to official tax; currently 19.5%. The salary is a set rate and there are no additional allowances on top.

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Additional information

Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.

We advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application, since only applications completed and submitted before the deadline will be considered.

Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.

Please be advised that British Diplomatic Missions will not be able to meet the travel costs incurred when travelling to the interview, nor the costs connected with relocation if offered a position.

*Please note for more information on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment levels please click on the following link CEFR. Please bear in mind in case you are invited for an interview your language skill is going to be assessed.

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Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

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To apply please copy and paste this link: https://fco.tal.net/vx/appcentre-ext/candidate/jobboard/vacancy/1/adv/
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