Location: Ukraine – Odesa
Duration: 12 months renewable
Conditions: Employment contract, gross monthly salary between 2,857.14 Euros and 3,850.93 Euros depending on proven relevant experience for the post. Moving allowance to Dnipro/Odessa: 600 Euros lump sum. Annual leave of 28 days per fiscal year.
Starting date: ASAP

CARE INTERNATIONAL

CARE International (CI) is among the world’s largest international non-governmental humanitarian relief and development confederations. Drawing on more than 75 years of experience, through its 21 Members, as both a practitioner and thought leader, CI’s work reaches over 100 countries worldwide to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice.

CARE’s vision is to seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice; where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE focuses heavily on women and girls, and the areas of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion are at the center of our work because we know that we cannot overcome poverty and social injustice until all people have equal rights and opportunities. We recognize that power relations between people and within systems and structures are unequal and that these are entrenched in our broader systems, structures, and institutions.

At the core of the CI Confederation is a globally distributed Secretariat, which provides coordination and support to its Members in areas including governance, strategic planning, communications, membership development and accountability, advocacy, humanitarian response, and program development. In addition, the Secretariat represents the CI Confederation at the United Nations and the European Union, and with other external stakeholders.

Context in Ukraine

On 24th February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marked a significant escalation to the conflict that started in 2014. It continues to profoundly impact the lives of people across the country at various levels. The front line is continuously shifting and there are areas controlled by Russian forces as well as cities under siege. Aerial attacks on military installations and critical civilian infrastructures are conducted in the whole territory of Ukraine, often resulting in collateral civilian casualties. The conflict has caused the largest population movement in Europe since World War II, with 6.24 million displaced within Ukraine and 7.68 million refugees having fled to neighboring countries. By October 26, OCHA had counted 17.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Amid the upcoming winter, which is anticipated to be the worst in decades, at least one-third of the country’s energy infrastructure is damaged, leaving millions without heating and access to water. In October, the Russian Federation claimed to have annexed four Ukrainian oblasts, further increasing the challenge of access to these areas. Therefore, in addition to preparing the population for the approaching winter, an ongoing priority for the international humanitarian response is to secure access to recently liberated and recaptured areas in the East and to provide aid to previously unreachable and particularly hard-hit areas of Ukraine.

CARE UKRAINE

As a new actor in Ukraine, CARE prioritizes a locally led response and is partnering primarily with Civil-Society Organizations (CSOs), National NGOs, local authorities, and when needed, INGOs with a longstanding presence in the country and access to hard-to-reach areas. CARE Ukraine deliberately and strategically prioritizes partnerships with local and national Women Led and Women Rights organizations (WLO’s/ WRO’s), further strengthening the Gender in Emergencies (GiE) principle and the Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) approach.

In the first few weeks after the escalation of the war, virtually all humanitarian aid inside Ukraine was organized and implemented by local actors. These groups (together with local authorities) remain the principal aid providers but are quickly being exhausted of funds, fuel, and physical energy. Thereby, a considerable proportion of CARE’s resources is dedicated to strengthening and supporting the capacities of local partners. 

As of November 2022, CARE Ukraine has established partnerships with twelve local/national organizations (incl. four WLO’s/WRO’s) and five international NGOs. From the more than 28 million that have been raised for Ukraine thus far, more than half is allocated to local/national partners. Through the activities that have been implemented so far, CARE Ukraine has been able to reach 550,030 people, including IDPs and affected populations in hard-to-reach areas.

While CARE Ukraine’s office is currently located in Lviv, we are continuously working on strategically expanding CARE’s presence and reach with plans to open an office in Kyiv as well as field offices in Dnipro and Odessa, covering both the East and South of the country.

Role Objectives

Under the direction of the Area Manager, the Area Support Services Coordinator is responsible for the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the support operations at the field office level.  S/he will provide management and supervision of finance, logistics and HR team in the field. 

S/he will be responsible for communication and follow up with the relevant departments/units at CARE Ukraine Country Office and ensures that the projects receive the required operational support for quality and timely implementation. The Area Support Services Coordinator is expected to develop and maintain strong relationship with key stakeholders at the field office level.

Role Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Functions

• Strengthen cross-functional communication and coordination between support services team (finance, logistics/procurement/administration and human resources) and programme by providing strategic leadership and advice to the support services team.
• Ensure links and seamless coordination between program and support function is established in the field.
• Lead business process improvements operations to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the field office.
• Contribute to the development of strategic and country business plans, with specific reference to finance, logistics/procurement, HR and administration.
• Ensure adequate segregation of duties, internal control systems and delegation of authority are properly implemented across the programme, taking corrective initiatives when contextual adaptation is required.
• Ensure all relevant documentation produced by all support functions is properly completed, approved and archived per CARE Ukraine’s and donors’ standards; and that the archives are efficiently organized and safely managed.

2. Human Resources

• Management and supervision of Support team (Finance Officer, Logistics/Procurement Officer and HR Officer), including setting their annual objectives, ensuring regular feedback take place and conducting annual performance reviews.
• Ensure human and material resources are effectively and efficiently obtained and made available to support the operations in the field.
• Support with the recruitment, train and develop the field office team, develop staff capacity to ensure consistency and quality of delivery across the programme.
• Ensures that HR policies and procedures are in place, overseeing the HR function and coordinating with relevant Country Office counterparts.
• Ensure that recruitment processes are meeting CARE Ukraine standards and are aligned with national labor law.
• Oversee the management of national staff contracts in the field, from set up to termination, ensuring fair treatment of all staff and protecting the organization against any risk related to local employment.

3. Finance

• Monitor the day-to-day financial operations in the field, ensuring that planning and budgeting, financial accounting, complies with donor requirements, accounting principles, budget monitoring and reporting.
• Ensure compliance with CARE Ukraine accounting policies and regulatory requirements for any financial processes taken place at the field office.
• Ensure timely information submission related to field office operations during new cost proposal development.
• Assist the Area Manager in the management /administration of the field office resources. Highlight variances, provide analyses and recommend solutions or reallocation of resources.
• Oversee coordination between logistics and finance to ensure effective cash-flow and procurement activities, to meet operational needs in safest and most efficient way and ensure payments are processed appropriately.
• Ensure the timely cash flow management is in place/necessary information is provided to head office to arrange fund transfers to the field office. This is to endure cash is available to meet programs needs in the field.
• Ensure sound internal control systems are in place and functioning at the field office to ensure compliance and adherence to CARE Ukraine policies and procedures.
• Responsible for making sure effective systems are put in place, and regularly reviewed, to allow adequate financial management and control over assets, funds, equipment, property, and facilities.
• Ensure financial month/year end closing deadlines are met to manage smooth financial book closing process.
• Update and build awareness among staff on compliance issues (policies and procedures) through regular sessions and meetings to make the field office an acceptable and accountable entity.
• Oversee the production of timely and quality monthly management accounts ensuring compliance takes place and that the relevant actions are in place to respond to possible discrepancies.
• Provide day to day oversight, monitoring and accountability for the timely implementation of audit recommendations and other field visits suggestions by CARE.
• Participate in development of finance policies and procedures to be ensure adequate finance controls are in place according to international accounting principles. Coordinate and assist Area Manager during any internal or external audits.
• Perform any other responsibilities related to financial management as required.

4. Logistics & Procurement

• Oversee the procurement management and ensure the respect of SOP, compliance, and efficiency for all procurement, ensuring a smooth workflow and coordination from procurement planning to final delivery.
• Oversee the stock management from stock entry to out of stock requests, in line with guidelines and SOPs, in an efficient and compliant manner.
• Oversee the asset and inventory management, from the registration after procurement till the final report, ensuring an accurate tracking and the good use of equipment, as per SOP and guidelines.
• Oversee the transport and fleet management, in line with transportation guidelines and SOP, from demanders request to monitoring report, in an optimized manner.
• Oversee the facilities management, from identification of building to user’s allocation and requests, including the contract follow up, as per SOP and guidelines, in an adapted and optimized manner.
• Extract Key Performance Indicators out of monitoring tools and report in logistics dashboard designed in cooperation with the Log Manager according to identified problems, proposing solutions and anticipating bottlenecks.
• Ensure that reporting and monitoring tools are shared on regular bases and to the right managers as per the Logistics Users Guide’s monitoring tools table.
• Ensure a smooth, anticipated, and optimized communication in between internal stakeholders of area Log department, as well as with other departments, and with stakeholders from other CARE Ukraine offices, when necessary, at the appropriate level of management, according to SOP, logistics users guide and to necessity.
• Communicate and meet regularly with other Logistics Coordinators in order to exchange about good practices, support needs and help that could be provided, under the supervision of the Logistics Managers.
• Ensure that all documents produced for all above subject are orderly archived in hard and soft copy, as per the SOPs and archiving tree defined by the Logistics Manager.
• Ensure that all archives in hard copy are marked according to the evacuation plan, by the three categories: to be left, to be taken and to be destroyed (green mark, orange mark, red mark). Ensure that destruction means are ready and that all electronic devices containing sensitive information are part the evacuation plan.

Requirements

Mandatory criteria for longlisting

• University degree in business management (accounting, logistics, human resources) or a related field
• Minimum 4 years of experience in working in an international organization, including experience in business support services.
• Experience of reviewing and drafting policies, procedures and guidelines and of developing and implementing systems
• Experience of managing varied projects either in HR, Finance, and Logistics/Procurement.
• Ability to plan and organise a substantial workload that includes complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities
• Willingness and ability to dramatically change work practices and hours, in the event of emergencies
• Demonstrated credibility with colleagues and stakeholders at all levels of an organization
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English and Ukrainian.
• Experience in team management
• Ability to work in a stressful environment and able to prioritize high workload with multiple tasks in fast-paced environment with tight deadlines.
• Strong computer skills – Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, Google, Teams/Sharepoint a plus
• Ability to work as part of a team and culturally sensitive and able to work in multi-cultural team.
• Results/action-orientation; organizational management skills
• Unquestionable personal code of ethics, integrity, diversity and trust
• Detail-oriented, organized, and self-starting
• Strong belief in human rights and gender equality

Expected:

• Effective financial management skills including complex financial scenario planning
• Good understanding of financial, logistics and human resources risk management areas
• Ability to implement and monitor policies and procedures in challenging environments
• Interpretation and implementation of donor/client contract requirements
• Sensitivity to cultural differences and the ability to work in a wide variety of cultural contexts
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to coordinate activities, teams and improve processes.
• Excellent literacy, numeracy and IT skills, including utilising Excel
• Ability and willingness to work both at strategic and operational levels, with hand-on approach when required.

Accountability

A commitment to CARE values and CARE’s integrity framework is critical to working with CARE. Any candidate offered a job with CARE will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability:

• Comply with CARE’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a CARE staff or partner.

Safeguarding:

Children and vulnerable adults who come into contact with CARE as a result of our activities must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that CARE shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

Gender equality:

CARE is committed to meeting the standards of the CARE International Gender Policy (2019). Through this policy, CARE seeks to promote the equal realization of dignity and human rights for girls, women, boys and men in all diversities, and the elimination of poverty and injustice. Specifically, this policy seeks to improve the explicit incorporation of gender in programmatic and organizational practices.

How to Apply:

Please send your complete application package (CV, motivation letter) only in English to <[email protected]>, no later than 2^nd March 2023, with Area Support Services Coordinator Odessa as the subject title of your email. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.  Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.  References will only be contacted after the interview.