International Partnerships Advisor

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is looking for a qualified professional for the project "U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine - Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme" to fill the position of the: International Partnerships Advisor (full-time, Kyiv)

In the last few years, Ukraine has developed and adopted various laws in favour of an ambitious decentralization reform, which reshapes the relations between the national, regional and local levels and builds institutional capacity. The success of the decentralization reform greatly depends on the coordination and cooperation between the different stakeholders involved into reform implementation at the national, regional and local levels. Given the important new tasks, responsibilities and financial resources that local self-governments have gained, the implementation of the reform must be accompanied by expert advice, trainings and diverse support measures. U-LEAD (Ukraine-Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development) is a special measure which is conducted as a multi-donor action by the EU and its member states Germany, Poland, Denmark and Slovenia to support the Ukrainian government in the implementation of the decentralization reform.

We are looking for a highly motivated International Partnerships Advisor to support the operations of U-LEAD`s “Bridges of Trust” initiative, dedicated to partnerships between municipalities from Ukraine and EU member states.

The advertised position focuses on recovery and reconstruction by fostering collaboration between municipalities in Ukraine and the EU. This includes establishing, sustaining, and monitoring international partnerships, supporting exchange visits and coordinating joint projects. The role involves working closely with external partners to build international networks of municipalities that enhance local governance and accelerate recovery, all within the broader context of Ukraine’s EU accession process.

Role Description: the International Partnerships Advisor will support U-LEAD with Europe’s work on local-level recovery, reconstruction, and capacity development. Working in close cooperation with the Team Leader of U-LEAD´s Team International Partnerships, the Advisor will work to strengthen the international cooperation of Ukrainian municipalities. Key responsibilities include analysing, monitoring and reporting about international partnerships, ensuring alignment with U-LEAD's development efforts, and collaborating with national and international partners involved in reforms, recovery and modernisation.

Key responsibilities:

  • Providing the strategic advice in overall management and further development of international partnerships of Ukrainian municipalities in general and/or under the Bridges of Trust Initiative of U-LEAD.
  • Development and implementation of plans and activities in areas of international partnerships and overall capacity development activities of U-LEAD, external partners and local government counterparts.
  • Organising and implementing monitoring and reporting system of the international partnerships within U-LEAD, including managing and upgrading database on international partnerships.
  • Supporting systematization of processes and enhancement of the monitoring system of the international partnerships including data collecting and processing.
  • Cooperating with a broad range of internal and external partners and stakeholders.
  • Participating in development of new and innovative approaches to support capacity development for local self- government and upscale the Bridges of Trust Initiative into a Bridges of Trust Community.
  • Designing, preparing, implementing (online and offline) national and international study visits, internships, mentoring, meetings, workshops, seminars and other events on capacity development for municipalities.
  • Prepares presentation material and facilitates for meetings, workshops, seminars.
  • Development of quality assurance measures and suggests necessary changes, improvements and initiatives.
  • Contributes to the overall knowledge and data management; systematically files and maintains document management in accordance with GIZ standards.
  • Drafts concept notes, analytical pieces, reports, social media posts, etc.
  • Facilitates the transfer of insights, knowledge and learning between programme partners and stakeholders, internally and externally.
  • Produces timely contributions to reports and other knowledge products of U-LEAD with Europe.
  • Occasionally performs EN-UA and UA-EN translation orally and in writing.
  • Communicates and cooperates effectively with the colleagues in the U-LEAD units as well as from other GIZ projects in Ukraine.

REQUIREMENTS TO THE CANDIDATES

Required qualifications, competences and experience:

  • Masters’s Degree in the field of economics, political science, international relations, other social sciences, business studies or comparable degree qualification;
  • At least 5 years of professional experience in a comparable position;
  • Experience working with grants, local subsidies, service contracts and/ or in donor-funded projects is desirable;
  • Experience with methods for capacity development, learning, experience sharing, policy/strategic analysis and development is desirable;
  • Experience working in areas related to decentralisation and local government is an asset;
  • Fluent written and oral knowledge of English and Ukrainian;
  • Ability to perform EN-UA and UA-EN translation both orally and in writing;
  • Analytical and writing skills for drafting policy documents, reports, etc.;
  • Organisational skills and ability to work on the several projects simultaneously;
  • Willingness to learn and acquire new skills and competences according to needs and opportunities;
  • Very good working knowledge of ITC technologies (related software, phone, email, the internet), social media platforms, and computer applications (e.g. MS Office/365).

We offer:

  • Official employment.
  • Salary fixed in EUR, performance-related bonuses and 13th salary.
  • Medical insurance, 29 vacation days annually.
  • Language classes, hard and soft skills trainings.
  • Individual and group psychological support, possible remote and flexible work.
  • Meaningful and valuable work, international environment.

Employment conditions

The assignment starts as soon as possible. It's a full-time position with 40-hours working week. Place of assignment is Kyiv. The contract duration is till 30.04.2025. Prolongation is possible.

GIZ is an equal opportunity employer and offers an attractive and challenging working environment with opportunities for skill enhancement.

Application

Application comprising of the candidate’s CV and a cover letter in the English language explaining the motivation to apply for the job is to be sent to recruitment-ua@giz.de until COB 28 November 2024, Thursday.

By sending the application the candidate gives the consent for the personal data processing for recruitment processes solely.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for the next stages of the recruitment process.