Job Title:                          Programme Director

Reports to:                       Country Director

Terms:                               1 year Fixed Term, Full time, Unaccompanied, Fully office based

Location:                          Kyiv, Ukraine

Salary:                               Grade 5 (€50,107 - €55,674)

Requirements:               

This role is based in Kyiv, Ukraine, with regular travel to the area offices in Sumy, Kharkiv, Poltava, Mykolaiv, Khmelnytskyi and other project locations as required.

Please note - the start date for this role would be mid to end of April 2025. 

About Concern:              

Established in 1968, Concern is a non-profit, non-governmental humanitarian organisation, dedicated to the reduction of suffering and the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.  Concern’s vision, our mission and our work are all defined by one goal – ending extreme poverty, whatever it takes. Concern strives for a world free from poverty, fear and oppression.

Our culture is values driven and we believe that our people are central to all that we do and are key to delivering on our goal of Reaching the Furthest Behind First. We are committed to ensuring a workplace where everybody feels valued and are enabled to succeed in their work and contribute to delivering on our mission.

In Ukraine Alliance2015 members, Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe (WHH), have been jointly working together since February 2022, using their combined resources and reach, to ensure a quick and effective emergency response to assist the population affected by the conflict.  This response, known as JERU (Joint Emergency Response in Ukraine), is working across Ukraine to help internally displaced people, returnees and vulnerable host community members through multipurpose cash assistance, in-kind food and NFI assistance, protection services and support for livelihoods. JERU implements a significant proportion of its programme in partnership with local and national NGOs and Civil Society Organisations.

Role Purpose:                 

The Programme Director is a member of the Senior Management Team and will provide strategic oversight and leadership in programme design and implementation, the management of programme teams, and in the preparation of funding applications and donor reports.

Responsibilities:

Programme Development and Implementation

• Identifying emergency interventions and opportunities in accordance with humanitarian need and gap analysis, based on thorough assessments and coordination with other actors and Alliance 2015 partners
• Ensuring programmes meet Core Humanitarian Standards of accountability and quality
• Frequently visiting programme areas and providing feedback to managers and staff
• Developing effective linkages with Government, donors, clusters and partners
• Assisting Programme Managers to produce reports in line with donor, government and Concern Requirements
• Ensure quality management of programmes through direct line management of technical coordinators in country office programmes team.

Security Management:

• Monitoring and reporting on security issues to the Security Focal Person when necessary
• Ensuring programme staff awareness and adherence to Country Security Management Plan
• and identifying security training needs where appropriate

Budget Management

• Identifying potential sources of donor funding
• Provide guidance to budget holders on monitoring under and overspending in each budget and advising solutions
• Coaching, mentoring and assisting budget holders to develop accurate budgets
• Ensuring budgets and revisions are prepared and submitted on time
• Reporting any suspected or actual financial irregularities to the Country Director

People Management

• Ensuring sufficient human resources for programmes to meet their objectives
• Ensuring an effective performance development review (PDR) system is in place
• Ensuring staff are adequately trained and understand the objectives for their role
• Coaching, mentoring and assisting budget holders to develop accurate budgets
• Monitoring and reviewing team and individual performance; giving corrective feedback where required and taking decisive actions in the case of poor performance in line with Concern procedures

Networking & Representation:

• Representing Concern within the Alliance 2015, at relevant cluster, UN, Government and coordination meetings when requested by the Country Director

Monitoring & Evaluation:

• Ensuring Monitoring & Evaluation plans and mechanisms are developed and rolled out
• Ensuring Programme Managers coordinate the monitoring and evaluation of all programmes
• (including partner programmes) within the agreed plans, budgets, time frames and donor guidelines

Accountability 

• Promoting and ensuring compliance with the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) commitments and quality criteria 
• Ensuring that all staff are familiar with the principles underpinning accountability, safeguarding and Concern's Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) and ensure that information about Concern's commitments on accountability and safeguarding are disseminated among programme participants and communities 
• Ensuring that the Complaints Response Mechanism is functional, effectively implemented and accessible in all programmes' locations, enabling safe reporting of both programmatic and sensitive complaints, including safeguarding concerns
• Ensuring that complaints are welcomed, managed and responded to in a timely, fair and appropriate manner; ensuring that sensitive complaints, including safeguarding concerns, are handled with utmost confidentiality and that the safety of the complainants and those affected is prioritised at all stages. 
• All managers are responsible for upholding and promoting Concern’s values, demonstrating leadership on workplace equality, diversity and inclusion, and role modelling a positive safeguarding ethos
• All managers are required to actively participate in any emergency response as and when required.

Role Holder Requirements:

• Relevant post graduate qualification
• Five years’ experience in programming position with an international NGO, with two years at a senior level
• Management of diverse and multi-sectoral programmes
• Previous work in a similar context
• Management of a diverse team of senior staff
• Working with major international donors and securing external donor funding.
• Knowledge and experience of incorporating key approaches across programmes
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and an ability to motivate others
• Delegation, time management and prioritizing skills
• Computer literate and good knowledge of Word and Excel
• Excellent written and verbal English language skills
• Empathy with Concern’s mission, vision and goals, and our target groups

We would also like:

• You to be flexible and reliable
• You to be culturally sensitive and empathic to others
• You to be able to work under pressure and to strict deadlines
• You to travel frequently to rural field locations and spend periods of time away from the capital

To apply:  CVs should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by the closing date.

Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be shortlisted on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date. 

If you have any concerns about our recruitment process and need particular assistance - for example if you have a visual impairment or are neurodivergent - please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you. 

Concern has an organizational Code of Conduct (CCoC) with three Associated Policies; the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy accessible here. These have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organization, and the standards of behavior expected of them. In this context, staff have a responsibility to the organization to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and Associated Policies as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the Associated Policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies. Additionally, Concern is committed to the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable adults and children are recruited by us for such roles. Subsequently, working or volunteering with Concern is subject to a range of vetting checks, including criminal background checking. 

Your Personal Data 

During this job application, you will provide Concern with your personal data. Concern takes its responsibilities towards this personal data very seriously and is committed to complying with all relevant data protection legislation. 

For additional information please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office. 

You have certain rights under data protection legislation. For more information on how to exercise those rights please visit www.concern.net/about/privacy 

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.