Partnerships Officer

Requisition ID: req51161

Job Title: Partnerships Officer

Sector: Operations

Employment Category: Fixed Term

Employment Type: Full-Time

Open to Expatriates: No

Location: Odesa, Ukraine

Work Arrangement:

Job Description

Background of Country and Emergency Response:

Months of escalating Russian hostility towards Ukraine have culminated in a concerted invasion of the country and the launch of military attacks across multiple cities in Ukraine, with a view to destabilize the country and provoke a change in government. Fleeing insecurity, Ukrainians are travelling west, with Poland establishing 8 reception centers along its border with Ukraine, for an estimated 1 million arrivals.

Between February 7-23, 2022, an IRC team undertook a scoping mission covering Poland and Ukraine to better understand the context, humanitarian and civil society landscape, and anticipated service gaps in the event of an escalation of conflict in Ukraine and consequent displacement into neighboring Poland. As of February 24th, the IRC has pivoted to an emergency response, and have identified partner agencies in Poland and Ukraine to facilitate immediate assistance that can be used where it is the most needed. Simultaneously, IRC/partners will launch a rapid needs assessment to better understand the humanitarian needs in both Poland and Ukraine and how IRC can complement partner response services either in breadth or scale

This position will be based in Odesa, with occasional travel to other locations in Ukraine as permitted, and other locations. As this is a fluid and rapidly changing context, the location of this position and length of assignment may change based on the needs of the program.

Job Overview

The Partnerships Officer is a key position supporting the Ukraine Country Program. With the overall objective of achieving high quality and compliant programming, the main goal of this position is to support a portfolio of partnerships and assist the Partnership Manager to ensure effective sub-grants management and build strong, sustainable partners. The Partnerships Officer will support the Partnerships Manager in the daily management of IRC sub-awards.

Key Responsibilities

• Promote Effective Partnerships:
• Promote and apply the IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results system (PEERS).
• Contribute to building a strong understanding of PEERS throughout the Ukraine Country Program, and to ensuring that IRC’s partnership principles, skills and approaches are applied by staff across programs and projects with partners.
• Supporting Partnership Management:
• Assist in the overall management of all partnerships as delegated by the Partnerships Senior Officer and/or Partnerships Manager and all PEERS processes / documentation.
• Support the program team in facilitation of Partnership Project Opening, Review and Closing Meetings.
• Assist narrative and finance reporting processes, including reviews and feedback.
• Where required, provide administrative and language translation support during essential Partnership meetings to ensure timely and effective partner program, finance, and compliance review and reflection (monitoring).
• Maintain complete and organized partnership files for each partner.
• Maintain up to date Partnership Project Tracker / Monitoring Schedule.
• Support the Partnership team to ensure the smooth close out of partner projects, as applicable.
• Any other relevant tasks, set by the Partnerships Senior Officer and/or Partnerships Manager.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Mandatory:
• BA degree or equivalent in International Development or Affairs, Finance, Business or related field; Advanced degree a plus – or equivalent work experience
• Minimum of 2 years’ experience with I/NGOs
• Demonstrated experience working with partners
• Awareness of key donor rules and regulations
• Highly organized, close attention to detail, and ability to effectively prioritize tasks in a fluid environment
• Ability to work well independently but also coordinate with other teams
• Willingness to travel occasionally to field offices and partner locations
• Professional fluency in spoken and written English and Ukrainian; able to communicate concisely.
• Very strong English writing and editing skills; strong computer skills.

Key Working Relationships:

• Reports to: Partnerships Manager
• Other Internal and/or external contacts: the position regularly corresponds and attends meetings with external and internal audiences, thus a strong ability to communicate and maintain positive working relationships is highly desirable for this position.
• Internal: Technical Coordinators, Partnership Department Staff, Finance team, Supply Chain team, Programmatic teams.
• External: Partner staff.

Standards of Professional Conduct: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Harassment-Free Workplace, Fiscal Integrity, Anti-Retaliation, Combating Trafficking in Persons and several others.

Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability.