Principal Situation Coordinator P5

➡️ Unit / Division: Dnipro Field Office / WFP Ukraine  

📍 Duty Station: Dnipro

What will you do in this position?  

The Principal Situation Coordinator will be responsible for leading WFP’s engagement with relevant actors along the front lines, reporting directly to the Country Director (D2). This role requires a high-level representative capable of acting on behalf of the Country Director in engagements with military administrations and civilian authorities, particularly to negotiate humanitarian access.

In addition, the incumbent will support the Deputy Country Director and help oversee WFP’s frontline operations. Due to significant travel time and the extensive coordination demands at the CO in Kyiv, it is often not feasible for senior management to maintain a consistent presence near the frontlines. The incumbent will therefore fill this critical gap. 

Why work with WFP Ukraine?  

The war in Ukraine has had drastic consequences, both for people inside the country and for those around the world who depend on its food supplies. The war has caused immense suffering for civilians, displaced families, and disrupted supply chains and food production. It has caused one of the fastest forced population movements since the Second World War. Close to 6 million Ukrainians are still living as refugees across Europe, and almost 3.6 million are internally displaced. Many have lost their homes and livelihoods. As food production and supply lines are disrupted by fighting, many families in the east and south of Ukraine do not have reliable access to nutritious food. 

WFP uses a combination of food and cash assistance to support communities affected by the war. This includes working with local partners to distribute food boxes in areas near the frontline and providing cash transfers in locations where people have access to banks and markets to buy food. Since March 2022, WFP has distributed food and cash assistance equivalent to 3.7 billion meals to people displaced and affected by the war. 

How can you make a difference? 

In this position, you will have to:   

1. Oversee all ongoing emergency coordination activities in direct support to the Country Director.

2. Lead the overall UN ceasefire preparation, planning, and response in Ukraine, connecting senior UN leadership in Kyiv, and field-level focal points.

3.Lead preparation of emergency assessment capacities, identifying gaps and making recommendations related to contingency planning, scenario building and Concept of Operations to ensure adequate operational readiness and where feasible, a transition plan for more sustainable emergency responses.

4.Lead cross-functional analysis and coordination at the appropriate level and reinforce linkages amongst counterparts from various technical/functional areas to ensure that emergency preparedness and response is delivered in a coherent, integrated and efficient manner.

5.Provide advice to Global HQ and CO on the operationalization and integration of a multidimensional approach to humanitarian access across Concepts of Operations, Access strategies, workplans and, where possible, Country Strategic Plans.

6.Represent the organization in Humanitarian Operational Coordination groups, with other UN agencies, and with Ukrainian civil society.

7.Oversee cluster coordinators to ensure WFP’s emergency response is coordinated with the affected communities, authorities and partners.

Civil-Military Coordination

1.Leading civil-military coordination on behalf of WFP, ensuring coordination with Ukrainian Regional Military Administrations are appropriate and aligned with humanitarian principles, while also facilitating access to the frontlines.

2.Participate in preparedness activities with Regional Military Administrations, ensuring humanitarian neutrality is respected

3.Ensure WFP is up to date on the latest developments in weaponry in the Ukraine conflict, so that the organization can respond and adapt its response based on military developments.

4.Working alongside WFP Security and UNDSS to ensure humanitarian space and access are possible.

Emergency response

1.Oversee all ongoing emergency coordination activities in direct support to the Deputy Country Director.

2.Lead the call to management on the imperative to act on all matters related to the emergency response.

3.Hold accountability for the application of WFP’s emergency guidance and protocols.

4.Lead the development of functional training and documentation of lessons learned to ensure good knowledge management practices and improvement of future emergency responses.

5.Lead, motivate and help develop a substantive WFP emergency response team to enable high performance.

6.Take responsibility for an equitable and inclusive workplace which incorporates all dimensions of the WFP diversity and inclusion framework.
 

To join us in saving lives, changing lives, you will have: 

Education: Advanced University degree preferably in social sciences, public administration, international law, public health, international relations/development/affairs, logistics, supply chain management, business administration or other related fields of study. Alternatively, relevant bachelor’s degree with most relevant professional experience.

Experience:

• Extensive experience with the specific conflict dynamics of the war in Ukraine, including the innovations required for an effective humanitarian response and the ability to understand and manage relationships with Ukrainian Military Administrations.

• Proven experience leading large teams in crisis environments, with a strong track record of planning and executing humanitarian convoys, both within the Logistics Cluster and on behalf of WFP and working collaboratively with a wide range of humanitarian actors (government bodies, NGOs, UN agencies, civil society, and others).

• Expertise from operating in environments affected by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) warfare, including adapting humanitarian operations to safeguard WFP and partner staff and assets from aerial threats.

• Experience in war time crisis management response affecting staff, assets and beneficiaries. (Creation of small scale, targeted emergency response; Staff Evacuation; Assets recovery etc.) 

Language: Fluency (level C) in English