BCP Government Liaison and Senior Coordinator

Kyiv

With business trips 50% of working time at Border Crossing Points in Lviv, Volyn, Zakarpattia, Vinnytsia, and Odesa regions.

ERA BACKGROUND 

Ukraine’s efforts to win the future – emerging from Russia’s full-scale war ready to accelerate its development as a sovereign, independent, democratic, and prosperous state – require a dynamic, inclusive economic recovery. Through partnerships with the government and robust private sector engagement, ERA has supported economic growth and resilience in Ukraine since 2018. Following Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and subsequent occupation of the part of Ukraine, ERA shifted from its focus on Eastern Ukraine to cover development priorities across the country that address Ukraine’s urgent needs in export logistics and infrastructural improvements.

AGRI-UKRAINE GRAIN EXPORT LOGISTICS

USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) is one of USAID’s core partners implementing the $350 million Agriculture Resilience Initiative – Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine) that was established in 2022 to bolster Ukrainian agricultural exports and alleviate the global food security crisis exacerbated by the war. Under AGRI-Ukraine, ERA partners with public and private companies to complement and leverage urgently-needed grain transportation and transshipment investments.

INFRASTRUCTURAL IMPROVEMENTS ERA also directly supports the Government of Ukraine, including the State Agency for Restoration and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine (SARDI), the State Customs Service and Ukrainian Railways, to upgrade 42 of Ukraine’s border crossing points (BCPs). Modern and more efficient border infrastructure and customs procedures will reduce export costs and increase export capacity, enabling  Ukraine to scale trade and advance its path to EU integration.

About the job

The Project Liaison and Coordinator is responsible for generally supporting the BCP activities and cooperating with the Procurement and M&E Teams to ensure the performance of program-level project implementation. The Project Liaison and Coordinator is expected to coordinate the work and activities of ERA engineers, contracted engineers, construction subcontractors, equipment suppliers, and vendors. This role requires a high level of in-person work at ERA offices in Kyiv, the partner offices in Kyiv, and their western regional offices. 

The senior coordinator supports USAID ERA while also providing direct technical assistance to the project's Government of Ukraine partners, including the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine (MOI), the State Agency for Restoration and Development of Infrastructure (SARDI), and through SARDI with the State Border Guard Services (SBGS), State Customs Service (SCS), and Joint Stock Company (UZ). The coordination effort will be at all levels of national, regional, local, and BCP sites. 

The position can be located in Kyiv and reports to the Director of BCP in Lviv. It is required from the position to visit BCP sites at the western border of Ukraine and may require frequent visits and work at the various offices of the GOU agencies at national and local levels. The BCP Director should be kept informed on all the visits in advance unless there are regularly scheduled meetings and daily brief bullet reports to be provided after each meeting.

Responsibilities:

Liaison and Coordination Tasks:

• Liaise and coordinate with the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine (MOI), the State Agency for Restoration and Development of Infrastructure (SARDI), and through SARDI with the State Border Guard Services (BG), State Customs Service (Customs), and Joint Stock Company (UZ).
• The coordination effort will be at all national, regional, local, and BCP site levels. Solid coordination must be performed at the BCP site level, specifically with SARDI, Customs, Border Guards, and UZ.
• The liaison and coordination will include the following levels of the program:
  • Share and provide and obtain feedback on the authorized ERA documents and reports to be shared. It is important to obtain permission to share any ERA project documents.
  • Share with ERA the only authorized documents to be shared by the GOU partner agencies.
  • Keep the stakeholder partners on the ongoing project progress. 
  • Keep ERA BCP updated on the needs and issues presented by the GOU partner agencies, keeping in mind the project objectives.
  • Obtain access and permission to BCP sites from GOU agencies for the project staff and ERA subcontracted engineers, construction subcontractors, vendors, and suppliers.
  • Coordinate and facilitate authorized document review and approval by the GOU agencies.
  • Facilitate acceptance of projects, items, and equipment provided by ERA to GOU agencies.
  • Attend ERA coordination meetings in person or online and ensure the attendance of GOU representatives.
  • Focus on USAID-ERA project objectives and manage expectations. 
  • Address and resolve any arising conflicts or issues between the project and governmental partners.
  • Work with all BCP team senior managers and teams members to facilitate and follow up on all the required coordination including access permits, acceptance of project provided materials, equipment, and workmanship.  
• Perform other liaison and coordination duties as the BCP Director assigns, such as overview and analysis of rules and regulations and government initiatives.

Technical Assistance Tasks:

• The senior coordinator may be asked to work directly with GoU partner representatives and assist with the implementation of their partnership responsibilities in line with the MOU signed between the MOU and the partner. This may include helping with project trackers, communications, following up with design approvals, or similar processes. 
• The senior coordinator may attend meetings at the offices of the GoU partners at the request and direction of the BCP Director, share meeting notes, and support follow-on tasks. 

Job Expectations

In this position, you are expected to share the DAI's four core values: 

• Integrity: commit to civil and ethical behavior, play by the rules, and do the right thing; 
• Responsibility: be accountable to clients, partners, grant recipients, beneficiaries, colleagues, and communities where we work. If you fall short, you own up, fix the problem, and get it right the next time;
• Excellence: adhere to the highest technical and professional standards in innovation, learning, and service;
• Global Citizenship: respect cultural diversity and treat everyone everywhere with professionalism and dignity to make the world a better place. 

About you:

• MA/BA in infrastructure development, economy, law, or a related field.
• A minimum of ten years of general professional experience is required, with five years of specific experience in the field of infrastructure, customs, or railways.
• Mid-level English is required. Verbal English skills will be tested during the interview process.
• Strong MS Office skills in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint and Teams. 
• Experience with international donor-funded projects and GOU agencies is preferred.

WE OFFER

Contract length: 12-month employment agreement with a possibility of extension.

Benefits Package:

• 28 calendar days of annual leave
• 10 days of internal well-being paid leave per annum
• Medical Insurance for ERA staff and their families
• Life Insurance for ERA staff
• Coverage of all expenses for the business trips
• Military reservation is possible and granted if you are on a relevant military register

Start date: May 2024

Application process

All applicants must send a cover letter and updated CV (no longer than four pages) in English to Отправить резюме .

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or status as a protected veteran.

Closing date for applications: April 15, 2024.

For further information about DAI GLOBAL LLC, please consult our website era-ukraine.org.ua.