Partnership Officer (MEL) Ukraine Chernihiv

This position is open to candidates who have the legal right to work in Ukraine. Please note that we are unable to provide work permits or visa sponsorships for this position.

All NRC employees are expected to work in accordance with the organisation’s core values: dedication, innovation, inclusivity and accountability. These attitudes and believes shall guide our actions and relationships.

1.Role and responsibilities

We are seeking a motivated and detail-oriented Partnership Officer with a focus on monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) direction to join our team. The ideal candidate will have some experience in data management, excel and qualitative and quantitative methods, and will integrate these skills within the broader scope of partnership development. This role is essential in ensuring that our collaborations are not only based on quality data and reporting but also strategically aligned with our organizational objectives. The Partnership Officer will balance monitoring and evaluation oversight with broader partnership responsibilities, supporting the growth and effectiveness of our collaborative initiatives.

Generic responsibilities

• Oversee the reporting of indicators, reach and data quality of partnerships, including development of log frames, targets and MEL plans.
• Ensure adherence to NRC policies, handbooks/guidelines and donor requirements
• Provide timely and context specific information to internal and external stakeholders
• Play an active role to strengthen NRC’s Localization response in accordance with the NRC Country Strategy;
• Ensure risk management and compliance in strong and reliable partnerships;
• Prepare and submit periodic reports to line manager when requested;
• Support identification of capacity development needs and ensure partners are receiving the necessary technical support

Specific responsibilities

• Support the development of quality partner proposals (log frames, indicators and targets) aligned with NRC formats and standards in coordination with Project Managers
• Develop MEL plans for partners, including ensuring high quality data collection methodology and tools and data management, analysis aligned with NRC MEL standards and donor requirements and proposals, in collaboration with the MEL department.
• Track partner result progress monthly and review interim and final narrative reports in coordination with Project Managers.
• With partners identify, design and implement relevant learning and capacity building plans (with support from MEL and program technical leads).
• Support Partnerships & Community Engagement Coordinator in exercise of mapping local partners in North AO.
• Support Partnerships & Community Engagement Coordinator identify potential partners and build relations with said partners.
• Facilitate communication and coordination between NRC and partners and perform monitoring visits to partners.
• Support Partnerships & Community Engagement Coordinator in organizational assessments and vetting of potential partners as per NRC Partnership Toolkit.
• Identification of capacity development needs and support Partnerships & Community Engagement Coordinator coordinate systematic capacity-building exercises, including liaising with NRC Partnership Unit (Country Office) and NRC programme staff, to ensure partners are receiving necessary technical support. This could include supporting in organizing training, coaching and mentoring.
• Short translations, either Ukrainian to English or vice versa of relevant documents related to partners.
• Support Partnerships & Community Engagement Coordinator in contracting and sub-granting to NRC’s partners in North AO.
• Support Partnerships & Community Engagement Coordinator in the development of project implementation agreements between new partners and NRC.
• Support local partners in becoming familiar with NRC’s reporting templates, with special attention to support partners with NRC financial reporting requirements, with support from NRC Finance Departments.
• Collaborate with other departments, Protection, Safe & Inclusive Programming (SIP), Finance, Logistics, MEL to ensure mainstreaming of core NRC principles and procedures across operational partners.
• Collaborate with Partnership Unit, Country Office and Partnerships & Community Engagement Coordinator to ensure up-to-date maintenance of Partnership Tracker for North AO.
• Participate in Project Review Meetings and actively follow-up on any outstanding partnership issues when required.
• Monitor partner’s compliance to NRC’s and where applicable, to specific donor requirements.
• Maintain filing and documentation of North AO partner projects and partnership documents as per the NRC Ukraine’s filing and information management systems.
• Work with Partnership Unit, Partnerships & Community Engagement Coordinator North AO in development and operationalisation NRC’s Partnership Strategy, for engagement with public [local authorities/local academia], private sector and civil society stakeholders [LNGOs, CBOs and NNGOs].
• Regarding implementing said Strategy, flag any bottlenecks in the processes and provide suggestions for the improvement of existing mechanisms.
• Other administrative support and assistance as required by line manager.

2. Competencies 

1. Professional competencies 

• Bachelor degree or equivalent in field of social sciences, statistics, research, international development or economics, or other related fields of study;
• Good understanding of Ukrainian civil society is an advantage;
• Good data management skills to support partners in tracking progress on indicators and individuals reached.
• Desired skills in Excel and Power BI for data analysis and data visualization (e.g., scatter plots, pie charts, bar graphs, line charts, heat maps, and histograms).
• Desired familiarity with quantitative and qualitative research methods and analysis. Knowledge of, and experience of using mobile data collection tools, such as KoBoToolbox.
• Ability to support partners, especially in organizational development capacity building is an advantage;
• Minimum 2 years of professional experience working either in humanitarian or development agency, or within Ukrainian civil society or local academia;
• Good working English skills (both written and verbal) and Ukrainian language is required;
• Ability to work independently, with limited supervision;
• Good interpersonal skills;
• Attention to detail, organisational skills and discretion with confidential information;
• Confident user of MS Office 365 App, online information platforms.
• A willingness to work in Chernihiv, as the duty station for this position.

2. Behavioural competencies

• Planning and delivering results;
• Communicating with impact and respect;
• Working with people;
• Handling insecure environments.