ECHO Consortium Manager

Location:

Kyiv for the first weeks, then Dnipro, with in-country travel (up to 50%)

Contract duration

12 months from 01/04/2025

Contract Type:

Consultancy

Open to:

National candidates

Salary:

According to ActionAid’s salary grid for national staff (N-C band)

Reporting to:

Head of Programmes

Direct Reports:

Consortium PQMEAL Officer, Consortium Operations & Finance Officer, Protection Officer

Recruitment

External candidates

About us: 

ActionAid is a global federation working for a world free from poverty and injustice. ActionAid’s Regional Office for Eastern Europe was established in Kyiv in 2022 and is covering projects in Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Moldova and Georgia. ActionAid works through a wide range of local partner organisations in the nexus, prioritising young people’s leadership, civil society development, women’s rights and leadership, the protection of at-risk groups and minorities, as well as humanitarian assistance.

 

The Role:

The ECHO Consortium Manager will be responsible for ensuring smooth coordination and implementation of the consortium’s activities, in line with ECHO guidelines, ActionAid’s humanitarian signature, and localisation principles. The Consortium includes ActionAid, one international and several local partner organisations, with activities taking place in Eastern Oblasts of Ukraine. 

The role is based in Dnipro or Kyiv (TBD) and reports to the Head of Programmes. The Consortium Manager manages a Consortium PQMEAL and an Ops Officer. The role works closely with the Project Development & Implementation Coordinator, the Protection Coordinator, the Finance Team, and the Women’s Rights Advisor, as well as other colleagues based in Moldova, Poland, Romania and Spain. 

Tasks and Priorities

1) Consortium Coordination and Partnership Management

• Lead the consortium, ensuring effective collaboration, communication, and alignment among consortium members.
• Facilitate regular consortium meetings, fostering an inclusive and transparent decision-making process.
• Strengthen partnerships with national and local actors, ensuring meaningful participation and leadership of local organisations.
• Represent the consortium in external coordination forums, including humanitarian clusters, working groups, and donor meetings.

2) Programme Management and Implementation

• Ensure timely and high-quality implementation of the ECHO-funded project, in coordination with consortium partners.
• Monitor progress against agreed deliverables, flagging risks and proposing mitigation measures.
• Ensure the programme remains flexible and responsive to changing humanitarian needs.
• Oversee the development and implementation of cross-cutting strategies, including gender, protection mainstreaming, accountability to affected populations, and conflict sensitivity.
• Lead the implementation of direct ActionAid activities under the ECHO-funded programme, ensuring compliance with organisational and donor requirements.
• Provide guidance to ActionAid teams on programme delivery, monitoring, and reporting, ensuring high standards of quality and impact.

3) Compliance, Reporting, and Quality Assurance

• Ensure compliance with ECHO regulations and guidelines, as well as ActionAid’s policies and procedures.
• Lead consortium-level donor reporting, ensuring quality and timely submission of reports.
• Support partners in strengthening Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) systems.
• Work closely with finance and grant management teams to track budget expenditures and ensure financial compliance.

4) Advocacy, Learning, and Representation

• Engage with external stakeholders, including ECHO, UN agencies, INGOs, and local actors, to advocate for the needs of affected populations.
• Establishing contacts and regularity of contacts with local authorities on oblast / raion/ hromada levels, representation AA at the Dnipro Sub-Clusters level
• Facilitate joint learning and best practice sharing among consortium members.
• Ensure that lessons learned are incorporated into future programming.
• Exchanging an information with other actors present on the field, provision support to Consortia members in establishing referrals pathways. and support in organizing monitoring visits for the team / donor.

5) Humanitarian Programme Lead

• Act as the Humanitarian Lead for ActionAid Ukraine, providing technical guidance on humanitarian response and strategy.
• Lead the development of humanitarian proposals, ensuring alignment with ActionAid’s priorities and donor expectations.
• Provide strategic direction for ActionAid’s humanitarian programming, ensuring an integrated and gender-responsive approach.
• Contribute to the development of ActionAid Ukraine’s humanitarian policies and positioning within the national and international humanitarian landscape.

 

(The responsibilities of this position are subject to change as required by the rapidly evolving context.)

Who we're looking for: 

• A master’s degree in a relevant discipline.
• At least four years of relevant experience working for international NGOs, preferably in a Consortium Coordinator or Project Manager role.
• ECHO experience is a must!
• Demonstrated experience in leading and managing multi-partner humanitarian consortia, with national and international partners.
• Strong knowledge of ECHO funding requirements and humanitarian coordination structures.
• Experience in localisation and working with national and local actors in humanitarian responses.
• Excellent project cycle management, budget oversight, and reporting skills.
• A strong understanding of Protection programming, in particular GBV, MHPSS, and projects focusing on women, the elderly, and people with disability. 
• Experience with winterisation programmes and cash is highly desired.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills, with fluency in Ukrainian and English.
• Work experience in Eastern Ukraine is highly preferred.
• Proven experience in managing, and building the capacity of, staff and local partners. 
• Exceptional interpersonal skills: tact, patience, diplomacy, confidentiality, and appropriate assertiveness when communicating with donors and partners.
• Consultative and empowering working style and willingness to learn from others.
• In addition, we expect:
  • A strong commitment to AA’s vision, mission, and values, especially the rights-based approach and the principles of equal opportunity as outlined in ActionAid’s Code of Conduct.  
  • A strong commitment to embedding feminist leadership and ActionAid’s humanitarian signature. 
  • A strong commitment to adhering to and promoting ActionAid’s approach to Sexual Harassment, Exploitation, and Abuse and other Safeguarding concerns (including child abuse and abuse of adults at-risk)  
  • A strong understanding of and commitment to women’s rights and cultural sensitivity.  
  • A commitment to the importance of downward accountability to rights-holders and transparency in humanitarian response. 

What we offer:

ActionAid is committed to providing a welcoming, supportive workplace where we recognize a job well done, encourage close collaboration and sharing power, and where safeguarding standards and feminist leadership are exemplified everywhere. At ActionAid, you can look forward to a fair compensation package and a flexible working environment, including. 

• A workplace that embraces intersectional feminist principles 
• Generous maternity, paternity and adoption pay.
• Flexible, family-friendly working arrangements.
• Salary and conditions according to ActionAid’s salary grid for National candidates.

 

How to apply:

Please send your CV and cover letter as pdfs in English (no more than 2 pages each) to  Отправить резюме with the reference Ukraine – ECHO Consortium Coordinator.