Program Associate at USAID AGRICULTURE GROWING RURAL OPPORTUNITIES ACTIVITY IN UKRAINE

Background:

The purpose of the USAID AGRO Activity is to accelerate the economic development of rural Ukrainian communities with the greatest need through a better governed agricultural sector that encourages more productive, modern, and profitable micro, small, and medium (MSMEs) agricultural enterprises that are successfully integrated into competitive markets both in Ukraine and internationally.

AGRO operates based on the market system conceptual approach.

With the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, AGRO’s scope has expanded, and its implementation pace has significantly picked up. AGRO’s technical implementation teams (Components) directly responsible for the implementation of AGRO’s activities and achieving its goals require support with strengthening program and project management processes, monitoring and reporting activities, organizing travels and events, ordering and administrating procurements etc.

In September 2022, the estimated cost of the Activity was extended to US$120,000,000, and its implementation period was extended through November 13, 2026; on August 24, 2023, the estimated cost of the Activity was extended to US$205,000,000. AGRO employs 60 long-term CCN employees.

Therefore, AGRO is looking to fill in three positions of Program Associates who, in coordination and cooperation with other AGRO teams and AGRO’s partners, will support the technical components in terms of program and project implementation, administration, reporting, monitoring, internal and external communications. The positions of Program Associates will support the following technical teams, specializing on:

• Supporting the productivity and market access for agricultural micro-, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
• Improving access of agricultural MSMEs to service and financial resources
• Improving legislation and regulations in agriculture, land and irrigation.

Position Description:

The Program Associate provides entry-level support with program and project administration and completes professional and administrative tasks related to supporting achievement of AGRO objectives, efficient and effective program and project implementation by a technical component.

The Program Associate is a member of the technical implementation team (Component), reports to the Component Team Lead and closely cooperates  with AGRO’s other technical components and supporting teams, namely:

1. Collaboration, Learning and Adapting (CLA), responsible for monitoring and evaluating AGRO performance.
2. Administrative Office, responsible for operational activities, human resources and hiring, project registration, procurement, and other operations.
3. Strategic Investment Fund, responsible for the general oversight of AGRO’s contracts and sub-awards directly contributing to AGRO’s objectives.

The Program Associate contributes to consistent implementation of program and project management standards; supports data collection and drafting of documents and reports; assists the team with documenting, sharing, and presenting results, success stories, CLA cases and lessons learned; assists in internal and external communication with subcontractors and partners; organizes and events and field visits, captures feedback that helps to improve the implementation of activities.

Essential Functions:

• Contributes to consistent implementation of program and project management standards across the technical component;
• Supports technical component team in applying program and project management tools and practices, including tracking systems and tools to facilitate monitoring of implementation progress and performance and regularly updates these systems and tools;
• Assists with maintaining the Component’s work plan updated and in line with the annual AGRO Implementation Plan, with all supporting documentation uploaded as necessary;
• Contributes to and assists technical component in budgeting of technical acitivites and budget monitoring;
• Supports technical component with collecting, capturing, and providing updates about the progress made by the Component. Reaches out and elicits information for reports (eg., daily bulletins, success stories, monitoring and evaluation reports) from a variety of resources (people and systems) ;
• In coordination with the CLA team, helps the Component to gather and organize monitoring and evaluation data;
• Helps maintain and update key management documents, program and project data, support document flow, sharing knowledge and information;
• Assists in communications with AGRO’s subawardees and subcontractors and other AGRO stakeholders;
• Assists in scheduling, organizing, and conducting internal and external meetings and events, including with program partners and the government, prepares relevant materials and coordinates with AGRO support teams, takes notes and provides summaries when needed;
• Prepares draft documents (letters, notes, memos, presentations) as requested;
• Gathers information about events (forums, conferences, exhibitions) and liaises with organizers to ensure AGRO’s participation or co-organizing;
• Supports with administration, including organizing and coordinating travel, drafting paperwork for business trips, procurement requests, and updating of component-related administrative trackers.

Terms of work, SOW Timing and Reporting Relations:

One-year fixed term employment agreement with possible annual extension up to the end of the Activity implementation (November 14, 2026), subject to availability of respective tasks in the successive Annual Work Plans of the Activity.

The Program Associate will work under direct supervision of, and report to the Component Team Lead.

This position offers full time employment in Kyiv.

(temporary remote work arrangement available)

This position envisages business trips within and outside of Ukraine.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher related to public administration, social sciences, international development, communications or other related fields;
• At least 3 years of experience related to project management support and coordination and/or administrative support in public, private, non-profit or international development organization;
• Ability to work independently and in a team;
• Solid knowledge of Ukrainian, with good written and oral communications skills, as well as English at least at B2 level (CEFR);
• Experience in writing reports and other documents, data collection and monitoring of project progress desirable;
• Computer skills: advanced user level is required for MS 365 applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint etc.);
• Experience of working with ERP and/or CRM systems, and /or project management software is an asset.

Application Instructions

Send electronic submissions by January 31, 2024. Please submit your CV and cover letter. No telephone inquiries, please. Only finalists will be contacted.

Chemonics is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factors.

2024-01-12T15:25:20.000 2024-01-31T23:59:59.000 Full time TELECOMMUTE Україна Кімонікс Інтернешнл Інк. Програма USAID з аграрного і сільського розвитку (АГРО)