Program Development (PD) Lead in CARE

Location: Kyiv, Ukraine

Duration: 12 months

Starting date: 01/01/2026

Compensation and benefits: 3,819.97 € - 4,282.99 €, Risk allowance 200 €, Private Medical Insurance, PSS Support.

CARE INTERNATIONAL

CARE International (CI) is among the world’s largest international non-governmental humanitarian relief and development confederations. Drawing on more than 75 years of experience, through its 21 Members, as both a practitioner and thought leader, CI’s work reaches over 100 countries worldwide to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. 

CARE’s vision is to seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice; where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE focuses heavily on women and girls, and the areas of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion are at the center of our work because we know that we cannot overcome poverty and social injustice until all people have equal rights and opportunities. We recognize that power relations between people and within systems and structures are unequal and that these are entrenched in our broader systems, structures, and institutions. 

At the core of the CI Confederation is a globally distributed Secretariat, which provides coordination and support to its Members in areas including governance, strategic planning, communications, membership development and accountability, advocacy, humanitarian response, and program development. In addition, the Secretariat represents the CI Confederation at the United Nations and the European Union, and with other external stakeholders.

Context in Ukraine

On 24th February 2022, the invasion of Ukraine marked a significant escalation to the conflict that started in 2014. It continues to profoundly impact the lives of people across the country at various levels. The front line is continuously shifting and there are areas under Russian military control, as well as cities under siege. Attacks on military installations and critical civilian infrastructures are conducted in the whole territory of Ukraine, often resulting in collateral civilian casualties. The conflict has caused the largest population movement in Europe since World War II, with over 5 million currently displaced within Ukraine and 6 million refugees across Europe. OCHA had counted 17.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. 

At least one-third of the country’s energy infrastructure is damaged, leaving millions without heating and access to water. In October 2022, the Russian Federation claimed to have annexed four Ukrainian oblasts, further increasing the challenge of access to these areas. Therefore, an ongoing priority for the international humanitarian response is to reach newly accessible areas in the East and South, and to provide aid to previously unreachable and particularly hard-hit areas of Ukraine. 

CARE UKRAINE

CARE prioritizes a locally led response and is partnering primarily with Civil-Society Organizations (CSOs), National NGOs, local authorities, and when needed, INGOs with a longstanding presence in the country and access to hard-to-reach areas. CARE Ukraine deliberately and strategically prioritizes partnerships with local and national Women Led and Women Rights organizations (WLO’s/ WRO’s), further strengthening the Gender in Emergencies (GiE) principle and the Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) approach.

In the first few weeks after the escalation of the war, virtually all humanitarian aid inside Ukraine was organized and implemented by local actors. These groups (together with local authorities) remain the principal aid providers but are quickly being exhausted of funds, fuel, and physical energy. Thereby, a considerable proportion of CARE’s resources is dedicated to strengthening and supporting the capacities of local partners. 

As of May 2022, CARE Ukraine has established partnerships with more than 20 national organizations (incl. four WLOs/WROs) and five international NGOs. From more than 45 million € that have been raised for Ukraine thus far, around 70% is allocated to local and national partners. Through the activities that have been implemented so far, CARE Ukraine has been able to reach 759,651 people, including IDPs and affected populations in hard-to-reach areas.

While CARE Ukraine’s country office is currently located in Lviv, we also have a coordination office in Kyiv as well as area offices in Dnipro and Odesa, covering both the East and South of the country. 

Role Objectives

The Program Development (PD) Lead will be part of a dynamic program team, pulling together reports and proposal submissions and making sure that systems and processes are in place so that we are accountable for the funds we receive. There will be deadlines to meet and staff and partners to train on report writing and compliance issues. But no matter how busy or pressured it gets, you will be unfailingly accurate and well organized.

In collaboration with the Program Teams, Program Quality Team, Program Support Team, and headquarter counterparts at CARE Germany, the Program Development Lead will lead the Program Development Unit to provide support to the Country Office in terms of program development, donor’s reporting, proposal development and other funding-related issues, as well as facilitate the management of secured restricted funds to ensure compliance with external donor requirements and internal CARE policies and procedures; support partner management in order to ensure capacity development in partner contract management and fundraising; maintain required levels of funding and partner relationships to support the grow and the development of the country program.

The Program Development Lead will report to the Deputy Country Director for Program and directly supervise the Program Development Coordinator. 

Program Development, Partnerships and Resource mobilization:

• Build up the program development unit for CARE Ukraine in close coordination with CARE Ukraine Management team. 
• Recruit, mentor and manage the Program DevelopmentCoordinator and provide the necessary support to ensure best performance
• Develop program development procedures, rules and guidelines and ensure all relevant staff understand and has access to those learning documents.
• Lead on the design, update and implementation of the CO Resource Mobilisation Strategy
• Monitor funding pipeline and lead on fund raising planning and forecasting. 
• Provide the relevant mentoring to support coherence, consistency and quality in fundraising efforts and results across the board.
• Lead the CO Resource Mobilisation Strategy review processes, facilitating decision making to ensure that fundraising strategies and activities are relevant and remain aligned with
• changes in the context and programming.
• Provide training, coaching and mentoring to staff, primary stakeholders, and implementing partners in project design and proposal development; 
• Ensure that both, CARE and Partner staff have the comprehension and competencies to follow donor rules and regulations. If this is not the case, work closely with the Partnerships Manage and Director of PQ to develop capacity-building plans.

Proposal/Concept Development, management & compliance assurance: 

• Evaluate eligibility and provide summaries of opportunities and calls to support the CO Go-No-Go appraisal and decision-making process.
• Keep abreast of developments in the CARE/Humanitarian world in order to draw upon technical expertise, standards, approaches and lessons learnt when designing concepts and proposals in order to influence design and scope of initiatives and programs as necessary.
• Identify best practices and lessons learnt from documentation as success stories, technical reports, or peer review publications, research and evaluation publications to support and inform design and program development.
• Advise both programs and program quality teams, finance, other working groups on relevant donor requirements/compliance, changes in donor priorities and also national priorities/restrictions if any.
• Ensure adherence to Common International principles and standards and CARE’s Programming Principles.
• Lead the planning, drafting and editing of proposals in coordination with the relevant staff.
• Manage all required internal sign off and facilitate the submission of all bids and proposals in close consultation with the relevant CARE Member Partners.
• Ensure all concept notes and proposals are of a sufficient quality to meet minimum requirements for submission.
• Provide advice to program and grants team in negotiations with institutional donors or business partners over contracts, costs, governance and accountability, and compliance requirements.
• Ensure adherence to funding policies and guidelines

Strategic Planning and Donor engagement:

• Represent CARE as a generalist, alongside technical experts, in consortium meetings during proposal development and donor engagement.
• Develop a resource mobilization strategy and update it annually in collaboration with the CO SMT, CARE International Member Partners. Liaise with members to determine opportunities, support global donor relationship management, and align member and country funding strategies. 
• Lead the portfolio and funding assessments (portfolio analysis, donor landscape and, funding opportunity assessments) to identify potential donors and advance the country office strategy.
• Ensure RM efforts align with the Country Office and CARE regional and Global strategies.
• Develop and maintain systems and tools to track positioning and donor engagement strategies. 
• In collaboration with Comms and Advocacy, and program staff maintain updated capacity statements, factsheets, brochures, and visibility materials. 
• Actively participate in key relevant internal meetings such as annual planning meetings, ESMT meetings, etc.

Requirements

Qualification and skills

• Master’s degree or equivalent in International Development.
• Strong experience in managing donor contracts and fundraising activities, in particular from major donors like FCDO, ECHO, USAID, European MoFA’s, UN, HPF etc.
• Strong technical knowledge of donor funding proposals and log frames in thematic areas required for the role and ability to evaluate proposals and reports and make recommendations for improvement.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills, with experience in external organisational representation.
• Good relationship management skills, with ability to represent CARE with external organisations and individuals.
• Strategic minded person with good analytical skills and ability to bring different strands of information together and determine their relevance for the organisation.
• Excellent English writing skills with proven ability to develop and present proposals and donor reports, for both internal and external audiences.
• Strong numeracy and general financial skills, particularly developing budgets, financial management/ monitoring and reporting.
• Good research skills with ability to identify and propose successful strategies for identifying and establishing donor opportunities.

The main responsibilities include:

Accountability within CARE:

A commitment to CARE values and CARE’s integrity framework is critical to working with CARE. Any candidate offered a job with CARE will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability: 

• Comply with CARE’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area. 
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a CARE staff or partner.

Safeguarding:

Children and vulnerable adults who come into contact with CARE as a result of our activities must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that CARE shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates. 

Gender equality:

CARE is committed to meeting the standards of the CARE International Gender Policy (2019). Through this policy, CARE seeks to promote the equal realization of dignity and human rights for girls, women, boys and men in all diversities, and the elimination of poverty and injustice. Specifically, this policy seeks to improve the explicit incorporation of gender in programmatic and organizational practices. 

How to apply:

CARE values equal opportunities and diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.

Please send your CV (in pdf format max. 4 pages) and a cover letter in English to [email protected], no later than 03.01.2026.  Please name your documents Surname_CV, Surname_Cover Letter.  Put “Job Title Name” as the subject title of your email: [email protected]

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.   References will only be contacted after the interview. 

Please pay attention - this position is open only for national candidates.

People with disabilities are encouraged to apply. War veterans are encouraged to apply.