Project Manager in Lumos Foundation Ukraine

About Lumos 

Lumos Foundation works to realise every child’s right to a family by transforming care systems around the world. Our vision is a world in which all children grow up in safe and loving families within supported communities.

Founded in 2005 by author J.K. Rowling, Lumos partners with governments, civil society and young people with lived experience to transform care systems globally and advocate for family-based solutions that help children thrive. We ensure that families receive the support they need to stay together or reunite, and that children grow up in family-based settings such as foster or kinship care, not institutions.

Despite clear evidence of the harms of institutionalisation, more than 5 million children worldwide continue to live in institutions. And a much larger number of children are at risk of family breakdown and separation – those living in poverty, experiencing domestic violence and abuse, and living in countries affected by conflict.

We are ambitious for children. In the next 10 years, Lumos will enable 500,000 children in care to return to family-based care and prevent 10 million children from experiencing family breakdown and separation – so that they can thrive in their own families. Working with local, national, and global partners, Lumos supports government-led transformation of childcare systems across Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America- driving systemic and sustainable change.

Lumos has started its activities in Ukraine since 2013. At the same time, more intensive work has been done since 2016, when Lumos, together with other national and international organisations, was involved in the development of Ukraine’s National Childcare Reform Strategy. After the approval of the Strategy we continued to support the Ukrainian authorities within the process of its implementation. We worked significantly on care reform, child protection and inclusive education, focusing our work on supporting national authorities with the work at the at the national level, Zhytomyr authorities  as a main Lumos demonstration region, and later we scaled up our experience and results from Zhytomyr to other two regions in Ukraine, including Mykolaiv and Odessa. Since the war began in Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Lumos Foundation has been providing humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable children and their carers/families with critical food, hygiene, and mental health support in Zhytomyr and Odessa Oblasts. From 2023 we became the OCHA implementing partner expanding our work to frontline regions: Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, 

Lumos’ success will continue to be based not just on what we do, but on how we do it – our values. We embrace collaboration. We strive for excellence. We show respect. We always care. And we are passionate. We are Lumos.

Find out more about Lumos and our work at wearelumos.org.

BACKGROUND

Lumos has been working in Ukraine since 2013, supporting local and national authorities to transform care and child protection systems so that children can live at home with their families rather than in institutions. While the outbreak of violence interrupted our work in the Eastern regions in 2014, in 2016 we revitalized our work in Ukraine, supporting authorities with policy development and implementation of childcare and child protection reforms and development of inclusive education with a strong component of child and youth participation.

Following the start of war in February 2022, Lumos has pivoted to provide emergency aid to most vulnerable children and families in the Zhytomyr, Odesa, Sumi and Kharkov regions, including food, medicine, hygiene kits, fuel and psycho-social support. We’ve also trained specialists across the country in mental health and psychosocial support to vulnerable children and their families.

To secure a more targeted mission specific response and consistent technical assistance and expert advice to strategic governmental and non-governmental partners in care reform, Lumos was legally registered in Ukraine in 2023.

The Government of Ukraine in 2024 developed and approved the Inclusive Education Strategy and the Strategy Child Care reform. These papers were developed with contributions of the key international partners. Lumos provided technical expertise and guidance on both papers, leading on the development of the Inclusive Education Strategy.

Lumos long-term ambition is to accompany the Ukrainian authorities in the transformation of the childcare and child protection system, and within the development of the inclusive education system to ensure that children in Ukraine thrive in families. 

To ensure effective implementation of the project, Lumos will establish and operationalise an efficient MEAL system, communication and accountability of affected population, to collect and process data which enables Lumos to improve the ecosystem of information management, data quality and use, and strengthen knowledge sharing, accountability, and learning. For this purpose, Lumos is hiring a

Job Purpose

As part of the Lumos Ukraine management team, the Childcare Reform Project Manager will be leading on the designing, planning, implementing and administering Lumos Ukraine Childcare Reform Project in line with Lumos Ukraine Strategy, under the leadership of the Country Director and in the frame of the overall Lumos Ukraine Programme. Working closely with Country Director and other team members, the Project Manager will contribute to the management and quality of the programme to ensure it remains at a high standard, partnerships are expanded to cross-cutting related fields areas and funding sustainability is ensured. In addition, the Project Manager will contribute to effective and timely monitoring and evaluation of the programme, capture of learning to extract best practices and lessons learnt and adjustment when necessary, as well as will support the development of internal and external reports.

The Project Manager will work at the national, regional, and local levels in Ukraine and closely with key stakeholders and partner organisations. They will collaborate closely with Lumos global team and will involve travel both within Ukraine and internationally, as required. 

Key Objectives

1. Project management
   1.  Under the Country Director leadership ensure the alignment of the care reform project in Ukraine to the Lumos's mission and strategic objectives as well as to Lumos Ukraine Strategy and Results Framework.
   2. Develop, design, and contribute to the detail implementation plans for the childcare reform project, including outcomes, outputs, activities and milestones, together with the project team and implementation partners.
   3. Ensure effective, qualitative and timely overall implementation of the project activities against the developed plan. Coordinate closely with national, regional and local partners and stakeholders the implementation process. 
   4. Manage, in close coordination with regional coordinators, day to day administrative and operations matters.
   5. Coordinate regular meetings with the Project Team members to assess the implementation progress, identify, analyse, and overcome challenges and constraints, provide guidance and support;
   6. Conduct periodic field visits to implementation oblasts/localities to ensure efficient and timely implementation of the Project activities;
   7. Monitor project progress, expenditure and financial management, track key milestones, and manage project risks.
   8. In collaboration with all relevant staff members, ensure and support timely reporting with strict compliance to internal and donor requirements and reporting deadlines.
   9. Lead on development of childcare reform project fundraising proposals for various donors and reporting, in compliance with Lumos and donors’ requirements, in coordination with related teams (Fundraising, MEAL and Programmes – Global).
   10. Report to the Country Director on a weekly basis on activities, achievements, challenges, recommendations for project adjustment, improvement, and staff development.
2. Participation of People with Lived Experience (PPLE):
   1. Work with Ukraine and Lumos global HQ CYP and advocacy colleagues to secure opportunities and to ensure that children and young people are well represented in regional and global campaigns and ensure safe and meaningful participation of children, young people, families, and caregivers. 
   2. Ensure PPLE is mainstreamed throughout Lumos Ukraine Programme, demonstrate innovative and transferrable approaches to PPLE.
   3. Strengthening Lumos’s Ukraine internal capacity and approaches to meaningful participation. 
   4. Supervise and guide the work of PPLE across Lumos Ukraine to develop and deliver high-quality and effective projects that contribute to Lumos mission and care reform in Ukraine
3. Staff Management
   1. Support Country Director in overseeing HR functions within project team such as recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and employee relations.
   2. Contribute todrafting Job Descriptions and Terms of Reference for staff and consultants as needed and support recruitment of qualified national and international experts to fulfil roles within the project.
   3. Lead, coordinate and supervise the project implementation team and evaluate their performance in delivering required outputs and key performance indicators.
   4. Work closely with Safeguarding Designated Lead to ensure the compliance of the Project with Lumos Safeguarding Policy.
   5. Work jointly with Security Focal Point to build and ensure team safety and security.
   6. Work closely with over staff members and teams within Lumos Ukraine and globally, ensuring effective and transparent communication, support and knowledge exchange.
4. Monitoring, Reporting and Compliance
   1. Together with MEAL Officer and other team members, in line with Lumos global MEAL framework monitor the progress and impact of the overall child care reform project, ensuring that it meets established goals and objectives. This could involve collecting data, conducting evaluations, and making recommendations for improvement. 
   2. Contribute to the development and adjustment of the Theory of Change and Results Framework, monitoring and evaluation framework for the project with the support of the global MEAL team.
   3. Ensure the monitoring plan is implemented and that data is collected and analysed to assess project progress, targets, outcomes, and impact;
   4. Provide monitoring and evaluation on project operational processes to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and compliance with standards.
   5. Ensure and be responsible for strict compliance with donor and Lumos administrative and financial rules and procedures;
   6. Develop and submit progress and final reports (against planned activities, indicators, outputs, outcomes) as needed per Lumos internal (quarterly and annual), and donor requirements;
   7. Lead in preparing quarterly, annual, and other reports to the Board of Lumos and other entities, as required.
   8. Work closely with Communication and Fundraising teams ensuring documentation and development of success stories, case studies, pictures, etc., in line with Lumos ethical polices and requirements.
   9. Identify and document the knowledge, learning and best practices and develop evidence-based models for the review and adjustment of the current project and for the next cycle programming to contribute to the next project design.
   10. Lead in capturing, disseminating and sharing the knowledge, learning and best project practices emerging from Lumos’s programmatic work in close collaboration with the project team and MEAL Officer.
5. Administrative Operation and Financial Project Management:
   1. Insure Lumos Ukraine care reform implementation in line with Lumos overall policies and procedures and with National legislation in terms of finances, HR, operations and security.
   2. Coordinate with the finance team the budget planning, reporting, and monitoring of project spending versus programme goals and timeframe.
   3. Contribute to the development of thebudget needed for implementation of the care reform project in Ukraine and monitoring budget execution throughout the year against set targets, with support from the Finance Manager the MEAL officer, and project team.
   4. Identify and mitigate operational risks to ensure the continuity of project activities and results in Ukraine. When necessary, under the leadership of the Country Director, together with the security officer develop and implement plans to address risks, emergencies or crises that may impact organizational operations in the country.
   5. Undertake other administrative tasks or any other duties related to the Project implementation, delegated by the Country Director.
6. Representation
   1. Together with the Country Director, identify key national partners and build relationships to optimise mission impact. Facilitate collaboration with all relevant stakeholders, including partner organisations, coordinating UN agencies and local, regional and national authorities, to develop fit for purpose childcare reform projects.
   2. Foster strategic partnerships with key stakeholders in the child protection and child care fields including national authorities, target communities, regional and local authorities, national and international organisations. 
   3. Identify and link Lumos work to related ongoing activities within other national, international and UN agencies and encourage collaboration and synergies.
   4. Promote and advocate for Lumos mission and in line with project objectives represent Lumos as requested in relevant national working groups, platforms, seminars, meetings, etc. Attend coordination meetings, other relevant meetings with authorities, donors and other stakeholders as required by the Country Director.
   5. Provide upstream policy advice to Lumos on areas related to the project, as applicable.
   6. Work with cross-cutting and multisectoral partners from education, health and among others and contribute to building and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders, including donors and partners.
   7. Work with external partners ensuring that all project decisions are taken in coordination with partners, donors, relevant government structures, and community. Ensure non-duplication of project with other partners operating in same locations and in similar sectors of activity.

What Success Looks Like

Success for this role means delivering a high-impact, well-managed childcare reform project where children and families are central and meaningfully involved; the project is delivered on time, within budget, and with measurable impact; the team is motivated, high-performing strong and safeguarded, compliance and reporting are exemplary, and Lumos is a respected leader and partner in Ukraine’s care reform, seen as a collaborative voice and strong organisation nationally and globally.

Additional Information

Alongside the opportunity to contribute to a truly life-changing mission, you’ll enjoy excellent benefits, a supportive and inclusive culture, and a genuine commitment to your personal andprofessional development. 

Safeguarding Statement

Lumos recognises that the rights of safety and security are aligned with its core mission for children, families and communities. Effective and robust safeguarding sit at the heart of our mission and values, and accordingly, Lumos is committed to ensuring the safety and protection of children and adults at risk in all of its work. We expect all staff, associates and volunteers to share this commitment. Lumos has a zero-tolerance approach towards all forms of abuse, bullying, harassment and sexual exploitation.  Lumos is a member of The Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and will carefully screen all applicants.  Offers of employment are subject to checks and suitable references.

All staff and associates must:

• Carry out all duties with an awareness and understanding of Lumos safeguarding and PSEA requirements 
• Ensure work complies with all safeguarding and PSEA policies and procedures
• Ensure that their behaviours and actions support the safeguarding of children, young people and adults at risk as appropriate.

Lumos is a member of the Inter Agency Misconduct Scheme and will carefully screen all applicants and any offers of employment are subject to checks and suitable references. Lumos has a comprehensive safeguarding policy, including expectations for behaviour and conduct that must be followed at all times, as well as an expectation that staff and associates act in accordance with the Rules for Sexual Conduct for Humanitarian Workers.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement 

Lumos is wholly committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and against all forms of discrimination.    

We are committed to creating and sustaining a positive working environment that encourages, supports and gives a voice to all, so that we can best support the children we serve.   

We must ensure that all staff are equally valued, included, empowered and respected across the organisation and in everything we do. Lumos is fundamentally built on diverse, multi-national and multi-cultural teams.   

This is something we cherish as a key strength and an integral part of our identity. Our organisation values and celebrates the diversity, culture and experience of each member of staff, provides equality of care, and support to everyone.   

We pledge to listen carefully, to educate ourselves continually, to promote open dialogue, and to seek out and deal with discrimination and prejudice wherever it occurs in Lumos.

Our Values

Children are at the heart of everything we do. Every child needs love and care in order to flourish – and we’re proud that this is reflected in the values we hold within our organisation. We want to see all children grow up in safe and loving families. Our core values drive us forward in our vision, underpin

every aspect of our work and strategy and are critical to helping us maintain a thriving and effective organisation. By making sure every individual feels valued and empowered, we can bring about the very best outcomes for the children we serve. 

• We embrace Collaboration 
• We strive for Excellence  
• We show Respect
• We always Care
• We are Passionate

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