Analysis of international humanitarian assistance management in cities

General background

The European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI ) is the leading anti-corruption support programme in Ukraine, funded by the European Union, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, UK International Development, co-funded and implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. The overall objective of the EUACI is to achieve significant progress in preventing and countering corruption, ensuring the coherence and systemic anti-corruption activities of state and local self-government bodies, and to empower civil society and citizens to contribute to the combatting of corruption, as well as the proper process of Ukraine’s post-war recovery. The current phase 3 of the Program runs till August 2027.

Objective

The activity contributes to sharing best practices from Mykolaiiv among the Integrity Cities and other Ukrainian cities particular by strengthening transparency, accountability, and integrity in the management of international humanitarian assistance at the municipal level. Through the assessment of existing procedures, institutional arrangements, internal controls, and transparency mechanisms, the activity will help identify integrity and corruption risks and provide recommendations for improving the management, monitoring, and oversight of international humanitarian assistance in the next cities: Fastiv, Trostyanets, Boyarka, Khmelnytskyi and Nikopol.

Scope of work

The scope of work includes all activities necessary to ensure the achievement of the above objective.
The Contractor will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the existing mechanisms, procedures and internal controls applied by the City Council in relation to the receipt, registration, distribution, use, monitoring and reporting of international humanitarian and charitable assistance. The analysis shall be carried out using the Guide “Support to сities: Methodological recommendations on proper management and control (hereinafter referred to as the “Guide”). The experience of Mykolaiv city council” developed with EUACI support as the main methodological and practical reference. The Contractor shall assess the extent to which the existing practices of the City Council are aligned with the principles, control mechanisms and recommended approaches set out in the Guide, taking into account the applicable Ukrainian legislation and the specific organisational structure and operational practices of the municipality and prepare the recommendations for improving the management, monitoring, and oversight of international humanitarian assistance.

The Contractor shall work closely with the relevant departments, municipal officials and other stakeholders involved in the management of international humanitarian assistance.

Specific responsibilities

• Review the existing local regulatory and procedural framework governing international humanitarian and charitable assistance, including regulations, decisions, orders, instructions, templates, registers and other relevant documents, and map the full assistance management process within the City Council, including key stages, responsible units and officials, decision-making procedures, information flows and accountability arrangements.
• Assess the roles and responsibilities of the structural units and officials involved, including whether functions are clearly defined and appropriately separated, and evaluate internal control mechanisms throughout the full management cycle, using the mechanisms and recommendations set out in the Guide as a methodological benchmark.
• Analyse procedures and controls related to needs assessment, receipt, registration, documentation, storage, allocation, distribution, transfer and use of humanitarian assistance, including the completeness, consistency, accessibility and traceability of information, as well as mechanisms for monitoring actual use and verifying that assistance is used for its intended purpose.
• Assess reporting, transparency, oversight and risk-management mechanisms, including internal management reporting, reporting to donors and other stakeholders, and measures addressing risks such as misuse, conflicts of interest, duplication, loss of assets, insufficient documentation and lack of accountability; identify regulatory, organisational, procedural and operational gaps and deviations from the approaches recommended in the Guide.
• Prepare practical recommendations and, where necessary, draft or update local regulations, procedures, internal instructions, templates and other documents required to address identified gaps and strengthen management, internal control, transparency and accountability; present and discuss the findings and proposed improvements with the City Council and EUACI, incorporate their comments, and submit the final analytical report and final versions of the proposed regulatory and procedural documents.

In carrying out the assignment, the Contractor shall conduct no fewer than six and no more than nine visits in total to Khmelnytskyi, Boyarka, and Fastiv. All work related to Trostianets and Nikopol shall be carried out exclusively online.

Deliverables
The Deliverables are presented below in Table 1 with a tentative schedule.

All results must be provided in Ukrainian (or English for some results) as specified below unless otherwise agreed, see also table 1. Electronic copies are to be sent by email to the designated EUACI contact person.

Table 1: Summary of deliverables/outputs and the tentative timeline for delivery.

Qualifications

The Consultant must be a registered legal entity, private entrepreneur, or NGO under Ukrainian law. The assignment described above is expected to be completed by a qualified Consultant or expert team. If third parties or additional experts are engaged in the contract, this must be specified in the proposal.

The assignment described above is expected to be carried out by a qualified Contractor. The Contractor has to meet a minimum of the following requirements:

• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in local governance, public administration, internal control, audit, risk management, legal and regulatory analysis, transparency and accountability, or related fields;
• At least 3 years of relevant professional experience in drafting and/or updating local regulations, procedures, internal instructions, templates, registers or other procedural documents for municipalities;
• Experience related to the management, control, monitoring or reporting of humanitarian or charitable assistance, or comparable experience in managing and overseeing public resources, assets or donor-funded assistance, would be considered a strong advantage.

Languages: Fluency in Ukrainian and a working proficiency in English.

Budget, timeframe, and location

The maximum budget available for this assignment is EUR 31,660, which includes up to EUR 28,000 for the Consultant’s fee and EUR 3,660 to cover business travel expenses – including per diem, logistics, and accommodation – for up to 9 travel days within Ukraine in line with EUACI travel policy.

The supplier may request an advance payment of up to 30% of the total cost after signing the contract, and the rest 70% as a post-payment after fulfilment of the contract.

The expected duration of the assignment is 12 weeks, with a tentative start in November 2026.

Reporting and management

The performance of the Contractor will be judged upon reaching the purpose of this contract as well as obtaining its results, as indicated in the section “Objective” and “Deliverables” herein respectively. Moreover, the performance of the Contractor will be judged upon the successful implementation of all the specific activities indicated in Section “Scope of work” of this document

By signing the contract, the Consultant agrees to hold in trust and confidence any information or documents (“confidential information”) disclosed to the Consultant or discovered by the Consultant or prepared by the Consultant in the course of or as a result of the implementation of the contract, and agrees that it shall be used only for the contract implementation and shall not be disclosed to any third party. The Consultant also agrees not to retain copies of any written information or prototypes in its archive and for its use.

How to apply

All interested candidates should submit:

• A financial proposal indicating the requested fee (Annex-1.-Budget-template);
• The Consultant’s CV (maximum three pages in total) (Appendix 1);
• Contact details of at least two referees.

To apply, please send all the documents listed above to [email protected], cc [email protected] indicating the subject line “Analysis of international humanitarian assistance management in cities _NAME”.

If the requested documents are not submitted in line with the request above, the bid will not be considered.

The deadline for submitting the proposal is 9 November, 18:00 Kyiv time.

Any clarification questions for the bid request should be addressed to [email protected], cc [email protected] no later than 2 November 2026, 18:00 Kyiv time.

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Please note that the name of the winner of the tender will be published on the EUACI’s website.

Bidding language: English

Evaluation criteria