Communication Expert Supporting Partner Municipalities under EU4Reconstruction (Stream 2)

General Background

EU4Reconstruction. The European Union (EU), together with Denmark, Germany, France and Lithuania, launched EU4Reconstruction, a €37 million Team Europe Initiative (TEI) that unites the strength, experience and solidarity of the EU to support Ukraine’s ongoing recovery and reconstruction. 

The initiative aims to strengthen governance, improve public investment management, and enhance coordination across levels of government, with a strong emphasis on EU values.

The initiative is divided in two parallel streams:

Stream 1. Reconstruction governance and construction sector reform, municipal support and participation. Stream 1 is composed of GIZ (Lead Organisation) and Expertise France (Partner Organisation). 

Stream 2. Institutional strengthening of SARDI ecosystem and major municipalities. Stream 2 gathers the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Lead Organisation) and CPVA (Partner Organisation). 

EU4Reconstruction will reinforce the leadership of the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, strengthen the State Agency for Restoration and Development of Infrastructure, empower local governments to manage reconstruction professionally and sustainably, and support civil society and independent media to play an active role in oversight, ensuring public trust and reducing corruption risks.

Within Stream 2, municipalities are key partners in strengthening local capacity for strategic planning, public investment management (PIM), corporate governance of municipal enterprises and the preparation of investment-ready projects. Alongside technical assistance, the Programme supports municipalities in communicating reforms, engaging stakeholders and sharing practical experience that can be replicated by other communities across Ukraine.

As the EU4Reconstruction expands and delivers tangible results, there is a growing need for professional communication support to build local capacity, showcase achievements, promote successful cooperation with partner municipalities, and communicate complex reform processes in a clear, accessible and engaging way. Effective communication is also essential to strengthen the visibility of EU4Reconstruction, increase awareness of the Programme’s contribution to municipal recovery and institutional development, and support knowledge sharing among municipalities and development partners.

To support these objectives, EU4Reconstruction (Stream 2) seeks a Communication Expert to provide practical communication support and capacity-building assistance to partner municipalities, working closely with municipal communication teams and the EU4Reconstruction. The expert will contribute to the planning and implementation of communication initiatives, production of high-quality communication materials, organisation of visibility activities and promotion of the Programme’s results and impact.

Objective

The objective of this assignment is to strengthen the communication capacity of partner municipalities through technical assistance, practical support and knowledge transfer, enabling municipal teams to communicate reforms, their benefits and results clearly and effectively to residents and other stakeholders, while ensuring appropriate visibility of EU4Reconstruction-supported initiatives.

Scope of work

The Communication Expert will support the implementation of communication activities in partner municipalities, working closely with the EU4Reconstruction (Stream 2).

The assignment includes, but is not limited to, the following tasks:

• Provide hands-on communication support to partner municipalities in communicating EU4Reconstruction-supported reforms, projects, achievements and key milestones to residents and other relevant stakeholders.
• Support the planning and implementation of communication campaigns and visibility initiatives in partner municipalities and its priority reform areas, including strategic planning, Public Investment Management and corporate governance of municipal enterprises.
• Work directly with communication teams of Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Kremenchuk and Mykolaiv to strengthen communication around joint projects and ensure clear, consistent and audience-oriented messaging.
• Provide practical guidance and quality assurance to partner municipalities on communicating reforms, project achievements and key milestones in a clear, accessible and audience-oriented manner.
• Support partner municipalities communication teams in developing key messages, communication plans, content formats and storytelling approaches related to EU4Reconstruction-supported reforms and initiatives.
• Contribute to strengthening the visibility of the EU4Reconstruction brand among municipalities, public institutions, development partners and international stakeholders.
• Support communication around programme events, including the preparation of agendas, invitations, announcements, briefing notes and post-event summaries, while sharing practical approaches and reusable templates with partner teams.
• Develop presentation content and coordinate its production, including storylines, content structure and detailed briefs for designers.
• Prepare and update basic communication materials, including social media visuals and simple presentations, using approved templates in Canva, PowerPoint or other approved platforms and ensuring compliance with the programme’s visual identity.
• Coordinate the production of communication materials with designers, photographers, videographers, printing companies and other service providers, while supporting partner municipalities in preparing clear technical and creative briefs.
• Prepare, coordinate and publish all types of programme-related content on the EU4Reconstruction website and social media channels.
• Perform other communication- and visibility-related tasks assigned by the EU4Reconstruction (Stream 2).

The Communication Expert cannot represent the city council and must refrain from political activities.

Deliverables

Given the operational nature of the assignment, deliverables cannot be strictly quantified. The Expert is expected to provide, among others:

• Communication materials highlighting the activities, results and impact of the partner municipalities, including news articles, website content, press releases, social media content, interviews, factsheets and success stories.
• Communication and visibility packages for joint initiatives with Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Kremenchuk and Mykolaiv.
• Practical communication guidance and coordination notes for partner municipal teams.
• Knowledge-sharing materials and best practice examples documenting successful communication approaches and lessons learned.
• Materials supporting communication campaigns, programme events and EU4Reconstruction visibility.
• Presentation content, basic visual materials and briefs for external service providers.
• Communication content prepared, coordinated and published on the EU4Reconstruction website and social media channels.
• Monthly progress reports summarising activities implemented and communication outputs delivered (in English).
• Other deliverables as agreed with the Communication Manager or EU4Reconstruction (Stream 2).

Qualification

The contract will be awarded to the expert meeting the following criteria: 

General qualifications: 

1. At least a Bachelor’s degree in communications, journalism, public relations, marketing or another relevant field.
2. At least 2 years of professional experience in communications or public relations.
3. Proven experience in preparing high-quality text-based communication products, including press releases, social media posts, articles, speeches, talking points, event briefs and other communication materials.
4. Good understanding of digital communication and content development for websites and social media platforms.

Adequacy for the assignment

1. Practical experience working with donor-funded programmes, public institutions or local governments will be considered an advantage. 
2. Excellent writing, editing and verbal communication skills.
3. Practical experience in organising and supporting events of different formats and scales, including conferences, workshops, study visits, strategic sessions and public events.
4. Basic proficiency in user-friendly design and presentation tools, such as Canva, PowerPoint or similar platforms, including the ability to work with existing templates and prepare simple visual materials.
5. Proven ability to manage multiple tasks, meet tight deadlines and deliver high-quality results.
6. Flexibility, strong organisational skills and readiness to travel within Ukraine when required. 
7. Demonstrated professionalism, ethics, integrity and credibility.

Experience with the region and languages

1. Practical experience working in Ukraine and a good understanding of the national and local communication context. 
2. Fluency in Ukrainian is required.
3. English working proficiency is required.

Budget, timeframe, and location

The maximum budget available for this assignment is up to 15 000 EUR  for 6 months. This maximum amount includes up to 85 EUR per working day for a maximum of 126 working days, including up to 14 business travels days with budget up to 4 290 EUR to municipalities where the EU4Reconstruction (Stream 2) is active (Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Kremenchuk, Mykolaiv and fifth partner city to be selected at a later stage).  The Consultant will be contracted as a private entrepreneur and will be responsible for paying his/her own taxes.

Payments to the Consultant shall be done on a monthly basis against Consultant’s timesheet and invoice for the respective period. Payments shall be based on the actual days worked, the agreed daily fee rate, and the expenses occurred by the Consultant during the period (if any).

The intended commencement date is the date of signature of the contract with the Consultant and the period of implementation of the contract will be 6 months, with a start in September 2025.

The assignment includes up to 126 working days per full term of the Contract (up to 21 working days per month) and up to 14 travel days.

The expert is expected to work remotely and with regular business travels to municipalities where the EU4Reconstruction (Stream 2) is active (Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Kremenchuk, Mykolaiv and fifth partner city to be selected at a later stage). The expert is expected to be able to come to the EU4Reconstruction office in Kyiv upon a short notice. 

All business travel required for the implementation of the assignment shall be subject to prior approval and conducted in accordance with the applicable MFA travel policy.

Reporting and management

The performance of the Consultant 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 Consultant will be judged upon the successful implementation of all the specific activities indicated in Section “Scope of work” of this document.

The Communication Expert will work in close cooperation with the Communication Manager and Municipal Component Team. He/She will report directly to the Communication Manager of EU4Reconstruction Stream 2.

Regular participation in internal and external meetings with the EU4Reconstruction team and partners are expected.

How to apply

The deadline for submitting the proposal is 2 September 2026, 18:00 Kyiv time.

All interested candidates should submit the following documents in English:

• CV in line with Annex 1.
• Portfolio. 
• Financial offer (Annex 2, forms 1 and 2) in EUR.

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

The proposal shall include the aforementioned information and should be submitted within the above deadline to [email protected] cc to [email protected] indicating the subject line: “Communication Expert for Municipalities”.

Bidding language: English.

Following the initial evaluation, shortlisted candidates will be invited to complete a test assignment related to the scope of work. The test assignment will be provided only to shortlisted candidates and will form part of the final evaluation. 

Any clarification questions regarding the terms of reference should be addressed to [email protected], not later than 28 August 2026, 18-00 Kyiv time.

Evaluation criteria

Bids will be evaluated under the criteria provided below:

Please note that only shortlisted Tenderers will be contacted regarding the outcome of the evaluation process.