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 TEl is divided in two parallel streams; one stream is composed of GIZ (Lead Organisation) and Expertise France (Partner Organisation) and the other gathers the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Lead Organisation) and Central Project Management Agency (Partner Organisation).

EU4Reconstruction will reinforce the leadership of the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, strengthen the State Agency for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure (SARDI or Agency), 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.

The Programme will strengthen the policy dialogue around reconstruction and recovery and will focus in particular on the governance of public investment management, public infrastructure management at national, regional and local levels and how to link this with necessary capacity development to make the system work. Part of this process will ensure that the stakeholders in the programme and their policy and regulatory setup are prepared for EU accession. This will, in particular, ensure resources are allocated effectively, transparently, accountably and with broad inclusion in infrastructure planning and execution, reflecting the subsidiarity principle.

Denmark together with Lithuania implements Stream 2 of the EU4Reconstruction programme aimed at strengthening the capacity of the SARDI and its subordinated entities to act as contracting authority and Project Implementation Unit for major reconstruction projects.

This assignment concerns Output 2 of Stream 2 of the EU4Reconstruction: “SARDI has the capacity to operate as a transparent, efficient, and EU-compliant institution, effectively managing sustainable and accountable reconstruction efforts”.

SARDI and its ecosystem. SARDI was established by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, dated 13 January 2023. It was created through the renaming of the State Road Agency of Ukraine and the merger with the State Agency for Infrastructure Projects.

SARDI is structured around a central authority in Kyiv and a broad network of regional and subordinate entities, including 24 Regional Offices for Restoration and Infrastructure Development (the SARDI ecosystem).

SARDI is currently responsible for prioritisation, planning and implementation of road infrastructure projects, as well as implementation of other reconstruction projects delegated by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Substantial share of reconstruction projects is currently financed by international partners and complemented by soft assistance and technical support from IFIs and other donors. This triggers a need for an effective coordination mechanism to avoid duplication of efforts, ensure complementarity of donor interventions, and enable the efficient and coherent implementation of reconstruction projects across SARDI and its ecosystem. 

It is planned that a technical support and capacity building coordination initiative will be set up to bring together donors, international programmes, and SARDI counterparts directly involved in technical assistance and institutional capacity building. Its purpose will be to provide a regular forum for sharing information on ongoing and planned support, aligning interventions with SARDI’s evolving priorities, and ensuring a coherent approach to institutional strengthening during the Agency’s transformation.

The initiative shall help avoid duplication of efforts, identify gaps or unaddressed needs, and promote synergies among partners supporting SARDI. Given the number and complexity of capacity-building interventions, effective coordination requires a dedicated staff (secretariat) to support the platform’s functioning. The secretariat will be responsible for preparing and circulating agendas, coordinating invitations and participation, and documenting discussions through concise meeting notes, thereby ensuring continuity, transparency, and follow-up across coordination meetings.

In view of the above, the Agency – supported by the EU4Reconstruction – seeks for an Expert on Donor-Funded Projects Coordination for SARDI to support SARDI international cooperation, who will be embedded within the Agency, refer and work closely with SARDI deputy head responsible for international relations and report directly to the Project Manager for Strategic Development of SARDI.

Objective

The objective of this assignment is to enhance and sustain SARDI’s institutional capacity for efficient coordination of projects and initiatives financed by international partners and ensuring their alignment with donor requirements and rules, including through acting as secretariat of the technical support and capacity building coordination initiative.

Scope of work

The scope of work of the assignment includes different tasks, including, but not necessarily limited to:

• Analyse, monitor and do mapping of technical support, capacity building and other donor-funded projects;
• Develop coordination mechanism, project database and presentation formats to be shared with the Agency and external partners;
• Establish detailed processes for the Agency’s cooperation with international partners in the field of technical assistance and capacity building;
• Act as the secretariat of the SARDI technical support and capacity building coordination initiative (at least 4 meeting to take place quarterly):
  a. Maintain a list of participants for SARDI’s and donor’s side;
  b. Organize meetings of the initiative, draft agendas, send invitations, coordinate participation;
  c. Provide technical support chairpersons during the meeting;
  d. Prepare meeting minutes, follow-up materials;
  e. Provide other technical support as may be required.
  f. Agency in coordination of various anti-corruption and good governance projects;
• Communicate and cooperate with various donors on their projects with SARDI, provide support during implementation of the donor-funded projects ensuring their alignment with donor requirements and rules;
• Prepare information materials, analytical notes, protocols and other documentation for international interaction; support with organization and coordinating of meetings, round tables with international partners for SARDI;
• Contribute to capacity development of SARDI staff working in international relations though mentoring and on the job trainings;
• Assist with other related tasks as per request of the Agency or the EUACI.

Deliverables

It is expected that the Consultant will demonstrate tangible progress through the implementation of agreed activities and the provision of analytical and coordination outputs, as detailed below:

• International projects database maintained and regularly updated.
• Systematized information on the status of implementation of international projects, including international technical assistance, agreements, cooperation with donors, etc.  (upon request of EU4Reconstruction / SARDI profile deputy head)
• Materials of   SARDI Technical Support and Capacity Building Coordination Initiative (list of participants, invitations, agendas, meeting minutes, follow ups and other communication) based on at least 4 meetings per year (quarterly meetings).
• Analytical notes, presentations, memos on donor-funded projects, materials of public and working-level meetings and roundtables as agreed with the Agency and the EU4Reconstruction.
• Monthly timesheets (progress reports), summarising actual days worked and expenses incurred, as well as progress made and results achieved over the period (in English).
• Completion Report consolidating key results and lessons learned (in English).
• Other deliverables as agreed upon with the Agency and EU4Reconstruction.

Written deliverables should be in Ukrainian, unless otherwise specifically indicated herein or agreed with the EU4Reconstruction. Deliverables should be translated into English upon request of the Agency / EU4Reconstruction.

Qualification

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

General qualifications:

• A minimum of a Master’s degree in international relations, law, economics, social sciences, public administration, or related discipline.
• A minimum of 3 years of professional experience with the state or local governments, NGOs or international programs.
• At least 1 year of experience in project management and project coordination, preferably with the focus on international cooperation.

Adequacy for the assignment:

• Experience in international technical assistance projects, cooperation with EU and other international institutions, organizations, and donors (e.g., the World Bank, EBRD, EIB, etc.) will be an asset.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with experience in preparing minutes of meetings, analytical reports and other support documentation.
• Strong organizational skills;

Experience with the region and languages:

• Practical experience working in Ukraine.
• Fluency in Ukrainian and English (written and spoken).

Budget, timeframe, and location

The maximum budget available for this assignment is EUR 24,000 (inclusive of all applicable expenses and 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). Payments will require verification of completion of deliverables and approval of the Consultant’s timesheets and expense outlay by the Project Manager for SARDI Strategic Development. Travel costs and other reimbursable costs will only be accepted if they are in compliance with the guidelines in the contract.

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 12 months, with a start in January 2026. The assignment includes up to 240 working days per full term of the Contract (up to 21 working days per month).

The expert is expected to work from the premises of the Agency.

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.

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.

The Expert will refer and work closely with SARDI deputy head responsible for international relations.

Expert will report to the Project Manager for the SARDI Strategic Development, who will review / approve deliverables indicated above.

How to apply

The deadline for submitting the proposal is 21 January 2026, 18:00 Kyiv time.

All interested candidates should submit the following documents in English:

• Completed Annex 1, including:
  • CV for Key staff (Section 3)
  • Supplier’s Technical Proposal / Methodology (Section 4)
  • Workplan (Sections 5)
• Financial offer (Annex 2, forms 1 and 2) in EUR, including daily fee and other related expenses (taxes, if applicable), with calculation of maximum 240 working days.

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: “Expert on Donor-Funded Projects Coordination for SARDI”.

Bidding language: English.

Any clarification questions regarding the terms of reference should be addressed to [email protected] cc to [email protected], not later than 14 January 2026, 18-00 Kyiv time.

Evaluation criteria

Bids will be evaluated under the criteria provided below:

All details read in the TOR for Expert on Donor-Funded Projects Coordination for SARDI.