Senior Communication Expert to Support the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO)

Background and context:

The EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine (EUACI) is the leading technical support programme in the area of anti-corruption in Ukraine, funded by the European Union, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and UK International Development, and 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 coherence and systemic anti-corruption activities of state and local self-government bodies, and empowering civil society and citizens to contribute to combating corruption, as well as the proper process of Ukraine’s post-war recovery. The programme runs until August 2027.

Among the key partners of the EUACI is the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). SAPO is responsible for supervision of compliance with the law during the operational and pre-trial investigations of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU); the maintenance of state prosecution in relevant proceedings; and the representation of the interests of a citizen or the state in court in cases provided for by law and related to corruption or corruption-related offences.

In 2024, SAPO became institutionally independent from the Office of the Prosecutor General. This marked a new stage in its development as an autonomous anti-corruption institution. In this context, SAPO is working to strengthen its public image and to build an independent communication capacity of its own. With the support of the EUACI, SAPO has already completed a rebranding, and the development of its website is currently underway. SAPO now seeks to consolidate a professional, sustainable and autonomous communication function that reflects its independent institutional identity and effectively conveys its role, work and results to Ukrainian and international audiences.

To support this, the EUACI seeks to strengthen SAPO’s communication capacity by engaging a Senior Communication Expert. The Expert will help SAPO build a sustainable communication function, enhance the impact of its messaging, professionalize its presence in social media, and strengthen engagement with Ukrainian citizens and international stakeholders, while ensuring continuity with the communication support already being provided to the institution.

Objectives:

To provide SAPO with technical support to build a sustainable communication function, with a focus on strengthening strategic and operational communication capacity; increasing public trust and awareness of SAPO’s role; expanding and professionalising SAPO’s social media presence; ensuring effective crisis communication and countering disinformation; broadening engagement with Ukrainian and international audiences; and supporting the development of SAPO’s in-house communication capacity.

Scope of work:

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

• Operationalizing SAPO’s communication strategy into an extended action plan with clear responsibilities, deadlines and KPIs;
• Supporting communication campaigns, including promotional activities for open competitions for SAPO prosecutor positions when applicable;
• Providing crisis communication and counter-disinformation support, often at short notice;
• Developing English-language content and narratives for EU institutions, donors and international partners;
• Translating institutional data into accessible public formats (impact reports, dashboards, infographics), as well as strengthening explanatory and educational social-media formats on SAPO’s role, work and results;
• Providing ongoing communication support (briefings, press events, statements) and coordination with other anti-corruption bodies.
• Deliver capacity building activities and strengthening communication skills of management and key staff.

Key deliverables:

• An operationalized communication strategy and extended action plan with KPIs;
• Concepts, materials and results reports for communication campaigns, including prosecutor recruitment campaigns when applicable;
• A library of new social-media formats and a unified content calendar;
• Materials in Ukrainian and foreign media;
• At least one impact/transparency product per quarter;
• Monthly progress reports and a final report.

Electronic copies of deliverables should be sent in Ukrainian (unless targeting an international audience) by email to the designated EUACI contact person. Monthly and final reports should be provided in English.

Timeline:

The intended commencement date is December 2026, subject to the signature of the contract with the selected Service Provider.

The total period of implementation of the contract shall be seven months, from December 2026 to June 2027 inclusive, with an estimated full-time level of effort of up to 22 working days per month (154 working days in total).

Requirements to the Service Provider:

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

• Expert registered as a private entrepreneur under Ukrainian legislation;
• 5+ years of professional experience in designing and providing communication activities in line with the scope of work mentioned above;
• Proven experience in designing and providing communication support for governmental authorities;
• Proven experience in communication work targeting primarily Ukrainian but to some extent also international audiences, in particular European audiences;
• Relevant education as a minimum Master’s Degree/Academic level in Communication, PR, journalism or similar;
• Understanding of anti-corruption reform processes in Ukraine and knowledge of anti-corruption infrastructure in Ukraine, i.e., NABU and SAPO will be an asset;
• Experience in mitigating communicational risks;
• Strong communication skills;
• High degree of integrity;
• Profound commitment to working with Ukrainian anti-corruption institutions while demonstrating understanding of the difficult context in which they operate;
• Fluency in Ukrainian and English, both oral and written.

Special requirements:

By signing the contract, the Service Provider agrees to hold in trust and confidence any information or documents (“confidential information”) disclosed to the Service Provider, discovered by the Service Provider, or prepared by the Service Provider in the course of or as a result of the implementation of the contract, and agrees that such information shall be used only for the purposes of contract implementation and shall not be disclosed to any third party without the authorisation of the EUACI and SAPO.

For this assignment, full-time involvement in a hybrid mode of work is expected, with systematic and regular offline meetings with representatives of SAPO and the EUACI upon their request. The Service Provider will report to the EUACI. The Service Provider shall debrief the EUACI prior to finalising the assignment.

Bidding details:

The bidder or team of bidders must submit the following information to be considered:

• Brief motivation letter (max. 1 page);
• CV (max. 3 pages);
• A financial offer (including expert’s fees per day).

Bidding language: English.

Payments:

Payments shall be made on a monthly basis, subject to the submission by the Service Provider of a report and corresponding financial documentation (including invoice and act of services) in a form acceptable to the EUACI.

How to apply:

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

The proposals shall be submitted within the above deadline to [email protected] and [email protected]  indicating the subject line “Tender: Senior Communication Expert for SAPO”.

The applicant will receive an auto-reply from [email protected] when the application is received.              If an auto-reply is not received, please contact the EUACI.

Any clarification questions for the bid request should be addressed to [email protected] and [email protected], no later than November 13, 18:00 Kyiv time.

Please note that the winner of this tender will be made public on EUACI’s website.

Evaluation criteria:

Bids will be evaluated under the criteria provided below: