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.
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.
SARDI, as the central actor in restoration processes, faces ongoing communication challenges. These include the need to clearly explain complex infrastructure projects to diverse audiences, ensure transparent communication about reconstruction progress, counter misinformation, and maintain continuous public trust in state-led recovery efforts. As the primary beneficiary of the EU4Reconstruction programme, SARDI also carries a particular responsibility to systematically and visibly communicate joint interventions with international partners.
In this context, SARDI needs external communication experts to strengthen communication capacity – helping SARDI develop sustainable systems, skills and tools to plan, implement and evaluate its communications independently. Through mentoring, on-the-job support and targeted advisory work, these experts will support SARDI’s communication team and management in establishing durable practices for strategic messaging, media relations, digital communication and storytelling around reconstruction and integrity.
In view of the above, EU4Reconstruction seeks for a Senior Strategic Communication Advisor who will be embedded within the SARDI and work closely with the SARDI communication team and lead a group of external experts of the EU5Reconstruction: Communication Expert and a Graphic Designer.
Objective
To find an experienced Senior Strategic Communication Advisor to build and strengthen SARDI’s communication capacity through high-level advisory support, knowledge transfer, with a focus on wartime strategic communication, support of transformation of SARDI and the effective promotion of joint EU4Reconstruction projects.
Scope of work
The Senior Strategic Communication Advisor will provide advisory and operational support to SARDI, strengthening the Agency’s internal capacity to plan and deliver communication activities. The assignment includes, but is not limited to, the following tasks:
Providing high-level strategic guidance to strengthen SARDI’s communication system. This includes:
- Working with SARDI management and the communication team to define key communication objectives and develop a comprehensive Communication Strategy for SARDI.
- Overseeing the implementation of the Communication Strategy, ensuring its integration into daily communication practices and long-term planning.
- Identifying communication needs, gaps and opportunities and preparing requests for targeted communication support, technical assistance or additional expertise when required.
- Advising on messaging frameworks, audiences and narrative positioning to ensure consistency, clarity and impact across all communication channels.
- Providing strategic input for communication around complex and high-visibility reconstruction projects, integrity measures and donor-funded initiatives.
- Be prepared to support crisis communication efforts at the international level, providing timely and transparent updates during emergencies ensuring the agency’s reputation remains intact.
Support for leadership of SARDI eco-system institutions in producing effective and coordinated communication. This includes:
- Advising on communication briefings, key messages, talking points and media lines for high-level events, international engagements, government meetings and public appearances.
- Supporting in drafting or reviewing speeches, op-eds, strategic statements and leadership-level communication materials.
- Offering real-time advice during high-risk or sensitive communication situations and ensuring timely responses to emerging issues.
Contributing to efficient coordination of communication activities and robust internal processes across SARDI’s communication ecosystem. This includes:
- Supervising and coordinating the work of SARDI’s internal communication team and EU4Reconstruction-supported experts (Graphic Designer and Communication Expert) to ensure coherent planning, prioritisation and quality control.
- Establishing clear workflows, approval processes and internal communication routines to improve efficiency and ensure alignment with strategic goals.
- Supporting communication officers in SARDI, the Regional Offices for Restoration, the CPO and other SARDI`s ecosystem representatives through regular check-ins, targeted mentoring and hands-on problem-solving.
- Coordinating the planning, development and implementation of communication materials across all SARDI ecosystem.
- Coordinating the work of external contractors, service providers and partners involved in communication activities.
- Ensuring consistency of messaging, branding and visibility across Agency and regional communication teams.
Organising and facilitating training and other capacity-building events aimed at strengthening communication systems and competencies within SARDI and its wider ecosystem (at last 2 events).
Deliverables
Given the routine nature of the assignment, deliverables cannot be strictly quantified; however, the Consultant is expected to demonstrate tangible progress through the provision of high-level advisory, analytical and coordination outputs, including but not limited to:
- Drafts or revisions of core strategic documents, such as the Communication Strategy, messaging frameworks, crisis communication protocols or leadership communication guidelines.
- High-level communication materials developed or reviewed for SARDI leadership.
- Advisory notes and analytical briefs prepared for SARDI management, EU4Reconstruction partners and relevant stakeholders, summarising communication risks, needs, opportunities or proposed actions.
- Oversight and quality-assurance inputs for communication products prepared by SARDI’s internal team and EU4Reconstruction-supported experts (Graphic Designer and Communication Expert).
- Regular online meetings (at least once per month) with communication officers from the Regional Officers for Restoration and other representatives of the SARDI’s ecosystem, accompanied by brief meeting notes documenting key points, progress and agreed actions.
- Internal workflow and approval procedures implemented to coordinate development and promotion of communication material prepared by representatives SARDI`s ecosystem.
- Materials of training and other capacity-building events aimed at strengthening communication systems and competencies within SARDI and its wider ecosystem.
- Monthly timesheets (progress reports) summarising actual days worked, key tasks performed, and results achieved over the reporting period (in English).
- Completion report consolidating key results, delivered tools/templates, and lessons learned, including recommendations for further strengthening SARDI’s communication capacity (in English).
- Other deliverables may be agreed upon with SARDI and EU4Reconstruction in line with the objectives of this assignment.
Written deliverables should be in Ukrainian, unless otherwise specifically indicated herein or agreed with EU4Reconstruction. Deliverables should be translated into English upon request of EU4Reconstruction or SARDI leadership.
Budget, timeframe, and location
The maximum budget available for this assignment is EUR 31 500 (up to EUR 200 EUR daily rate). 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 7 months, with a start in December 2025. Upon completion of this period, SARDI and EU4Reconstruction Stream 2 will review the achieved results and assess the need for further support of this type.
The assignment includes up to 162 working days per full term of the Contract (up to 21 working days per month) including up to 5 travel days.
The expert is expected to work from the premises of the SARDI.
How to apply
The deadline for submitting the proposal is 22 December 2025, 18:00 Kyiv time.
All interested candidates should submit the following documents in English:
- CV in line with Annex 1;
- Portfolio of previously implemented projects;
- Financial offer (Annex 2, forms 1 and 2) in EUR, including daily fee and other related expenses (taxes, if applicable), with calculation of maximum 252 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: “Strategic Comms Advisor 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 15 December 2025, 18-00 Kyiv time.
More details read in Terms of Reference for a Senior Strategic Communication Advisor for the State Agency for Restoration and Development Infrastructure.