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 program in the area of anti-corruption in Ukraine, funded by the European Union, UK International Development, co-funded by the 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 empowering civil society and citizens to contribute to combatting corruption, as well as the proper process of Ukraine’s post-war recovery. The program 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 expert 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 professionalizing SAPO’s social media presence, including LinkedIn; ensuring effective crisis communication and countering disinformation; broadening engagement with Ukrainian and international audiences; and help with onboarding of new SAPO communication staff.

Scope of work:

The assignment includes the following key tasks:

• Operationalizing SAPO’s communication strategy into an extended action plan with clear responsibilities, deadlines and KPIs;
• Delivering a promotional campaign for the open competitions for SAPO prosecutor positions;
• Developing and promoting SAPO’s LinkedIn presence for Ukrainian and international audiences;
• 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;
• Supporting the onboarding of SAPO’s new communication staff and building the team’s in-house capacity;
• Providing ongoing communication support (briefings, press events, statements) and coordination with other anti-corruption bodies.

Key deliverables:

• The concept, materials and results report for the prosecutor-recruitment campaign, if the competition launched;
• A SAPO’s LinkedIn policy with documented evidence of its implementation;
• A library of new social-media formats and a unified content calendar;
• At least one impact product;
• Monthly progress reports and a final report.

Monthly and final reports should be provided in English and sent to the EUACI responsible person.

Timeline:

The intended commencement date is the date of signature of the contract with the selected Service Provider. The total period of implementation of the contract cannot exceed 54 working days.

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

For this assignment hybrid mode of work is expected with systematic and regular offline meetings with representatives of SAPO and EUACI upon their request. Service Provider will report to the EUACI. Service Provider shall de-brief 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.

Budget:

The maximum daily rate of the expert cannot exceed EUR 165 EUR per working day.

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 August 3, 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 July 29, 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: