Project Coordinator, WAN-IFRA Eastern Europe

Position: Project Coordinator, WAN-IFRA Eastern Europe

Engagement length: January 2025 to December 2027

Engagement type: Milestone-based Contract: 100% input

Location: Ukraine/Europe

WAN-IFRA is seeking a country project coordinator to support a major media development project in Eastern Europe. This is a 3-year, 6M Euro capacity building programme that is in its final stages of due diligence with a major European funder. Candidates should be located in Europe, and possess exceptional working knowledge and project management experience within the media industry. This position reports into the Project Director, Media Development, WAN-IFRA Eastern Europe.

Specific duties include:

• Manage end-to-end logistics of training workshops, monitoring work plans and activity schedules, and support communications with partners and other members of the project team including but not exclusive to the Project Director and Executive Director, Media Development;
• Coordinate application calls, establish review processes and due diligence, oversee contracting, data management and reporting processes to ensure compliance with procedures and donor procurement requirements;
• Manage selection processes and operations for various (primarily digital/remote) initiatives/projects;
• Manage in-person events and meetings via online platforms;
• Attendance of partner, workshop and management meetings as required;
• Support and ensure onboarding and orientation sessions of all the Cohort participants;
• Manage, review, submit and monitor payment requests;
• Maintain project documents and files including financial tracking and progress towards project deliverables;
• Assist with the collection of output information and data as required for monitoring and evaluation purpose;
• Design and implement assessments, surveys, events and other project deliverables as needed in support of MREL activities and requirements;
• Management of the procurement and contracts;
• Maintaining oversight and maintenance of digital tools and online subscriptions including, but not limited to: Google Workspace, Zoom, Airtable, Signable;
• Update or develop project management tables;
• Responsible for planning and execution of day-to-day activities.

Key Qualifications of the Successful Candidate

• At least five years’ project management experience;
• Excellent Ukrainian/English-language communication skills, written and verbal;
• Experience working with news media;
• Demonstrated organizational skills, ability to multi-task, and prioritize workload;
• Good knowledge and experience on Google Workspace tools (Spreadsheets, Docs, etc.);
• Proven experience and superior analytical and writing ability for developing high quality narrative reports and proposals;
• Motivation to understand how existing tools and processes work—always asking why and looking for ways to improve end results;
• Association, or membership-based organisational experience is a strong asset;
• Exceptional time and budget management skills, and ability to lead multiple projects at once;
• Strong interpersonal skills including diplomacy, tact, and the ability to negotiate;
• Proven ability to set priorities, meet tight deadlines, manage multiple assignments and time effectively;
• Ability to adapt to changing needs and priorities;
• Energy, initiative, intellect, flexibility and a team player.
• Professional demeanor, and ability to work collaboratively and respectfully as a key member of a regionally and culturally diverse team;
• The ability to connect the strategic, creative, and technical aspects of a project;
• Demonstrated ability to understand complex problems and make strategic decisions throughout the lifecycle of the project;
• Ability to collaborate effectively with remote team members;
• Some travel required.

Interested applicants should send their CVs to job@wan-ifra.org by 10 January, 2025. Please include the title of the position in the subject line of your email. Please note, only successful candidates will be contacted.

WAN-IFRA is committed to diversity and inclusion, and creating an environment which embraces collaboration and equality. Women, non-binary, LGBTQI+, disabled and visible minority candidates are especially encouraged to apply.

About WAN-IFRA

WAN-IFRA is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers, representing more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. WAN-IFRA is unique in its position as a global industry association with a human rights mandate to defend and promote media freedom, and the economic independence of news media as an essential condition of that freedom.

WAN-IFRA applies a dual approach to supporting media freedom. It addresses political and structural constraints to media freedom through advocacy and at the same time works to strengthen the capacity and networks of the media and their representative institutions. This dual approach allows WAN-IFRA to address challenges to media freedom from multiple perspectives, leveraging experiences and synergies between advocacy and development projects, partnerships and the wider expertise of WAN-IFRA’s international community to encourage meaningful change.

www.wan-ifra.org