Микола

Personal Information
Mykola Babin
Kyiv, Ukraine | [open contact info](look above in the "contact info" section) | [open contact info](look above in the "contact info" section)
[open contact info](look above in the "contact info" section) | Nationality: Ukrainian
Professional Summary
Head of the finance function of Lumos Foundation Ukraine, a child-focused NGO, with 4+ years of humanitarian finance experience in Ukraine. Responsible for financial management, budgeting and donor compliance of OCHA (UHF), UBS Optimus Foundation and USAID-funded projects; own the organisation’s accounting policy and internal controls, with bookkeeping outsourced to an external accounting company working under my supervision. Actively involved in proposal development, bringing solid project-cycle and MEAL knowledge (MEAL DPro certified) to budget design. Committed to child safeguarding, PSEA, anti-fraud and confidentiality.
Key Competencies
• Financial leadership: head of finance; owner of accounting policy, financial procedures and internal controls; Chief Accountant with signing authority.
• Oversight of outsourced accounting: supervision and review of the external accounting company – monthly closing, bank reconciliations, statutory and tax reporting.
• Budgeting and financial planning: project and organisational budgets, cost allocation, forecasting, budget-vs-actual reviews with programme managers, variance and risk analysis.
• Proposal development and MEAL: active role in writing proposals – budgets and budget narratives aligned with logframes, activities and MEAL plans.
• Donor compliance and partners: donor rules (OCHA/UHF, USAID, foundations), sub-grantee financial monitoring, capacity assessments and mentoring of local NGOs.
Work Experience
Sep 2023 – Present Finance and HR Manager (Head of Finance) / Chief Accountant
Lumos Foundation Ukraine (BO «BF «Lumos Ukraine»), Kyiv – child protection and care reform NGO
• Lead the finance function of the country office for donor-funded projects (UN OCHA / Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, UBS Optimus Foundation, etc), incl. multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) and child protection programmes.
• Set and maintain the accounting policy, financial procedures and internal controls; supervise the outsourced accounting company and review and approve its monthly closing, bank reconciliations and statutory/tax reporting.
• Develop project and annual budgets; cost allocation, forecasting and budget-vs-actual monitoring; regular budget reviews with programme staff and the Country Director.
• Active participation in proposal writing: budgets and budget narratives, value-for-money and cost-efficiency justification, alignment of costs with activities, results and MEAL plans.
• Approve procurement, purchase and payment requests against budgets and donor rules; bank payment authorisation as signatory.
• Financial reporting to donors (OCHA/UHF via OneGMS) and Lumos Global; sub-grantee compliance and financial monitoring.
• Donor and statutory audits: preparation, coordination and follow-up of recommendations.
• Ukraine lead on localisation requirements (statutory, tax, compliance) for the organisation-wide Sage accounting system implementation.
• HR administration; reservation (deferment) of staff from mobilisation – secured the organisation’s inclusion in the register of critically important organisations; acting Safety and Security Focal Point.
Apr 2022 – Sep 2023 Projects Manager (UHF / Pact / Project HOPE / Corus International funded)
Docos Medical (medical NGO), Ukraine
• Wrote and co-wrote donor proposals and budgets (incl. UHF allocations with Corus International); controlled project budgets.
• Prepared financial and narrative reports; tracked indicators and results for donor reporting.
• Managed emergency mobile medical teams; operational coordination, procurement and logistics.
Jun 2020 – Nov 2022 Financial Officer – Zibrano, Kyiv: budget control, cash-flow monitoring, management reporting.
Jun 2017 – Jun 2020 General Manager – Sibolle Ukraine: business operations, finance and administration, vendor management.
Additional Experience
• Financial Mentor – mentor to local NGOs in several capacity-building programmes, incl. IOM and PhilinUA: financial policies, cost-allocation / indirect cost policies, budgeting and donor compliance.
• Expert – UHF (UN OCHA Ukraine Humanitarian Fund) consolidated capacity assessments of local organisations.
• Member – UN OCHA (UHF) Strategic Review Committee.
• Member – Cash Working Group Ukraine.
Education and Training
1994 – 1999 Degree in Finance – Odessa State Economics University
In progress Sage accounting training – Sage University (sageu.com)
Certificates
• MEAL DPro – Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning, 4-week online course (Nov 2024)
• Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS) – Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (Jan 2024)
• PSEA – Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, UNICEF (Jan 2024)
• BSAFE – UN security awareness (Jan 2026)
• Security Awareness Essentials – Inspired eLearning (Feb 2026)
• HEFAT – 3-day hostile environment and first aid training, 2402 Foundation
Personal Skills
Languages: Ukrainian – native; English – professional working (written and spoken); Russian – native
Digital: advanced Excel (budget models, BvA); Sage; QuickBooks; OneGMS; MS Office; Google Workspace.
Soft skills: team leadership; communication with donors and senior leadership; confidentiality.