Maryna Denisova (Ukraine)

Small Grants Associate, United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme

Maryna has six years of experience working for international organizations in the conflict-affected area of Ukraine, in both government-controlled and non-government-controlled areas.

She started working in this field at the beginning of the armed conflict in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, in 2015, as an administrative assistant for international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, which had entered Ukraine in response to the urgent need for humanitarian aid in medical sphere.

In 2016 she joined UN system, first with UN OCHA in Donetsk, and then moving to Kramatorsk as Project Associate for the “Community Security and Social Cohesion” Component in UNDP. Currently Maryna works as Small Grants Associate, facilitating the grant-making process, including the provision of guidance to the grantees (NGOs, CSOs), aimed at ensuring successful project implementation.

Maryna holds a Master’s Degree in International Economics from Donetsk National University of Economics and Trade. Before the armed conflict, she worked in “PrivatBank” PJSC as a personal manager for VIP-clients.

UNDP and me

"Above all, I am motivated by day-to-day interactions with incredible team. I see my mission as helping people improve their project management skills, which means shaping an idea on some burning issue into the project, and raising funds and implementing this project, so that one day, when UNDP finishes its work in Ukraine, people still have the tools and capacity to solve their communities' problems."