Program Management Coordinator

Title: Program Management Coordinator

Location: Makati City, Philippines

Travel: 20% likelihood to travel in program areas

Job Family and Level: M5 - Program Management

Pre hire checks: This role is classified as requiring standard pre-employment checks

Scope

Responsibility: Country level (Philippines)

Department: Programs

Reporting to: Country Director

Direct reports: None

Budget responsibility: None

Relationship management: Relationship management: Project Managers, Support Unit Heads, Awards and Partnerships, and other relevant Country and Regional Office colleagues. The position coordinates across functions but does not exercise line management authority over other staff.

Context

Relief International (RI) is an international non-profit organization that partners with communities impacted by conflict, climate change and disaster to save lives, build greater resilience and promote long-term health and wellbeing.

Our team of more than 7,000 staff and local volunteers work in 15 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, providing Health and Nutrition, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), Education and Livelihoods programming that creates the foundation for community resilience. We do this by working with local actors to develop safe and inclusive local programming that is evidence based, conflict sensitive, climate smart, and reaches those in need.

Relief International is a network of organizations with one shared mission, comprised of Relief International, Inc., Relief International-France, and Relief International-UK.

It has been working in the Philippines since the 1990s, delivering humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding programs in areas where we are needed the most.

Job Profile

The Program Management Coordinator (PMC) is a key coordination role within Relief International Philippines, supporting the effective delivery and management of the country program portfolio. Reporting directly to the Country Director, the role provides a central point of coordination across program and support functions to ensure that priorities, commitments, risks, and actions are clearly identified, tracked, and followed through.

The position is designed to strengthen day-to-day program and operational coordination and provide the Country Director with greater visibility over key priorities, challenges, and areas requiring attention. By supporting effective internal coordination and follow-through, the role will help enable the Country Director to focus more strategically on donor engagement, external representation, partnerships, and business development.

The role holder will:

• Coordinate results-driven internal meetings involving Project Managers, Support Unit Heads, Awards and Partnerships, Communications and Media, Security, and other relevant colleagues.
• Ensure that clear decisions, action points, responsibilities, and timelines are agreed and systematically followed up.
• Identify implementation bottlenecks, cross-functional issues, and emerging risks, and facilitate appropriate coordination and follow-up to address them.
• Maintain systems and tools that support portfolio-level monitoring of program priorities, key deliverables, risks, issues, and management actions.
• Support the Country Director with concise updates and analysis to facilitate timely decision-making and escalation of critical issues.
• Coordinate and strengthen systems supporting program development, including opportunity scanning, pipeline management, proposal development, and the maintenance of relevant documentation.
• Promote effective communication, accountability, and collaboration across program and support functions.
• Support continuous improvement in program management, coordination, risk management, and business development processes.

The Program Management Coordinator will work with a good degree of independence within agreed priorities and management direction in organizing coordination processes, maintaining management systems and trackers, following up on agreed actions, and identifying issues requiring attention. The role will exercise sound judgment in prioritizing competing demands, facilitating coordination across functions, and determining when issues can be resolved through routine follow-up or require escalation to the Country Director.

The role operates in a complex, cross-functional environment involving multiple projects, technical areas, support functions, donors, and organizational priorities. As the position does not have direct supervisory authority, its effectiveness will depend on the ability to build constructive working relationships, influence and coordinate colleagues, facilitate problem-solving, and promote accountability without direct line management responsibility.

The role will be expected to manage multiple and sometimes competing priorities, respond to emerging program and operational issues, and exercise discretion in handling sensitive information and management concerns. While the Country Director will provide overall strategic direction and make final decisions on significant issues, the Program Management Coordinator will be expected to proactively identify problems, recommend practical solutions, and ensure coordinated follow-up.

Key Responsibilities

Program and Internal Coordination

• Organize and facilitate regular, results-driven internal coordination and program delivery meetings involving Project Managers, Support Unit Heads, Awards and Partnerships, Communications and Media, Security, and other relevant colleagues.
• Support the development of clear meeting agendas focused on priorities, key decisions, bottlenecks, risks, and required actions.
• Maintain a centralized action tracker and systematically follow up with responsible individuals and units to ensure agreed actions are completed within agreed timelines.
• Identify delayed, unresolved, or cross-functional issues and support timely escalation to the Country Director where necessary.
• Promote effective coordination and information-sharing between program and support functions to strengthen timely and integrated project delivery.
• Support the Country Director in maintaining visibility over key program, operational, and organizational priorities.

Action Tracking and Delivery Follow-up

• Establish and maintain systems for tracking key decisions, commitments, deliverables, and action points arising from management and program coordination processes.
• Follow up with responsible teams and individuals on outstanding actions and identify barriers affecting implementation.
• Support problem-solving and coordination among relevant functions to address bottlenecks.
• Provide the Country Director with concise updates on key priorities, outstanding issues, critical decisions, and areas requiring management attention.
• Help strengthen a culture of accountability, timely follow-through, and solution-oriented collaboration.

Risk Identification and Management

• Support Project Managers and relevant functional leads in ensuring that program, operational, financial, compliance, security, and other key risks are identified and appropriately documented.
• Maintain or coordinate the maintenance of relevant risk registers and tracking systems.
• Monitor emerging risks, issues, and implementation challenges and ensure that appropriate mitigation actions and responsible persons are identified.
• Facilitate cross-functional discussions on significant or emerging risks requiring coordinated action.
• Escalate critical risks and unresolved issues to the Country Director in a timely manner.
• Support the integration of risk management into regular program and management coordination processes.

Program Quality and Portfolio Oversight

• Support the consolidation and review of key program information, including implementation progress, major milestones, deliverables, spending, risks, and challenges.
• Help maintain an overview of the country program portfolio and identify areas requiring management attention or cross-functional support.
• Support Project Managers and relevant teams in identifying implementation bottlenecks and facilitating coordinated solutions.
• Contribute to the improvement of program management systems, processes, tools, and documentation.
• Support the preparation of management-level program updates, dashboards, briefing materials, and other decision-making tools for the Country Director.

Program Development and Business Development Support

• Maintain and strengthen systems and documentation supporting the program development cycle, from opportunity scanning through proposal development and submission.
• Maintain an updated pipeline of funding opportunities, donor intelligence, engagement priorities, and proposal development timelines.
• Coordinate internal processes related to opportunity assessment, go/no-go discussions, proposal development planning, and proposal submission.
• Support the establishment and maintenance of clear proposal development trackers, responsibilities, timelines, and documentation.
• Coordinate inputs from program, technical, finance, awards, operations, and other relevant teams during proposal development.
• Support the Country Director in ensuring that priority funding opportunities are strategically assessed and pursued in a timely manner.
• Maintain institutional knowledge and documentation related to previous proposals, donor requirements, program experience, organizational capacities, and lessons learned.
• Support the development and maintenance of systems that improve the efficiency and quality of program development processes.

Strategic Support to the Country Director

• Serve as a key coordination focal point supporting the Country Director in managing internal priorities and ensuring appropriate follow-up on key decisions.
• Prepare concise briefings, updates, trackers, and other materials to support management decision-making.
• Help ensure that critical internal issues are appropriately coordinated, followed up, and brought to the Country Director's attention when required.
• Support the Country Director in identifying matters that can be addressed through coordination and problem-solving before requiring senior management intervention.
• Provide other program management and coordination support as delegated by the Country Director.

Safeguarding and Conduct

• Uphold and promote RI’s commitment to ensuring the safeguarding and safety of the vulnerable communities we serve
• Ensure that your behaviour inside and outside of work promotes the values outlined with RI’s code of conduct and safeguarding policies
• Consistent with RI’s safeguarding and protection policies, contribute to ensuring that all those who come into contact with Relief International staff and the communities we serve can be trusted to work safely with them
• Ensure program design adequately addresses safeguarding and protection standards
• Support and develop systems that create and maintain an environment that prevents sexual exploitation and abuse and promotes the implementation of the Code of Conduct and safeguarding policies
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge of donor requirements of safeguarding standards and protection from exploitation and abuse

Person Specification

Skills, knowledge and expertise required for the role.

Essential Criteria

Education and Experience

• A bachelor's degree in international development, humanitarian studies, social sciences, business or public administration, management, development communication, or another relevant field.
• At least five years of progressively responsible experience in program coordination, program or project management, portfolio management, operations coordination, or a related role within the humanitarian, development, or international NGO sector.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating across multiple projects, functions, and stakeholders in a complex and fast-paced environment.
• Experience supporting program delivery, including tracking key deliverables, action points, implementation progress, and emerging issues.
• Demonstrated experience in identifying, monitoring, and supporting the management of program or operational risks.
• Experience supporting program development and proposal processes, including opportunity tracking, coordination of inputs, proposal planning, or related documentation.

Knowledge, Skills and Competencies

• Strong organizational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple and competing priorities and deadlines.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information into clear and concise updates for management decision-making.
• Excellent coordination and facilitation skills, with the ability to bring together colleagues across different functions and drive follow-up on agreed actions.
• Demonstrated ability to influence, coordinate, and promote accountability without direct supervisory or line management authority.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build constructive working relationships with colleagues at different levels.
• Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, take initiative, and appropriately escalate critical issues.
• Strong attention to detail while maintaining an understanding of broader strategic and organizational priorities.
• Excellent written and spoken English, including the ability to prepare clear reports, briefings, trackers, and other management documents.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and other relevant tools for planning, tracking, and managing information.

Desirable Criteria

• A degree in international development, humanitarian action, development communication, project or program management, business or public administration, or another relevant field.
• Experience working in a senior coordination, program management, portfolio management, or Country Office support role.
• Experience working across humanitarian, development, peacebuilding, resilience, health, or emergency response programs.
• Experience supporting donor engagement, business development, grant acquisition, or proposal development for institutional or bilateral donors.
• Familiarity with program and project cycle management, donor compliance, grant management, and risk management processes.
• Experience developing or improving management systems, coordination mechanisms, dashboards, trackers, or other tools that support program oversight and decision-making.
• Experience working in the Philippines or a similar complex humanitarian and development context.
• Familiarity with the structure and operating environment of international NGOs and multi-disciplinary country programs.

RI Values

Guided by the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, as well as “Do No Harm,” Relief International Values:

• Integrity
• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Inclusivity
• Sustainability