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: 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 a