Project Manager (m/f/d) in Cotabato City, Philippines

Start of assignment

Ideally, you are available to start working on May 1, 2022 (preparation courses, followed by at least two years’ work within the project with the option of extension).

Who we are

forumZFD supports people involved in violent conflicts on the path to peace and strives to help overcome war and violence.

forumZFD is currently working with peace consultants in Germany as well as eleven other countries in Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia. Its Academy for Conflict Transformation offers a learning space for professional, international peace work. Through dialogue events, educational work and campaigns, forumZFD actively advocates civil peace policy.

forumZFD is recognized by the German federal government as a member of the Civil Peace Service (CPS) consortium. It finances its work through public and private grants, donations and membership fees.

Background

The island of Mindanao in the Philippines is the theatre of various, intersecting, violent conflicts. One is the conflict between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a group seeking self-determination for the Muslim inhabitants of Mindanao and the Philippine Government. At present, a peace agreement between the MILF and the Government is being implemented. Another is the decades-long communist insurgency of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDFP), which seeks to transform Philippine society and overthrow the government. Both these major political conflicts intersect with more localised violent conflicts stemming from natural resource extraction, clan feuds, land disputes, among others, shaping the conditions on Mindanao.

Your tasks and responsibilities

As Project Manager you will be responsible for the show_content-related, financial, administrative and personnel management of the project activities implemented by the Cotabato office. In cooperation with colleagues of the further programme offices – Davao and Butuan– as well as close cooperation with the programme team, and in cooperation with local partners, you and your team will efficiently contribute to the civil conflict transformation and peacebuilding in Mindanao. The focus of the role is on supporting the development of work with objectives predominantly linked to the implementation of the Normalization Annex of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), including knowledge sharing and public awareness of the peace process, youth engagement with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Non-Violent Conflict Transformation, engaging the non-Moro IP communities and accompaniment of academic institutions/agencies. Additionally, you will support the Country Director and PME advisor in applying internal PM&E methodologies and procedures.

Your tasks in detail:

• Line management of a team of 4, 2 project officers, one finance and admin officer and one driver/messenger.
• Development and organization of activities (eg. workshops, trainings, dialogue programmes and fora) and projects.
• Consulting and support of local partners in Cotabato City and wider Bangsamoro region during the planning and implementation of different activities in the fields of peace advocacy and conflict transformation.
• Expansion and maintenance of contacts and professional networks consisting of local and international civil organisations and governmental institutions, also via „social media“.
• Implementation of internal monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems.
• Ensuring that projects and activities are aligned with the identified organizational PM&E outcomes and outputs.
• Selection and documentation of experiences and „lessons learned“ out of activities and projects, for internal documentation and evaluation.
• Contribution to fundraising, qualification and public relations activities of forumZFD.
• Supervise and support the admin and finance operations in the project team.

Your profile

• Completed vocational training and/or university degree, e.g. Social Sciences, Political Sciences, Peace and Conflict Studies, Social Work.
• Qualification as specialist in methods of nonviolent/civil conflict transformation (or similar knowledge), working experience in multiple thematic fields: networking, civil-society-oriented accompaniment of peace procedures, resource conflicts, gender, training, working with media.
• Experience in accompaniment of complex (dialogue-) processes including creative and sensitive trial and implementation of new approaches.
• Experiences in impact-orientated project planning, monitoring and evaluation, Systemic Conflict Analysis, Do no Harm, (knowledge in Outcome Mapping, Reflecting on Peace Practice (RPP), or similar methods desirable).
• Know-how in human resource management and staff supervision, financial controlling and reporting system.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, flexibility, ability to work in teams and intercultural sensibility for working and living in complex communities.
• Physical and psychological resilience, good time management including management of healthy work-life balance.
• Several years of international experience in development cooperation and/or peace-building abroad (desirably in the Philippines or in another country in Southeast Asia, or in a country with a similar profile to the Philippines).
• Willingness to travel frequently and adjust to flexible working hours (weekends, workload peaks).
• Fluency in English (project language) both spoken and written, willingness to learn a new language, fluency/knowledge of Tagalog an asset.
• Sound knowledge of common computer applications and social media.
• Willingness to travel partly through areas in which safety rules have to be observed due to security risks, is expected.
• This role is an international contract and so is open to non-Filipino nationals.
• The location of this position is not suitable for applicants with school-age children.

Our offer

We offer an attractive position with responsibilities for a minimum of two years in a growing organization. As the position is based on the German Development Aid Workers Act (EhfG), the position is remunerated according to the provisions of this law, including comprehensive social security benefits and financial reintegration assistance upon return. We also offer participation in qualification and professional development courses (among others, at forumZFD’s Academy for Conflict Transformation), a project-based preparation, regular coaching and, where appropriate, participation in a language course.

As a project manager working for forumZFD, you will work within the innovative field of conflict transformation and peacebuilding through contributing your ideas and skills.