We are looking for a Project Manager for our Cotabato team (m/f/d) based in Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines, with regular domestic travel and some international travel, starting in May 2025.

Our profile

Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V. (forumZFD, Forum Civil Peace Service) supports people involved in violent conflicts on the path to peace and strives to help overcome war and violence.

forumZFD is currently working in 13 countries in Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia. Its Academy for Conflict Transformation offers learning space for professional, international peace work. Through dialogue events, educational work and campaigns, forumZFD also actively advocates civil peace policies.

forumZFD is recognised 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.

forumZFD started working in the Philippines in 2007 with the goal of promoting non-violent approaches of dealing with conflict. forumZFD Philippines holds its programme office in Davao and has project offices in the cities of Butuan, Davao and Cotabato. It engages actors dedicated to peace and nonviolent conflict transformation from different spheres of society including local civil society, indigenous peoples, media educators and practitioners, academic institutions and selected government institutions.

Your Roles and Responsibilities

As project manager, you will be responsible for managing forumZFD’s office and operation in Cotabato. You will manage a dynamic team of local staff, providing guidance on content development, budgeting, financial reporting, and overall project administration. Your responsibilities include ensuring effective planning, monitoring, and evaluation processes, as well as managing team dynamics and personnel matters to create an efficient and cohesive working environment. You will also support the Admin and Finance team in the holistic management of the Cotabato office, ensuring that operations run smoothly and align with forumZFD’s principles and standards. You will ensure that all projects and team processes embody forumZFD’s core values of conflict sensitivity, human rights, and gender equity, ensuring ethical and inclusive engagement.

A key focus of your role will be to support Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples (NMIP) partners in asserting and safeguarding their rights within the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Additionally, you will collaborate with civil society organizations (CSOs) in the region to build a robust platform to enable civil society organizations to hold the BARMM and the national government accountable for inclusive and transparent governance and implementation of the peace agreement, and create/facilitate platforms for dialogue between civil society actors and relevant government (BARMM and national) stakeholders to allow for meaningful discussions on relevant and contentious issues. You and your team will facilitate safe spaces for different CSOs and/or grassroots communities to convene and jointly develop strategies to critically engage the BARMM and national governments and hold them accountable for a transparent and inclusive implementation of the peace agreement. By bridging strategic vision with operational excellence, you will contribute to meaningful, sustainable peacebuilding and conflict transformation efforts in the BARMM region. Below are the details of your roles and responsibilities:

Your tasks in detail:

• Line management of a team of 4;
• serve as project lead for the projects on 1) inclusive peace process and 2) NMIP;
• consulting and support of local partners in Cotabato City and wider Bangsamoro region in the planning and implementation of different activities with regard to the above mentioned projects;
• expansion and maintenance of contacts and professional networks consisting of local and international civil organisations and governmental institutions, also via “social media“;
• observe and analyse current regional and local conflict dynamics;
• comply to internal planning, monitoring, and evaluation (PMEL) systems (including report writing) and support the further development of such systems;
• reflect on and document experiences and “lessons learned” from activities and projects, for internal documentation and evaluation;
• contribute to the fundraising and public relations activities of forumZFD;
• support in the development and alignment of forumZFD regional/country programme strategies in accordance with forumZFD strategies and lead the design of the projects;
• participate in the organisational development processes of forumZFD in the Philippines and across programmes (e.g. participating in thematic working groups, the representation of employee interests, etc.).

Your profile

• Completed university degree, e.g. Social Sciences, Political Sciences, Peace and Conflict Studies, International Relations, Social Anthropology, Social Work.
• Robust experience in human resource management and staff supervision, financial controlling and reporting system;
• at least three years of international experience in development cooperation and peacebuilding abroad (desirably in the Philippines or in another country in Southeast Asia);
• extensive experience in working in – if possible more than one – of the following fields: peace education, media and peacebuilding, community-based peacebuilding, indigenous communities or natural resource-based conflicts. Additional experience in one or more of the following thematic fields is an asset: training, networking, civil-society-oriented accompaniment of peace processes, gender, mediation, designing dialogue procedures, transitional justice;
• affinity with the accompaniment of complex (dialogue) processes including creative and sensitive trial and implementation of new approaches;
• experience in impact-oriented project planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning;
• strong interpersonal skills, flexibility, ability to work in teams and intercultural sensitivity for working and living in complex communities;
• Ability to cope with ambiguity and the psychological strains of living in a conflict-affected area, isolation, and under pressure in a complex, politically volatile environment;
• physical and psychological resilience, good time management including management of healthy work-life balance;
• 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;
• 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) it is open for Non-Filipino nationals only. 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.

Working for forumZFD, you will work within the innovative field of conflict transformation and peacebuilding through contributing your ideas and skills.

Start of assignment

Ideally, you are available to start working on 1^st of May 2025 (preparation courses, followed by at least two years contract with the option of extension).

Your application

Please send your application (letter of motivation, CV and contact details of 2-3 references) to www.forumzfd.de/en/node/3158/apply latest by February 23.

The selection process (online) is tentatively scheduled for the week of March 10, 2025. In case of any questions, please feel free to contact Mr. Sven Reuter at reuter@forumZFD.de.

Please find further information about our organisation and our assignments online at www.forumZFD.de. This job advertisement as well as further employment postings can be viewed at https://www.forumzfd.de/en/jobs.  

We are looking forward to your application!