Title
Country Director - Philippines
Location
Manilla, Philippines
Travel
Up to 50% travel in country to RI projects of operation
Job Family and Level
Program Management C Leadership, ’M 9
Pre hire checks
This role is classified as requiring advanced pre-
employment checks and enhanced due diligence
Responsibility
Country
Department
Leadership
Reporting to
Desk Director
Direct reports
Country SMT, Security focal point, and Awards manager
Budget responsibility
$5M
Relationship management
Relief International Support Team, country Team, and all relevant external stakeholders
ContextRelief 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 5,500 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 an alliance of four organizations with one shared mission, comprised of Relief International, Inc., Relief International-France, Relief International-UK which operate under a one- team concept under a single senior leadership team.
3. Job Profile
Relief International has been operational in the Philippines since 1990, delivering integrated programming in Health and Protection, with cross-cutting components in WASH, Nutrition, Livelihoods, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), and Peacebuilding. RI works in both development and humanitarian contexts, providing direct implementation and working through national partners.
Our current presence spans Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao with offices in Makati (HQ) and Visayas . Our partnerships focus on serving communities affected by conflict, climate change, and disaster to save lives, build resilience, protect vulnerable groups, and promote long-term well- being.
As the Country Director (CD), you will lead Relief International's operations in the Philippines with full accountability for strategy, programming, finances, partnerships, representation, and internal operations. You will drive RI's mission to deliver impactful, locally relevant programming while ensuring compliance, risk mitigation, financial sustainability and a high-performing and inclusive team culture.
This role demands both strategic vision and operational oversight, with strong leadership to build resilient systems, maintain stakeholder trust, and ensure programmatic excellence
4. Key Responsibilities
Strategic visioning and resource mobilization
- Lead the development of medium and long-term country strategic plans maintaining program focus with RI's strategic goals.
- Develop alliances with Partners, external donors, key stakeholders to ensure adequate funding and sustainable impact to communities in the Contribute and advocate for policy change in line with program goals.
Quality Program Operational Delivery
- Identifies and resolves complex technical, operational and organizational problems
- Ensure all programming is on track and healthy burn rates are
- Impacts the organization's results by ensuring the funding of projects, quality and on time operational services delivery and developing policies and plans.
- Develops and leads relevant country specific objectives driven by local context, and guided by organizational objectives
- Leadership in ensuring effective and proactive relationships externally regionally and globally with donors, partners, communities
- Will be a people leader and manage other leaders, or specialized teams, have oversight and responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of a wider team in multiple and geographically spread contexts
Change Management
- Relief International will lead and support the planning and implementation of the change, as required as part of effective implementation of RI grants and
- Ensure operationalization of envisioned planning in alignment with Relief International, policy and procedures, legal frameworks, and mitigating risks to the
- Ensure continuity of high-quality program implementation and program growth during the transition process.
External Representation
- Build strong relationships with government authorities at all levels, across all relevant
- Ensure regular engagement at all relevant Clusters and interagency fora
- Effectively liaise with donor governments and other lead agency representatives, as well as counterparts within partners and other key stakeholder
- Maintain a suitable image for Relief International and protect RI's interest and
- Focus on developing funding strategy and ensure comprehensive plans are in place for fund raising from traditional and non traditional donors.
Program, Financial, Risk and Security Management
- Oversee project implementation, including allocation of resources and timely spending in accordance, ensuring that appropriate controls are maintained at all levels, by working with country SMT.
- Serve as overall responsible for safety and security of staff, and drive a culture of security management linked to duty of care and acceptance approaches.
- Ensure that team members are effective and efficient and contribute the necessary work to ensure their programs are a success. Provide feedback to staff to ensure optimal
- Ensure adequate support to each program, including but not limited to strategic vision and technical input and advice to bolster and improve program quality and
- Ensure overall audit compliance, financial transparency through supervision and direction of financial and administrative staff.
- Drive risk management through all areas of implementation and
Team Leadership s HR Oversight
- Provide leadership and management of Ensure timely and quality staff performance management of directly managed staff, making sure all country team follows best practices in this regard.
- In partnership with HR team, ensure that the recruitment, performance management, benefit entitlements and termination of national staff are accordance with national laws and Relief International policies, building a culture of transparency and equity among the
- Model a culture where all staff across the different layers of the country's mission are held accountable for their performance.
- Build a positive work culture that fosters commitment to the mission, drives high performance, and ensures a healthy work environment that prioritizes duty of care to staff including but not limited to security and mitigating risks of excessive stress and burnout in the workplace.
Compliance, Governance & Internal Controls
- Enforce adherence to internal policies, donor regulations, local labor law, and ethical
- Oversee safeguarding, incident reporting, and ethical conduct across all levels of the
Behavior and Conduct
- Ensuring the highest standards of behavior inside and outside of work promotes the values in RI's code of conduct and safeguarding policies
- Be a model for ethical conduct standards for other team members
- Ensure your own actions and the actions of the teams' members they manage do not impact the safety of the RI team and the vulnerable communities we
- Ensure external stakeholders are aware of RI conduct and reporting mechanisms
- Report any concerns and ensure a well-functioning Incident Management Team at country level.
5. Person Specification
Skills, knowledge and expertise required for the role.
Essential criteria
- Progressive proven country leadership experience in the implementation of multi-sector programming in humanitarian and/or development settings
- Previous experience managing change with country teams
- Degree in a relevant field or commensurate work experience
- Persuasive interpersonal, communication, public speaking, writing and strategic planning skills
- Excellent project management and financial management skills to ensure on time delivery of programs and resourcefulness with strong attention to detail
- A leader who brings coaching and mentoring skills in team management (structure, conflict, performance management and communication)
- Passion and agility to managing complex and changing environments
Desirable criteria
- Previous experience in South Asia and in the Philippines
- Sector experience in Health, and any experience in Protection, WASH and/or Livelihoods sectors also a plus
- Experience implementing/ overseeing program implementation of UN and EU grants
- Experience working in the early recovery and/or development space
- Advocacy and media engagement experience
- Experience in mobilization for emergency response
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
- Report any concerns and ensure a well-functioning Incident Management Team at country level.