Project Coordinator

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), established in 1986, is a regional non-profit foundation with headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand supporting the advancement of safer communities and sustainable development, through implementing programs that reduce the impact of disasters upon countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. The primary geographical focus of ADPC’s activities is Asia with the South, South East and East Asia being the primary sub-regions.

ADPC has more than 30 years of working experience in Asia along with the national and local Government of its charter member countries as well as countries of the Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) on Disaster Management. ADPC works to build preparedness at all levels, from regional, to national, sub-national and even to individual communities. Further details on ADPC and its programs can be found here.

ADPC has commenced a project funded under Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for Strengthening Emergency Response Capacity of Local Humanitarian NGOs in Asia. The project will support strengthening humanitarian leadership and technical capacity of local humanitarian NGOs to better engage in the humanitarian framework by providing institutions, partnerships, knowledge resources, training, and networking opportunities at national and sub-national levels.

Statement of Intent

ADPC is currently looking for a suitable candidate for the position of Project Coordinator. As part of the Training Services Department and the project team based at Project office in Sri Lanka, the Project Coordinator will be mainly responsible for coordinating logistics and administrative functions in planning and implementation of project activities at the national, provincial, and district levels in Sri Lanka. This position is open only to Sri Lankan nationals.

Note: It is not the intent of this Position Description to cover every aspect of the position requirements, rather to highlight the most important areas of personal and joint responsibility.

Qualifications and Experience

• Master’s in Business Administration, Disaster Management, Economics, Accounting or any other related fields is essential;
• Excellent computer skills especially in word-processing, spreadsheets etc. Professional qualifications like CIMA will be an added advantage;
• Proven experience in event management and arrangement of logistics is essential;
• Minimum 5 years of proven experience in training coordination, project management and project implementation;
• Expertise in the work plans, financial reporting and budgets, as well as develop quarterly and annual reports for tracking membership and partnership activities, program expenditures and donations;
• The ability to plan and execute events, previous experience in event or convention planning is helpful;
• Previous experience in working with Humanitarian NGOs or international organization in similar programs;
• Knowledge of working ethics of national or state government agencies, International NGOs, National NGOs, private organizations and international organizations would prove to be an added advantage.

Personal Qualities

• Self-motivated, pro-active and takes initiative;
• Demonstrated ability and plan and organize work and time independently;
• Verbal and written communication skills in English is essential and working knowledge of both Sinhalese and Tamil will be preferred;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, team-oriented work style, and experience in working in a multi-cultural environment;
• Strong desires to learn, undertake new challenges, must a creative problem-solver, and must have self-confidence, willingness to work hard, good sense of humor but with seriousness about the quality and excellence of work.

Desirables

• Strong networking capacity and understanding of development work at local and regional levels;
• Familiarity with the context of disaster risk reduction in Sri Lanka;
• Experience with both qualitative and quantitative data analysis and reporting.

General Requirements:

• Operate within all ADPC Guidelines & Procedures/ Policies.
• Operate within Government Procedures/Policies.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide necessary administrative and finance support in implementation of the training and capacity building activities of the project;
• Coordinate training events, participants and field missions during the project;
• Provide secretarial support like minute taking, drafting letters, preparation of documents such as consultancy agreements, statement of work, assistance in proposal development, training evaluation reports and share with respective trainers;
• Assist the project teams for designing training materials and training aids, periodic review of existing training materials to suit the project needs;
• Process staff travel cash advances and liquidations; including monitoring and following up outstanding cash advances on a monthly basis;
• Record, back-up and update training materials in secure environment on regular basis;
• Process payments to consultants, vendors, service providers, etc.;
• Maintain accounting vouchers and supporting documentations for all transactions processed on a chronological order;
• Issue invoice, review and follow up long outstanding invoices on a periodic basis;
• Closely coordinate with operational staff; answering queries on DSA, exchange rates, etc. and travel related policies and procedures;
• Works closely with Finance Department of ADPC;
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Head – Training Service Department and the duty station supervisor/project managers.

Reporting Relationship

• Project Managers at Country Office;
• Department Head, Training Services, ADPC;
• Work closely with other staff in TSD HQ.