Programme coordinator

What interviewers look for

• You have led people: planning their work, supervising fairly, and dealing with poor performance through a proper process.
• You can manage several grants at once, each with its own donor rules, deadlines and budget.
• You read budgets as a manager: burn rate, budget vs actual, and when to ask the donor for a change.
• You can contribute to proposals: needs, objectives, logframe, budget narrative and risks.
• You put staff safety first, and manage access and risk together with the security team and local actors.
• You represent the organisation well in clusters and with donors, authorities and the country office.

Questions they ask

1. 1“Tell us about a time a staff member was underperforming. What did you do?”

   Why they ask: Whether you handle people problems early, fairly and in writing, and whether you know when to involve HR.

   How to answer

   • Check that expectations were clear: job description, targets, deadlines.
   • Talk privately, listen, and find the cause: skills, workload, health, family or attitude.
   • Agree a plan with support and a deadline, and write it down.
   • Review progress; if nothing improves, follow the HR process.

   One of my project officers kept submitting monthly reports late, which delayed our donor report. I met him privately and asked what was happening instead of warning him. He said he had no clear template and was collecting data from three field teams by phone. We agreed a simple template, a fixed date for the field teams to send data, and a short check-in with me every Friday for two months. I wrote the plan in an email so we both had it. His next reports came on time, and I noted the improvement in his appraisal.

2. 2“You manage three projects with different donors. How do you keep track of everything?”

   Why they ask: Whether you have a system, not only good intentions: deadlines, budgets, donor rules and staff roles for each grant.

   How to answer

   • One tracker for all grants: report deadlines, end dates, key targets and donor rules.
   • A monthly budget review with finance for each grant.
   • Clear owners: each project officer leads one grant and reports weekly.
   • Agree how shared staff time is split so no cost is charged to two grants.

   In my last role I coordinated three grants, two in WASH and one in nutrition. I kept one Excel tracker with every report deadline, grant end date and the main donor rules, such as procurement limits and visibility requirements. Each project officer owned one grant and sent me a short update every Thursday. Once a month I sat with finance to review budget against actual for each grant, and we agreed the share of shared staff time charged to each one. Because of the tracker, we did not miss a reporting deadline that year.

3. 3“At month nine of a twelve-month grant you have spent only 40% of the budget. What do you do?”

   Why they ask: Whether you understand burn rate, look for causes before acting, and talk to the donor early instead of rushing to spend.

   How to answer

   • Find which budget lines are behind and why: access, a late procurement, vacant posts.
   • Check with finance for costs already committed but not yet recorded.
   • Make a realistic plan for the remaining months, and never buy things just to spend.
   • Through the country office, raise a no-cost extension or a budget revision with the donor early.

4. 4“How would you contribute to a proposal for a new project?”

   Why they ask: Coordinators are expected to feed proposals with field reality: needs, realistic targets, costs and risks. The panel checks you know the parts of a proposal.

   How to answer

   • Start from evidence: needs assessments, cluster data and what communities said.
   • Set clear objectives, a logframe and targets the team can really reach.
   • Cost the activities with finance and logistics, using current local prices.
   • Name the risks and how you will manage them, and follow the donor's template and page limits.

5. 5“Fighting has closed the road to one of your districts, and a distribution is planned there tomorrow. What do you do?”

   Why they ask: Whether you put staff and community safety above targets, follow security procedures, and still look for safe ways to deliver.

   How to answer

   • Follow the security focal point's advice and stop the movement until the road is cleared.
   • Tell the community through the committee so people do not gather at the site.
   • Look at safe options: postpone, move the site, or switch to mobile money if the grant allows it.
   • Inform the country office and the donor, and record the decision.

   Safety comes first, so the movement stops until the security focal point clears the road. I would call the committee chair the same evening so families do not walk to the site and wait in an unsafe area. Next I would review the options with the team and security: postponing for a few days, using a site on the safe side of the road, or sending that month's transfer by mobile money if the grant allows it. I would inform the country office and the donor of the delay, and write the decision and the reasons in the incident log.

6. 6“Why should you attend cluster meetings, and what do you bring to them?”

   Why they ask: Coordination avoids gaps and duplication. The panel checks you know how clusters work, and that you report and share, not only listen.

   How to answer

   • Clusters bring agencies in one sector together, such as WASH or food security, to agree who covers which area.
   • Bring your agency's updates: where you work, what you deliver, and the gaps you see.
   • Submit the 3W or 4W data on time, and use cluster standards in your projects.

7. 7“A donor visits and asks why your project is behind on its targets. How do you answer?”

   Why they ask: Donor relations depend on honesty and a plan. The panel checks that you do not hide, blame, or promise what you cannot deliver.

   How to answer

   • Give the facts first: where you are against each target.
   • Explain the causes briefly, without blaming staff or partners.
   • Show the recovery plan with dates, and say what support you need.
   • Follow up in writing after the visit.

   I would thank them for asking and give the facts first: we have finished most of the water point repairs but only half of the committee trainings. The cause was a long rainy season that cut the roads to several villages, which we flagged in our last quarterly report. Then I would show the recovery plan: two extra trainers, and trainings grouped by location from next month, finishing a month before the grant ends. I would ask whether they see any risk in the plan, and send a short written summary after the visit.

Example answers are in English, the language most panels use. Say it in your own words.

Topics to revise

• Proposal structureThe usual parts: context and needs, problem statement, objectives, activities, logframe, M&E plan, risks, budget and budget narrative. Know which parts field staff usually write.
• Burn rateHow fast a grant is being spent: spending so far as a share of the budget, compared with the share of time used. Half the time gone with a quarter spent means underspending.
• Budget variance and revisionVariance is the gap between budget and actual on each line. Many donors allow small shifts between lines up to a limit set in the agreement; larger changes need a formal budget revision approved by the donor.
• No-cost extension (NCE)Extra time to finish a grant without extra money, requested from the donor before the end date with a reason and a new plan. Ask early, not in the last weeks.
• Grant complianceFollowing the donor's rules: eligible costs, procurement thresholds, visibility, reporting dates and anti-fraud clauses. Breaking them can make costs ineligible, and the money may have to be returned.
• Risk registerA table of risks (insecurity, price rises, fraud, drought), how likely and how serious each one is, how you reduce it and who is responsible. Panels like a coordinator who updates it, not one who only files it.
• Humanitarian access and acceptanceBeing able to reach people safely. Acceptance means communities and local actors understand and accept your work because you are neutral, transparent and deliver what you promise.
• Security management (SOPs, movement tracking)Security plans, standard operating procedures, check-in and check-out calls, travel approval and incident reporting. A coordinator enforces them even when targets are behind.
• Cluster system and 3W/4WHumanitarian coordination by sector, such as WASH, health or food security, supported by OCHA. The 3W or 4W report shows who does what, where (and when), so gaps and overlaps can be seen.
• Remote management and partnersRunning activities through local partners or national staff where other staff cannot travel. It needs clear agreements, regular calls, third-party monitoring and support to build the partner's capacity.
• Performance managementSetting objectives, giving regular feedback, the yearly appraisal, and a performance improvement plan (PIP) when needed. A PIP is support with a deadline, not a punishment.

Practical tasks you may get

1. 1A budget exercise: a table of budget and actual spending by line, and 45 minutes to work out the burn rate, find the over- and underspent lines and write three recommendations. Revise percentages and simple Excel formulas.
2. 2Write part of a proposal in 60–90 minutes: a problem statement, one objective and three indicators for a given context. Practise with public needs data and a donor-style template.
3. 3A presentation of 10–15 minutes, such as “Your first 90 days in this post” or how you would manage a given programme. Use a few slides, one clear plan, and leave time for questions.
4. 4A role play: a panel member plays an underperforming officer, an angry official or a donor. Stay calm, listen first, state the facts and agree a next step.

Mistakes to avoid

• Saying “we” all the time, so the panel never hears what you decided as the manager.
• Solving underspending by rushing purchases at the end of the grant.
• Putting targets above safety, such as “I would still send the team”.
• Not knowing basic grant terms such as burn rate, budget vs actual, cost share or no-cost extension.
• Blaming staff, partners or the donor when describing a problem.
• Claiming you wrote proposals alone when you contributed one section or the budget inputs.

Quick check

5 questions. Answer each one to see the explanation.