Program Coordinator

The organization:

Trama Textiles is a 100% worker-owned women's weaving association based in Guatemala, created to help local women receive a fair salary through back-strap weaving textiles. We work directly with 15 weaving cooperatives, and represent 100 women from five different regions. Working with Trama offers an excellent opportunity to understand the running of a small non-profit organization and give first hand experience of working with rural communities in the Guatemalan Highlands and understanding the diversity of Mayan culture and backstrap weaving.

Our headquarters is in the beautiful highland city of Quetzaltenango (Xela). Our volunteer office is located with our local store, where we sell our handwoven crafts, and a weaving school, offering hands-on classes and demonstrations for individuals or tour groups wanting to learn about Guatemalan weaving. We run cultural exchange tours, where individuals can spend time with a weaver and her family, learning to weave and gaining an understanding of Mayan culture. We also sell our products internationally, either through online platforms or to wholesale clients. More recently, the cooperative is working on educational programs to offer development opportunities for cooperative members, as well as student scholarships to children of weavers in the cooperative.

The position:

The Program Coordinator is the core management role in the cooperative, responsible for the day-to-day running of the organization. This is an exciting opportunity in a fast-growing organization, with plenty of opportunities for growth and development on both a personal and business level.

In this role, you will work closely with the President and Vice-President to determine the direction of the organization, maintain and grow the business, and carry out the day-to-day management of the office. You will also be responsible for recruiting and managing your own team of volunteers. This is a highly fulfilling and diverse role. It offers enormous scope to develop your own skills, while having a significant impact on a rapidly developing ethical fashion business.

Core responsibilities include:

• Along with the President & Vice-President, be responsible for the day-to-day running of Trama Textiles: welcoming visitors; supporting volunteers with project work; coordinating international orders
• Working with the President and Vice-President to create and implement business plans
• Working with the President and Vice-President to coordinate fundraising and implement community development projects in weaver’s villages
• Overseeing communications and marketing activities
• Overseeing business development, identifying opportunities, and implementing strategies to achieve sustainable and effective growth of the organization
• Managing the organization’s finances, keeping records and tracking performance
• Managing wholesale client accounts and responding to customer inquiries
• Coordinating and fulfilling online and wholesale orders
• Recruiting and leading a team of approximately 5-8 local and international volunteers ,including interviewing, training, and assigning and managing all long-term and short-term volunteer activities
• Coordinating creative design of new products and custom orders with lead weavers
• Any other duties that may arise as part of the day-to-day running of the organization at the direction of coop leadership.

Desired experience:

• At least 2 years' professional experience in one of the following fields:
• Business development / management
• International development
• Sales
• Fashion / apparel / textile merchandising or production
• Volunteer management or management in non-profit sector
• Logistics
• Finance
• Regardless of your field, you will have proven experience of:
• general business processes and financial management (accounts payable/receivable, cost allocation and tracking, cashflow management, etc.)
• creating and implementing processes
• dealing with a range of people effectively, including clients, external stakeholders and colleagues.

Desired skills:

• Strong organizational skills, with an ability to manage multiple projects at the same time and prioritize conflicting demands effectively
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with people from a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds
• Intermediate – advanced Spanish skills. A lot of your day-to-day work will be in Spanish, so it’s essential you can communicate effectively in this language.
• Enthusiasm for Trama’s mission, and a demonstrated interest in one or all of the following: fair wage / ethical fashion, sustainable development, female empowerment, protection of cultural heritage, indigenous rights
• Ability to adapt to diverse cultural settings and be flexible and creative in dealing with day-to-day challenges that arise while working in a developing country. Sometimes there are power cuts, the internet goes down, there’s no running water, and finding the right size box to ship an international order can be a challenge in itself. We need someone who will take the rough with the smooth and take a proactive, problem-solving approach to work around any issues that arise.
• Ability to manage people and create effective working relationships with international volunteers, clients and members of the cooperative
• Ability to think strategically, identify opportunities for development or improvement, and devise and implement strategies that make things happen
• A creative streak, with an interest in design, textiles, fashion and generally making things look nice. An interest in photography and your own camera would also be great, though isn’t necessary.
• Microsoft Office: Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Some website design and SEO experience preferred, but not necessary
• Due to limited resources within the organization, we recommend that you bring your own laptop. The office runs Windows but previous international staff have used Macs as well.

About Xela, Guatemala: Quetzaltenango (Xela) is Guatemala’s second largest city, located in the Western Highlands. Surrounded by beautiful, volcanic mountains, it is within close reach of Lake Atitlan, the Pacific Coast, the markets of Chichicastenango, and only four hours from Guatemala City. It’s a great place to live and offers fantastic opportunities to learn Spanish and get to know Guatemalan culture. It’s generally considered to be much safer than Guatemala City, and has a lively international community of volunteers, teachers and travelers. Read more about Xela in the Lonely Planet.

• A place to stay with a private room, with kitchen and bathroom in a house.
• Practice and improve your Spanish immensely
• Recommendations provided on attractive accommodations in Xela
• Work directly with Indigenous women artisans in a mission-driven organization.
• Gain experience in creative direction, leadership, and community engagement.
• Enjoy a flexible schedule and vibrant cultural immersion in Xela.
• Contribute meaningfully to sustainable fashion and women’s empowerment.
• Trama Textiles office is in walking distance to best accommodations, restaurants, recreational activities in Xela, no need for a car or paid transportation

Fluent English with intermediate Spanish