What should a project officer CV include?

A profile with your thematic area and strengths, key project skills, experience showing budget, reach and results, education, project management certifications and referees.

Is PMP or PRINCE2 required for project officer jobs?

Not always, but they can help, especially for senior roles. List them only if you have passed them.

How long should an NGO project officer CV be?

Two to three pages is usually enough. Focus on recent, relevant projects and cut older roles to short summaries.

How do I show results on a project CV?

Use beneficiaries reached, budget managed, reports delivered on time and measurable changes such as adoption rates, using figures you can explain.

Project Officer CV Example for Kenya (2026): Profile, Skills and Bullet Points

Updated 4 November 20266 min readBy the KaziMatch careers team

A strong project officer CV in Kenya shows the projects you ran, their size (budget, beneficiaries, counties), your role in planning, delivery and donor reporting, and the results achieved. NGO and development employers read for scope and outcomes, not job titles.

Below is a complete example. The project officer is fictional, organisations are anonymised and every figure is illustrative.

Example project officer CV

Contact details

[Your Name] [Town, County] · [Phone number] · [professional.email@example.com] · [LinkedIn URL]

Professional profile

Project officer with six years of experience delivering donor-funded livelihoods and health projects in arid and semi-arid counties. Skilled in work planning, budget tracking, partner coordination and donor reporting. PRINCE2 Foundation certified. Seeking a project manager or senior project officer role.

Key skills

Work planning and activity scheduling
Budget tracking and burn-rate monitoring
Donor and partner reporting
Community entry and stakeholder engagement
Procurement and logistics coordination for field activities
Risk and issue management

Work experience

Illustrative example only: organisations are anonymised and all figures are invented to show the style of a good bullet.

Project Officer · [International NGO], Garissa · February 2022 – Present

Delivered a livelihoods project reaching about 4,000 households across two counties
Tracked a project budget of about KES 60 million, keeping spending within 5% of plan
Submitted all quarterly donor reports on time, with no major revisions requested
Coordinated five local partner organisations through monthly review meetings

Assistant Project Officer · [National NGO], Isiolo · January 2020 – January 2022

Organised community trainings for about 1,200 farmers on drought-tolerant crops
Maintained activity trackers and supporting documents for audits

Programme Assistant · [Community-based organisation], Nairobi · June 2018 – December 2019

Supported proposal writing for two successful small grants
Managed attendance records and logistics for community events

Education

Bachelor of Arts in Community Development · [University name] · 2018
Postgraduate diploma in project planning and management, if held

Certifications and professional bodies

PRINCE2 Foundation or PMP, if passed
Donor compliance, safeguarding or humanitarian standards courses
Membership of a project management professional body, if active

Referees

Write Available on request, or list three if asked. A project manager or country programme lead is ideal. See referees on a CV.

What to tailor for each project officer job

Thematic area. Health, WASH, livelihoods, education and governance projects use different language. Use the advert's terms where they are true.
Geography. If you have worked in the counties named in the advert, put that in the profile line.
Donor experience. Mention donor reporting formats or compliance rules you have worked with, without inventing any.
M&E overlap. Many project officer roles include monitoring. Show your data skills, or see our M&E CV example.
Proposal and reporting skills. If the advert mentions business development, show proposals you contributed to and their outcome, without claiming sole credit for team wins.
Field realities. For roles in arid, remote or insecure areas, mention your experience working safely in similar settings and with local leaders.

Profile variations by career stage

The profile above suits a mid-career candidate. Adjust it to your level. Both versions below are fictional examples.

Entry level

Community development graduate with a one-year internship in a national NGO, supporting trainings, attendance records and activity reports. Familiar with community entry and basic budgeting. Seeking an assistant project officer role.

Senior level

Project manager with over ten years of experience leading multi-county, donor-funded programmes with teams of 20 staff and multiple partners. Experienced in proposal development, grants management and donor relations. Seeking a programme manager role.

Keywords recruiters search for

Recruiters and applicant tracking systems often search for terms like these. Use the ones that are genuinely true for you and that appear in the advert:

project management, work plans, budget tracking, burn rate, donor reporting, partner coordination, stakeholder engagement, logframe, community mobilisation, risk management, safeguarding, PMP, PRINCE2

5 mistakes on project officer CVs

No scale. Budget size, beneficiaries reached and number of sites show what you can manage.
Activities instead of results. "Conducted trainings" is weaker than how many people were trained and what changed.
Claiming the whole project's success. Projects are team efforts. Say what you led or coordinated.
Very long CVs. NGO CVs often grow to four pages or more. Keep to two or three, focused on the role.
Missing safeguarding and compliance. Many NGOs check this. Mention relevant training if you have it.

Next steps

KaziMatch's AI can tailor your CV and cover letter to a specific NGO advert using only your real experience. Start with a free fit check.

Frequently asked questions

What should a project officer CV include?: A profile with your thematic area and strengths, key project skills, experience showing budget, reach and results, education, project management certifications and referees.
Is PMP or PRINCE2 required for project officer jobs?: Not always, but they can help, especially for senior roles. List them only if you have passed them.
How long should an NGO project officer CV be?: Two to three pages is usually enough. Focus on recent, relevant projects and cut older roles to short summaries.
How do I show results on a project CV?: Use beneficiaries reached, budget managed, reports delivered on time and measurable changes such as adoption rates, using figures you can explain.