Senior Program Manager – Economic Research & Dialogue

Position description

The Australia – Papua New Guinea Economic Partnership (APEP) is a multi-sectoral investment which commenced in April 2022 and runs through Feb 2028 with the possibility of a two-year extension. APEP is delivered as part of the broader Australia – Papua New Guinea (PNG) Partnership which brings strong alignment and integration with Government of PNG and Government of Australia (GoA) development priorities. APEP is also a primary vehicle and coordination point from which Australia delivers its economic development aid to PNG.

APEP works collaboratively with other Australian investments and development partners, to deliver impactful and sustainable development outcomes across four key engagement areas:

• EOPO 1 – Safeguarding Macroeconomic Stability
• EOPO 2 – Supporting More Efficient and Inclusive Markets
• EOPO 3 – Fostering Inclusive Growth and Expanded Livelihoods
• EOPO 4 – Catalysing Economic Research and Dialogue

Gender equality, disability social inclusion (GEDSI), women’s economic empowerment, and climate are central to APEP and integrated across all engagement areas and activities.

About the Opportunity

The Senior Program Manager (SPM), Economic Research & Dialogue (ERD) will work across all APEP workstreams and externally with PNG partners and research institutions and researchers.

Internally, the position works collaboratively with all APEP team leaders to support APEP workstreams with the design and implementation of research activities aligned to various area of economic and social development (macro-economics, strengthening a business enabling environment, agriculture including agri-business, etc).

Externally, the position will lead the management of key partnerships including a large Australia National University-UPNG partnership, as well as other Australian research institutions. The role includes working with local research institutions and individual researchers, GoPNG agencies and other partners to apply a range of approaches which address existing knowledge and data gaps and strengthen research capacity, quality, and take-up in PNG.

The position will be responsible for managing ERD resourcing and supervising the ERD team on a day-to-day basis.

The position will be part of the APEP executive team, which is made up of the APEP Director and Deputy Director, three technical team leaders, and one corporate services team leader.

All APEP executive team members must have a strong commitment and understanding of how to integrate key cross-cutting themes such as GEDSI, Women’s Economic Empowerment, and Climate.

About You

For applications to be considered, a response to the Key Selection Criteria below must be provided.

• A degree in a relevant field (i.e., Statistics, Economics, Business Management, and related areas).
• 10 years proven experience developing and implementing development/research strategies, plans and budgets.
• Outstanding cross-cultural communication, stakeholder, and relationship management skills.
• Ability to analyse situations or problems or risks, and propose appropriate responses, solutions, and mitigations.
• Experience in managing staff resources and performance to deliver expected outputs and outcomes.
• Strong understanding of MERLA frameworks and progress reporting.
• Proven experience integrating key cross-cutting themes such as GEDSI, Women’s Economic Empowerment, climate change and First Nations’ perspectives.
• Understanding of the research context, environment, and organisations in PNG preferred.

Application instructions

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