The Program
Australia Awards in Papua New Guinea (AAPNG) is designed to promote knowledge, leadership and enduring ties between Australia and PNG. It aims to build knowledge and skills to address PNG’s economic and development challenges through international scholarships to Australia and scholarships in PNG. It also seeks to foster people-to-people links between Australia and PNG.
The program offers the next generation of leaders in Papua New Guinea opportunities to acquire professional and technical knowledge and skills relevant to Government of PNG priorities. It ensures that study opportunities are provided for women, people with disabilities and those from remote locations. It also supports alumni to use their skills, knowledge and networks to drive change and innovation.
AAPNG includes three types of study options:
As a further extension of these scholarships, AAPNG supports the PNG-Australia Partnership Secondary Schools Initiative which connects Australia and Papua New Guinea’s students, teachers and principals to better prepare our future generations. A group of select Australian and PNG secondary schools work together to strengthen areas of mutual priority, such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), English and youth leadership.
To deliver outcomes, AAPNG has five streams: Australia Awards Scholarships; PNG and Pacific Awards; Short Course Awards; Alumni Engagement; and Secondary Education Partnerships. Australia Awards in PNG is managed by Coffey, a Tetra Tech company, on behalf of the Australian Government.
The Position
The Facility Director provides strategic leadership and management oversight of the delivery of Australia Awards and other associated education activities in Papua New Guinea to achieve the Facility’s development and public diplomacy outcomes and in accordance with services defined in the contract between DFAT and Coffey.
This involves providing strategic direction and leading the delivery of Australia Awards Scholarships, In-PNG Scholarships, Short Course Awards, alumni engagement, PNGAus Partnerships Secondary Schools and other related education activities.
In leading the Facility, which includes approximately 45 team members, the Facility Director fosters continuous improvement and innovation, ensures quality delivery, and maximises possible program outcomes for AAPNG that are inclusive, relevant and sustainable.
The Person
We are seeking leaders who drive collaboration between the project and head office teams, working together to deliver effective support and to improve our support wherever possible, and to grow Coffey as an organisation where we can provide more opportunities for all our staff to deliver work that achieves a positive impact.
To succeed in this role, you will have strong, dynamic leadership skills and be politically astute while successfully building and managing relationships with a broad range of stakeholders, especially our Client, DFAT. You will be able to manage and implement a complex development program, while drawing on your previous understanding of the tertiary education sector in PNG and Australia. Underpinning this is your well-developed influencing skills and ability to communicate clearly and concisely.
Substantial experience at a senior level in the strategic leadership and senior management of complex international development programs, ideally relating to scholarships, capacity building, human resource development or training is critical to your success in this role.
You will need to clearly demonstrate commitment to championing cross cutting agendas such as gender inequality, social inclusion, economic and environment resilience.
Candidates, at a minimum, will hold degree qualifications in human resource development education or equivalent, ideally at postgraduate level. Alongside this, the successful candidate will have highly developed leadership and project management skills including work planning, budgeting and finances, team building and capacity development, and program delivery management.
Whilst experience working in Papua New Guinea and with DFAT would be an advantage, the ideal candidate will combine all the facets above and be able to articulate a strategic vision in partnership with colleagues and governments and make that a reality through progressive programme implementation.
The position is classified as Discipline Category D Job Level 4 under the DFAT Adviser Remuneration Framework. To learn more, please visit https://www.dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Pages/adviser-remuneration-framework
This vacancy is archived.