Position Description

Australia Awards – South Asia & Mongolia is administered by Palladium on behalf of the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The Program goal is to support eight partner countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – in achieving their development goals through education and knowledge transfer, and to build enduring relationships with Australia that advance mutual interests. 

Australia Awards – South Asia & Mongolia is a multi-country program with service delivery offices currently in Colombo, Dhaka, Islamabad, Kathmandu, Thimphu and Ulaanbaatar – and, following an appointment to this position, now in Malé. Leadership, coordination, and support are provided by “the Hub” – a regional team based in Colombo and Australia. 

The first resident Australian High Commission in the Republic of Maldives opened in July 2023. With 700 Australian Awards alumni making significant contributions to Maldives in a range of fields, the High Commission is now stepping up the Australia Awards in-country presence and support. 

Are you passionate about contributing to impactful change in Papua New Guinea's infrastructure sector? We are offering an exciting opportunity for a skilled Infrastructure Project Manager to join our team. If you're ready to contribute to transformative projects that shape the future, we want to hear from you!

• Full time fixed-term until June 2027, with possible extension
• Based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
• Open to national candidates only
• Competitive remuneration and benefits package

Indonesia’s Vision 2045 sets the goal for Indonesia to transition from a resource-based economy towards an advanced service, technology, and knowledge-based economy by the centenary of its independence (2045). The 2025-2045 National Long Term Development Plan emphasises the urgency of Indonesia’s human resource development to fully realise 2045 goals.

Faced however with persistent low student performance that is emblematic of a learning crisis, significant improvement in student learning will be required to reach Indonesia’s 2045 goals. Government of Indonesia (GoI) has started an ambitious program of education reforms. Successive education ministers have set out to modernise the education system through reforming the national curriculum and teaching and assessment approaches, to produce citizens with strong foundational skills, open minds, and inclusive values. 

Australia is a long-term supporter of the Indonesian basic education sector, with continuous investments supporting education quality improvements for the past two decades, including through the INOVASI program (Phase 1 2016-2020; Phase 2 2020-2023) that focused on supporting acquisition of literacy and numeracy foundational skills in early grades classrooms; exploring local problems and solutions; and generating evidence to inform government policy development and practices.

This third phase of INOVASI (2024-2027) builds upon the existing program’s approach and lessons learned and takes the focus on the development of foundational skills through to the end of the primary grades. Phase 3 will engage with priority issues of Australia’s development policy: gender equality, effective inclusion of children with a disability, responses to the climate change challenge in education. It will focus on the challenge of policy implementation and the gaps that exist between national policies and practices at district and school levels, and use the well attested-success of INOVASI’s local problem-based approach to continuously support policy development for effective fit between policy and implementation context.

INOVASI Phase 3 is implemented in 25 districts and cities across Indonesia, in the provinces of West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan, East Java, West Java, and Maluku. The program also works in Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN).

The Program is implemented by Palladium on behalf of DFAT.

Purpose of the Position
MoECRT’s recent focus on building Eight National Characters through strengthening Seven Habits of Great Indonesian Children, alongside the Kurikulum Berbasis Cinta (KBC) under the Ministry of Religious Affairs, emphasizes the importance of embedding character values into education. These approaches foster students’ spiritual, emotional, social, ecological, and intellectual growth, while also advancing inclusive values, gender equality, disability inclusion, and environmental responsibility—aligning closely with broader GEDSI and climate change priorities.

The Character Education Specialist will provide technical leadership, advice, and support to integrate character education within INOVASI . The Specialist will support the design, piloting, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of character education approaches, particularly aligned with the Kurikulum Berbasis Cinta and whole-school development frameworks. This position plays a critical role in bridging national policy, subnational implementation, and school-level practice, ensuring that character education becomes a living practice across the school community.

Working with children
Is this position likely to come into contact with children?                     ☒ Yes                          ☐ No

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the direction of the School Ecosystem and Quality Manager, the Character Education Specialist will:

• Lead the development and refinement of INOVASI’s character education strategy, aligning with the Guiding Notes and other INOVASI strategy documents and and program logic.
• Provide technical input to integrate character education into INOVASI work particularly at the district and school level using whole-school development model.
• Support subnational teams, school leaders, teachers, supervisors, and communities to understand, apply, and model effective character education approaches through trainings, workshops and other ways
• Facilitate collaboration with relevant stakeholders including TTIs and ministries’ technical units to ensure alignment and institutional capacity building.
• Support schools and districts in adopting whole-school approaches where character values are embedded in leadership, teaching, school culture, parental engagement, and community partnerships.
• Provide technical support to national counterparts in Kemenag and MoECRT related to character education policy development, curriculum design, teacher development frameworks, and monitoring systems.
• Participate and contribute in national and global working groups, workshops, and technical discussionsto inform and support government policy processes.
• Work closely with the Performance and Learning team to develop appropriate indicators, tools, and approaches to measure character education implementation and outcomes.
• Ensure that character education interventions are inclusive, gender-responsive, disability-inclusive, and address ecological responsibility as integral parts of character formation.
• Maintain strong communication and coordination with national and subnational teams to promote cross-learning and coherent program delivery.
• Contribute to routine reporting, six-monthly progress reports, and ad hoc reporting to DFAT and Government of Indonesia counterparts.
• Other tasks as may reasonably be required by the School Ecosystem and Quality Improvement Manager.
   

Indonesia’s Vision 2045 sets the goal for Indonesia to transition from a resource-based economy towards an advanced service, technology, and knowledge-based economy by the centenary of its independence (2045). The 2025-2045 National Long Term Development Plan emphasises the urgency of Indonesia’s human resource development to fully realise 2045 goals.

Faced however with persistent low student performance that is emblematic of a learning crisis, significant improvement in student learning will be required to reach Indonesia’s 2045 goals. Government of Indonesia (GoI) has started an ambitious program of education reforms. Successive education ministers have set out to modernise the education system through reforming the national curriculum and teaching and assessment approaches, to produce citizens with strong foundational skills, open minds, and inclusive values. 

Australia is a long-term supporter of the Indonesian basic education sector, with continuous investments supporting education quality improvements for the past two decades, including through the INOVASI program (Phase 1 2016-2020; Phase 2 2020-2023) that focused on supporting acquisition of literacy and numeracy foundational skills in early grades classrooms; exploring local problems and solutions; and generating evidence to inform government policy development and practices.

This third phase of INOVASI (2024-2027) builds upon the existing program’s approach and lessons learned and takes the focus on the development of foundational skills through to the end of the primary grades. Phase 3 will engage with priority issues of Australia’s development policy: gender equality, effective inclusion of children with a disability, responses to the climate change challenge in education. It will focus on the challenge of policy implementation and the gaps that exist between national policies and practices at district and school levels, and use the well attested-success of INOVASI’s local problem-based approach to continuously support policy development for effective fit between policy and implementation context.

INOVASI Phase 3 is implemented in 25 districts and cities across Indonesia, in the provinces of West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan, East Java, West Java, and Maluku. The program also works in Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN).

The Program is implemented by Palladium on behalf of DFAT.

Purpose of the Position
INOVASI is committed to strengthening the education ecosystem in Indonesia by supporting local actors in enhancing their communication capacity. Recognizing that many government officials, education advocates, and civil society partners operate in silos with limited access to upskilling opportunities, INOVASI will launch a Community of Practice (CoP) initiative to foster peer learning, shared problem-solving, and more coordinated communication strategies.

To support this initiative, INOVASI seeks a dedicated Communication Officer who will facilitate the day-to-day operations of the Community of Practice, manage engagement with members, and ensure the CoP delivers on its intended impact.

The Communication Officer will lead the facilitation, coordination, and documentation of the Community of Practice within the education sector. The role is essential in fostering an inclusive, participatory space where members share knowledge, sharpen their communication skills, align efforts, and drive collective impact.

To that end, this position will also contribute to the capacity development of key actors in crafting and delivering effective communication strategies that support behaviour change, particularly in areas such as inclusive education, climate-responsive schooling, and strengthening foundational skills.

Working with children
Is this position likely to come into contact with children?                     ☒ Yes                          ☐ No

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the direction of Strategic Communications Manager, the Communication Officer’s main duties will include:

• Coordinate the planning, implementation, and monitoring of Community of Practice (CoP) activities, including the development of annual work plans and reporting.
• Organize and facilitate regular CoP sessions, including expert-led discussions, peer learning forums, and thematic workshops.
• Manage all logistics for CoP meetings, including agenda setting, speaker engagement, documentation, and timely follow-up.
• Facilitate ongoing communication with members using digital platforms such as WhatsApp, email, and shared folders, ensuring inclusive and responsive engagement.
• Curate and share communication tools, resources, case studies, and good practices to support members’ capacity development and behaviour change communication
• Monitor member participation, session attendance, and engagement levels; identify and address barriers to continued involvement.
• Design and administer simple monitoring tools, feedback forms, and short surveys to assess satisfaction, knowledge uptake, and applied learning.
• Support onboarding of new members, ensuring diversity in geography, institution type, and stakeholder representation, including marginalised groups.
• Foster a safe, inclusive, and collaborative learning environment where all members feel encouraged to contribute.
• Document lessons learned, member feedback, and examples of improved communication practices influenced by the CoP.
• Coordinate with other INOVASI teams (e.g., GEDSI, MERL, Thematic Leads) and external partners to identify opportunities for synergy and shared learning.
• Contribute to national and subnational messaging strategies by aligning communication efforts and promoting shared advocacy goals.
• Undertake other duties as assigned by the Strategic Communication Manager to support the successful implementation of the program.

Indonesia’s Vision 2045 sets the goal for Indonesia to transition from a resource-based economy towards an advanced service, technology, and knowledge-based economy by the centenary of its independence (2045). The 2025-2045 National Long Term Development Plan emphasises the urgency of Indonesia’s human resource development to fully realise 2045 goals.

Faced however with persistent low student performance that is emblematic of a learning crisis, significant improvement in student learning will be required to reach Indonesia’s 2045 goals. Government of Indonesia (GoI) has started an ambitious program of education reforms. Successive education ministers have set out to modernise the education system through reforming the national curriculum and teaching and assessment approaches, to produce citizens with strong foundational skills, open minds, and inclusive values. 

Australia is a long-term supporter of the Indonesian basic education sector, with continuous investments supporting education quality improvements for the past two decades, including through the INOVASI program (Phase 1 2016-2020; Phase 2 2020-2023) that focused on supporting acquisition of literacy and numeracy foundational skills in early grades classrooms; exploring local problems and solutions; and generating evidence to inform government policy development and practices.

This third phase of INOVASI (2024-2027) builds upon the existing program’s approach and lessons learned and takes the focus on the development of foundational skills through to the end of the primary grades. Phase 3 will engage with priority issues of Australia’s development policy: gender equality, effective inclusion of children with a disability, responses to the climate change challenge in education. It will focus on the challenge of policy implementation and the gaps that exist between national policies and practices at district and school levels, and use the well attested-success of INOVASI’s local problem-based approach to continuously support policy development for effective fit between policy and implementation context.

INOVASI Phase 3 is implemented in 25 districts and cities across Indonesia, in the provinces of West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan, East Java, West Java, and Maluku. The program also works in Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN).

The Program is implemented by Palladium on behalf of DFAT.

Purpose of the Position:
Strengthening schools as learner-centered, inclusive, and safe institutions requires coherent support across multiple levels of the education ecosystem. INOVASI’s work at the district ecosystem level engages district governments, supervisory systems, education offices, and local institutions to create enabling conditions that support schools. The School Ecosystem Development Manager plays a critical role in ensuring that technical assistance to schools is well-integrated with broader district-level system strengthening efforts.

The School Ecosystem Development Manager is responsible for leading and coordinating INOVASI’s technical specialists to ensure a coherent, integrated approach to strengthening schools as the central focus of Indonesia’s education reform efforts. The Manager will oversee the design, delivery, and monitoring of technical assistance to ensure national frameworks are translated into practice, supports schools in improving teaching, leadership, school culture, and inclusive learning environments, and ensures learning from implementation informs broader education system strengthening efforts. The Manager will ensure that technical assistance to schools is coherently aligned with INOVASI’s district ecosystem strengthening work, recognizing that sustainable school improvement depends on supportive district-level policies, leadership, supervision, and capacity.

Working with children
Is this position likely to come into contact with children?   ☒ Yes                          ☐ No

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Deputy Program Director – Education Ecosystem and Subnational Management, and technical direction and oversight of the Program Director, the School Ecosystem Development Manager will:

1. Provide strategic leadership and coordination to INOVASI’s team of technical specialists (Literacy, Digital Solution and Numeracy, Character Education, and Educational Leadership).
2. As directed by Deputy Director Educational Ecosystems and Subnational Implementation, ensure that technical support to provincial teams especially the education coordinators, subnational partners is coherent, responsive, and aligned with program priorities and guiding notes, and evolving government policies.
3. Foster cross-specialist collaboration and joint problem solving to address complex school-level challenge to inform policy dialogue, national engagement, and program-wide strategy.
4. Oversee the development, adaptation, and quality assurance of technical frameworks, tools, training packages, facilitation approaches, and learning materials developed by the specialists.
5. Ensure that technical interventions reflect INOVASI’s adaptive, locally led, problem-driven approach and are informed by evidence, context realities, and government priorities, and led by INOVASI’s Guiding Notes and other relevant strategies.
6. Facilitate the integration of cross-cutting themes, including GEDSI and climate change responsiveness, into all technical areas of school ecosystem strengthening.
7. Support the Program Director and Deputy Directors in national level engagement processes related to curriculum reform, teacher development, leadership strengthening, and character education.
8. Maintain strong working relationships with key government counterparts (MoE, MoRA, LPTKs, BGPs, Pusbangkom, and others), ensuring that INOVASI’s technical assistance is aligned, relevant, and demand-driven.
9. Work closely with the Performance and Learning team to ensure appropriate monitoring and learning frameworks are in place to capture school-level implementation progress and outcomes.
10. Contribute to six-monthly reporting, DFAT reporting, and documentation of lessons learned and emerging evidence.
11. Maintain strong internal coordination and communication with national and subnational teams.
12. Support capacity development of technical specialists and broader program staff in school ecosystem approaches and corresponding topics such as foundational skills, leadership, and character education.
13. Represent INOVASI in relevant meetings, forums, and technical discussions.
14. Other tasks as reasonably required by the Deputy Program Director – Education Ecosystems and Subnational Management
     

Indonesia’s Vision 2045 sets the goal for Indonesia to transition from a resource-based economy towards an advanced service, technology, and knowledge-based economy by the centenary of its independence (2045). The 2025-2045 National Long Term Development Plan emphasises the urgency of Indonesia’s human resource development to fully realise 2045 goals.

Faced however with persistent low student performance that is emblematic of a learning crisis, significant improvement in student learning will be required to reach Indonesia’s 2045 goals. Government of Indonesia (GoI) has started an ambitious program of education reforms. Successive education ministers have set out to modernise the education system through reforming the national curriculum and teaching and assessment approaches, to produce citizens with strong foundational skills, open minds, and inclusive values. 

Australia is a long-term supporter of the Indonesian basic education sector, with continuous investments supporting education quality improvements for the past two decades, including through the INOVASI program (Phase 1 2016-2020; Phase 2 2020-2023) that focused on supporting acquisition of literacy and numeracy foundational skills in early grades classrooms; exploring local problems and solutions; and generating evidence to inform government policy development and practices.

This third phase of INOVASI (2024-2027) builds upon the existing program’s approach and lessons learned and takes the focus on the development of foundational skills through to the end of the primary grades. Phase 3 will engage with priority issues of Australia’s development policy: gender equality, effective inclusion of children with a disability, responses to the climate change challenge in education. It will focus on the challenge of policy implementation and the gaps that exist between national policies and practices at district and school levels, and use the well attested-success of INOVASI’s local problem-based approach to continuously support policy development for effective fit between policy and implementation context.

INOVASI Phase 3 is implemented in 25 districts and cities across Indonesia, in the provinces of West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan, East Java, West Java, and Maluku. The program also works in Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN).

The Program is implemented by Palladium on behalf of DFAT.

Purpose of the Position
The Deputy Program Director – Education Ecosystems and Subnational Management will be a senior member of the INOVASI leadership team with overall responsibility for the strategy, design and technical delivery of INOVASI’s provincial programs. He/she will be responsible for overseeing the effective and efficient management of sub-national implementation, ensuring that project implementation is in line with approved program plans; is responsive to changing program requirements; and is in line with Palladium, DFAT, and GOI regulations. The Deputy Director – Education Ecosystems and Subnational Management oversees Provincial Managers, teams, budgets and activities, to ensure provincial strategy design, planning, implementation and evaluation meets both program and partner needs. The Deputy will also oversee the School Ecosystem Development Manager, whose work ensures that technical strategies to support schools are coherently embedded within subnational implementation using the district ecosystem approach.

The Deputy Director plays a critical role in anchoring district-level support structures to actual change within schools by ensuring the work of the Provincial Managers and the SED Manager ultimately contributes to sustainable practice-level changes in teaching and learning, leadership, inclusive environment, and whole-school transformation (EOPO-2).

Working with children
Is this position likely to come into contact with children? ☒ Yes☐ No

Duties
Under the direction of Program Director, the Deputy Director – Education Ecosystems and Subnational Management will:

• Provide leadership, direction, and management oversight to INOVASI’s provincial implementation in the six target provinces of NTB, North Kalimantan, East Java, East Nusa Tenggara, West Java and Maluku.
• Oversee Provincial Managers and provide managerial guidance to provincial teams to support effective and efficient sub-national implementation. In coordination with the Program Director and other Deputy Directors, support Provincial Managers on provincial management and implementation issues in the provinces, providing troubleshooting when needed.
• In coordination with the Program Director and other Deputy Directors, ensure coordination, linkages and alignment between national education priorities and subnational implementation activities. This includes ensuring synergy and effective collaboration between policy, implementation and operations teams
• Oversee and approve provincial implementation plans, program activity concepts and budgets, as per INOVASI procedures; In collaboration with other members of the INOVASI leadership team, support the timely and quality completion of required program plans and reports and ensure that all program materials comply with DFAT policies and procedures
• Oversee the high-level provincial budget and confirm the budget allocation between the six INOVASI target provinces based on INOVASI forecasts and approved yearly budgets. Approve and oversee the implementation of program activity concepts, as well as the provincial budget plans and spending. Ensure implementation and budget spending follow approved plans and budget allocations.
• Provide strategic and technical oversight to the School Ecosystem Development Manager to ensure coherence with national reform priorities and cross-program integration
• Oversee and ensure the provincial part of INOVASI Risk Management Matrix is maintained and updated as needed. Follow up with relevant INOVASI Provincial Managers and teams to update this provincial part of the risk matrix on a quarterly basis. Highlight technical risks to INOVASI Program Director and liaise with INOVASI Managers to manage, address and mitigate those risks;
• Liaise with both national (in coordination with the Program Director other Deputy Directors), and subnational governments to establish all needed MoUs to support subnational implementation and office establishments. In coordination with Provincial Managers, lead negotiations with subnational governments to secure INOVASI offices in appropriate premises.
• Lead the development of provincial implementation strategy and district selection strategy. Ensure provincial implementation approach and priorities are in line with INOVASI provincial resources and available funding.
• Ensure technical implementation in the provinces is coordinated and in line with the technical guidance provided by the national Policy, Communications and MERL teams and consultants
• Ensure provincial activities integrate, cover and address the GEDSI and Climate Change priorities and guidance provided by the national GEDSI and Climate Change teams and consultants.
• Support engagement with senior counterparts at national level and in provincial and district governments in INOVASI partner provinces when needed, to ensure effective implementation of activities and application of scaling and sustainability strategies.
• Provide capacity building on leadership and management to INOVASI Provincial Managers and School Ecosystem Development Manager teams when required, such as in whole staff meetings, internal trainings or one-on-one mentoring.
• Establish, promote and maintain a one-team approach across the provinces, and across national and subnational teams.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with Program stakeholders, including GoI counterparts in MoEC, MoRA and Bappenas, DFAT and other programs and development partners.
• Lead and/or contribute to reports, briefs, program activity concepts, and other knowledge products for a range of stakeholders to inform and advance the overall objectives of INOVASI, and contribute to INOVASI program reporting to DFAT as required.
• Serve as acting Program Director as assigned by the Program Director on specific topics or during periods of absence, and as Palladium’s alternate liaison to DFAT, GoI, local organisations, and program partners as required.
• Other duties as may reasonably be required by the Program Director, consistent with the incumbent’s qualifications and experience.

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