NCP Senior Coordinator, Events and Engagement

About the Program
The New Colombo Plan (NCP) is a signature initiative of the Australian government which aims to lift knowledge of the Indo-Pacific in Australia by supporting undergraduates to study and undertake internships in the region, ultimately helping to strengthen Australia’s regional standing by building a diverse cohort of Australian alumni with deeper Indo-Pacific knowledge, capability, and connections. The NCP Program involves three program areas: Scholarships for students to undertake study, language training and internships in the region, mobility grants to universities to fund student participation in shorter projects in the region and an Alumni Program.

Palladium is the service provider appointed by DFAT to provide managed administrative and support services (MASS) to the NCP Program. The Palladium MASS team provides an integrated suite of services to enable the NCP operational delivery including providing administration services to the Scholarships, Mobility and Alumni Programs, and delivering cross-cutting functions such as financial and operational management; communications and marketing; stakeholder engagement; monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL); events management and risk management.

Role
The Senior Coordinator – Events and Engagement will lead on providing support for NCP stakeholder engagement activities, targeting stakeholders from the university, business and government sectors. The primary focus of the role will be to lead on the planning and delivery of an annual program of events organized to support the objectives of the Scholarships, Mobility and Alumni Programs.

This role is part of the Engagement Communications and Events team and is full-time, fixed term contract until 30 June 2025. The role is part of the management team, and leads on the cross cutting function of events and engagement supporting Scholarships, Mobility and Alumni program areas.

Location
Preference for this role is to be based in Adelaide but Brisbane and Canberra will be considered.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

Effective coordination of the annual program of NCP events and stakeholder engagement activities

• Lead on development of the events schedule and stakeholder engagement plans for the NCP MASS annual workplan, to support the achievement of Scholarships, Mobility and Alumni Programs outcomes.
• Develop plans and budgets for individual events and stakeholder engagement activities and contribute to procurement and contracting processes to identify events related suppliers of goods and services.
• Oversee effective event delivery, working with cross-cutting event management/project teams, involving the wider MASS team, DFAT NCS counterparts and delivery /supplier partners.
• Contribute to reporting and MEL on events delivery and stakeholder engagement activities.

Effective leadership of the events management and stakeholder engagement support functions, ensuring compliance with NCP policies, procedures and service level standards

• Working with Scholarship, Mobility and Alumni Program leads, ensure NCP events are planned and delivered in line with all relevant NCP operational policies and SOPs, as well as NCP brand guidelines.
• Lead on ensuring events management SOPs, tools and templates are regularly reviewed and updated considering lessons and business improvement activity.
• Lead on relevant data gathering for service level agreement assessments, work plan operational reporting and MEL reporting and analysis.
• Ensure diversity and inclusion is embedded across all events and stakeholder engagement plans.
• Engage in reviews, learning and business improvement processes, making recommendations based on feedback and MEL evidence.

Effective project management for the planning and delivery of annual NCP flagship events

• Manage a project to plan and deliver the annual NCP Scholar pre-departure training and awards events, along with related side events and stakeholder engagement activity. This includes managing a cross cutting project team involving NCP MASS program and function leads, NCS counterparts and service providers/consultants (e.g. events production companies).
• Manage other key events management projects, including quarterly forums targeting university stakeholders and key alumni engagement events.

Effective stakeholder engagement support

• Contribute to the planning and implementation of stakeholder engagement strategies.
• Support engagement activities with stakeholders from business, public and civil society sectors.
• Support engagement with host organisations and partners from business, public and civil society sectors who offer internships, practicums and other professional development opportunities to scholars, mobility projects and alumni.

Required Qualifications and Key Competencies

Essential

• Experience in planning and managing online and in-person events, including overseeing large scale events involving multi-disciplinary project teams and suppliers.
• Exceptional project management skills with experience managing programs or projects, that include delivery of events, workshops, and conferences as key project activities.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple events/projects simultaneously with competing deadlines and multiple stakeholders.
• Strong process and organisational skills and an ability to develop systems, tools and processes to improve project delivery efficiency and effectiveness.
• Experience developing and implementing stakeholder engagement strategies and plans.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to effectively communicate both written and verbally and build a rapport with a diverse range of stakeholders both internally and externally to deliver successful events/programs/services.
• Exceptional client relationships management skills, with an ability to understand and respond to dynamic client requirements.
• Strong analytical thinking and pro-active problem solving.
• Strong ICT skills with proficiency in MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel
• Fluency in English.

Desired

• Experience of delivering projects and/or events for international education, scholarships and awards programs, or international development programs.
• Experience of working with stakeholders from the business, government and civil society sectors.
• Experience of delivering projects and/or events in the higher education, government or international development sectors.
  Relevant degree or qualification, such as project management, events management, communications and marketing, international development.
• Knowledge of and experience using events management and project management software and systems.

Applications close on 15 April 2024.

Please send your inquiry to: [email protected]

We are only accepting applications from job seekers with full working rights within Australia as this role is unable to be sponsored.