Director of Pacific Programmes, Pacific Region (SEAP)

This is a terrific opportunity for a leader in the peacebuilding or international development field. If you have the team management and leadership skills and are looking for an opportunity to lead a peacebuilding team working with Pacific Island partners please apply.

The Pacific Programme has programmes in Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, supporting community peacebuilding efforts, along with mediation support to political processes. Our programmes also include work on emerging peacebuilding challenges in the Pacific region, such as climate change and conflict. The programme also includes a growing policy advocacy team. You will be working with, and helping to lead, a dynamic and growing team.

• Job Title: Director or Pacific Programmes
• Location: based in Melbourne (Australia), with frequent international travel
• Contract: Permanent Full Time
• Reporting to: Southeast Asia and the Pacific Department Director
• Responsible for: Directing Conciliation Resources’ programmes in the Republic of Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea along with a Policy and Learning team, with a current staff of six.
• Salary: AU $119,074.70 plus superannuation

Our office is based in Melbourne and our preference for the role is to be based in Melbourne however, we may be open to working from home arrangements in other parts of Australia.

We may be open to pursuing sponsorship to work and live in Australia for eligible and successful candidates, please ensure you highlight any need for sponsorship in your application.

Conciliation Resources

Conciliation Resources is an independent international organisation working with people in conflict to prevent violence, resolve conflicts and promote peaceful societies. We believe that building sustainable peace takes time. We provide practical support to help people affected by violent conflict achieve lasting peace. We draw on our shared experiences to improve peacebuilding policies and practice worldwide. We have worked in the Southeast Asia and the Pacific regions since 1994 and currently work in the Republic of Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines.

Our work seeks to contribute to building more peaceful societies through enhance analysis and comparative knowledge and through supporting and implementing targeted and adaptive peacebuilding programmes. We seek to build knowledge through context and conflict analysis; contribute to change through long-term accompanying partnerships; and enhance context-specific peacebuilding practice through comparative learning.

Within the Pacific region Conciliation Resources supports community led peacebuilding initiatives, working with numerous civil society partners, including in Fiji, Solomon Islands and Bougainville, PNG. The programme also supports processes of political dialogue, mediation support and comparative learning. Conflict challenges the programme is currently working on include: dealing with past legacies of conflict; the intersection between governance and peace; masculinity, youth and violence; and climate change and conflict.

Job Purpose

The director of Pacific Programme leads Conciliation Resources’ peacebuilding and conflict resolution work in the Pacific region. They are responsible for managing multiple peacebuilding and policy influencing teams – the PNG team, primarily focused on Bougainville, and developing work in Hela province; the Fiji, and Solomon Islands team, primarily focused on climate change and conflict; and a Policy and Learning team. This position will provide strategic leadership and operational management to the whole Pacific team, with direct line management Project Managers and a Programme Manager.

The postholder is responsible for the successful implementation of a programme of diverse projects in multiple contexts. This includes being responsible for setting and overseeing the management of the programme’s budget, and for ensuring the integrity and credibility of Conciliation Resources’ reputation in the Pacific. They lead the team’s efforts in developing new programmes in new contexts, and working to secure new funding for our work. The Director of Pacific Programmes is a member of Conciliation Resources’ Senior Leadership Team, and the Southeast Asia and the Pacific leadership team.

Added benefits of working at Conciliation Resources Australia:

• We provide 25 days of annual leave each year.
• Days off between 25th December – 1st January with no loss of annual leave.
• Flexible working at home arrangements.
• A generous top-up to the Government Parental Leave payments and the opportunity for parents returning to work to request flexible working arrangements.
• Employee Assistance Program, a free and confidential counselling service.
• Additional sick leave benefits during longer period of sickness.
• 5 paid days of study leave per year.
• Salary packaging (tax benefits) of up to A$15,900 and A$2,650 for meals and entertainment.
• Up to 10 days of paid Compassionate leave.
• Option of paid Sabbatical leave for full time and part time permanent employees after 4 continuous years of service.
• Portable long service leave within the SCHADS industry.

Person Specification

Essential knowledge, skills and experience

• Significant (min eight years) project management experience, designing and implementing conflict resolution and peacebuilding interventions, including programme design, budget development, programme implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
• Practical and conceptual knowledge of peacebuilding and conflict transformation processes, of processes of social and political change and of supporting the development of local capacities for peacebuilding.
• Significant (min five years) senior team management experience, including line managing project / programme managers and their teams, and overseeing team performance management and professional development.
• Experience of working with local and national partners in an accompaniment role, including capacity enhancement and due diligence.
• Significant financial management, including experience preparing and managing annual budgets of at least AUD1.5mil, monitoring and forecasting spend, and overseeing internal and external financial reporting.
• Experience of managing research projects, developing and managing advocacy strategies and engagement with policymakers, including at a senior level.
• Experience of leading government or other donor-funded programmes, including donor relationship management, programme development and reporting.
• Significant experience of securing funding for new work, including concept development, building donor relationships and writing proposals and budgets.
• Understanding of anti-racist and decolonisation approaches to peacebuilding practice, team management and programme management.
• Excellent communication skills, to communicate complex issues effectively and adjust communication style to varying circumstances, including ability to listen actively to people from varying backgrounds and with a range of political, cultural, gender and sexual identities and value orientations, combined with an ability to engage with them clearly and sensitively.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Experience implementing projects in difficult social and political situations or conflict contexts, and experience of hostile environment training or willingness to undertake hostile environment training.
• Graduate level study or equivalent by experience in conflict resolution, international relations, development studies, international humanitarian law, gender, peace and security or other related fields.
• Excellent organisational and coordination skills, including the ability to think and plan strategically while also retaining close attention to detail, to manage and prioritise a diverse and demanding workload, to convene and run efficient meetings and meet deadlines.
• Ability to navigate political sensitivities and awareness of the complexity of working in conflict-affected situations, including appreciation of confidentiality and handling sensitive information with due care.
• Willingness and ability to work irregular hours on occasions and to undertake frequent international travel in sometimes uncomfortable or insecure conditions.
• Excellent word processing, spreadsheet, database and email software skills.

Desirable knowledge, skills and experience

• Experience facilitating workshops and dialogue processes.
• Experience of working in an internationally-focused policy/advocacy role.
• Experience of and managing advocacy projects.
• Experience of producing high-quality written work.
• Experience of designing, organising and managing research and advocacy events.
• Extensive knowledge of the social and political landscape in the Pacific and wider region, and it’s conflicts.
• Experience living and working in the Pacific region.

Conciliation Resources’ SEAP Department (Conciliation Resources Australia) branch office is based in Wurundjeri Country / Melbourne, Australia, and we respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Bunurong, Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nations and pay respect to their Elders past and present.

We acknowledge that the land on which we meet and learn was the place of age-old ceremonies, of celebration, initiation and renewal, and that First Peoples have continuing connection to the lands, water and sky. We value the unique backgrounds, experiences and contributions that each person brings to our community by encouraging and celebrating diversity. First Peoples’, Pacific Islanders, those identifying as LGBTQIA+, people of all ages, with diverse abilities as well as culturally and linguistically diverse people are encouraged to apply.

• We proudly support a diverse workforce with a variety of professional development opportunities, ranging from various skills based training to leadership programs.
• We are an Equal Opportunity Employer who value diverse representation at all levels of our organisation.
• We offer and encourage flexible working arrangements for all our employees to support wellbeing, family, or carer commitments and other personal circumstances.
• Health, safety, and wellbeing are at the heart of what we do. We focus on the physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing of our people to create a safe and healthy workplace for everyone.