News 16th February 2018

OGP looking for regional Asia Pacific support officer

by Peter Timmins

From Paul Maassen, Director, Civil Society Engagement
Open Government Partnership Support Unit

“We are looking for a resourceful individual with strong experience and understanding of the governance field to serve as a Asia-Pacific Senior Program Officer at the OGP Support Unit. The candidate should have knowledge of the inner workings of government – including the ability to interface with senior-level government officials – and also strong experience working with and building relationships with civil society actors in the region.

The Senior Program Officer will share responsibility for supporting the 14 current Asia-Pacific governments and a few OGP Local participants, plus any other new members and will join an existing team.  Jointly they will support primarily governments and civil society organisations participating in OGP to develop and implement high quality, relevant and ambitious OGP action plans. They will identify and encourage learning between OGP countries, and build relationships with donors, multilateral organisations and other actors working in the governance field. The Senior Program Officer will lead in building and maintaining interest and excitement about OGP among all stakeholder groups.  OGP also has two significant events for the region scheduled in 2018, a Global Summit (Georgia, July) and a Regional Meeting (South Korea, November).  As such, events management and planning will be a significant part of the Senior Program Officer’s responsibilities in the short term.

The Senior Program Officer should be extremely politically savvy, patient, and persistent.  They should have a strong sense of humor and proven record as a team player.  This work will require relationship management, and thoughtful follow-up with busy government officials and civil society organizations.

Responsibilities:

  • Cultivate strong working relations with high level and working level government points of contact, incentivising and building support for OGP;
  • Broker technical and financial support to countries developing and implementing their National Action Plans from different partner organizations;
  • Provide orientation and regular advice and updates to Asia-Pacific government officials on the OGP process and requirements;
  • Broker exchanges among governments, civil society organisations and other key stakeholders participating in OGP to foster learning;
  • Ensure that civil society in OGP countries is well-informed and better equipped to participate in the national OGP process by providing information, sharing experiences, making connections and advising on strategy;
  • Maintain good working relations with key regional coalitions/networks, as well as international actors in the region (e.g. funders, multi-laterals) to coordinate on OGP efforts;
  • Contribute to or lead on OGP events in the region, as well as participate in outreach and learning activities at third-party events;
  • Work with two other Asia-Pacific OGP staff and other teams within the OGP Support Unit/IRM to regularly exchange information, design and implement and overall strategy for the Asia-Pacific.

Requirements:

  • Advanced degree in relevant field (e.g. development, political science, public administration, or international relations etc.);
  • 5-7 years experience working on governance issues, ideally with a focus on transparency, accountability and open government reform, with an existing network within the region.
  • A minimum of 3 years working within a government in the region is preferred.
  • Work experience building civil society coalitions, brokering technical cooperation and partnerships, and organizing training workshops and events is also desirable;
  • Familiarity with technology for transparency, accountability and participation initiatives highly desirable.
  • Excellent communications skills, including writing, public speaking and facilitating meetings – with a variety of stakeholders at a broad range of seniority
  • Ability to travel extensively for work (30-40%)
  • Must be fluent in English. Additional fluency in other Asia-Pacific languages is desirable but not required.

Desired Skills and Attributes:

  • Self starter who can work independently, but likes working as part of a diverse and virtual team, proactive in sharing information with team members to update on both progress and setbacks;
  • Ability to adapt to the diverse work styles of countries across the region and thrive in a fast-paced and continuously evolving environment.
  • Experience with leading or contributing to large, high-level events.
  • Track record working in multi-stakeholder environments or experience in working with governments;
  • Ability to patiently and diplomatically forge consensus between diverse stakeholders on strategic advocacy issues;
  • Exceptional interpersonal skills, active listener who seeks to truly understand other perspectives;
  • Ability to build strong working relationships across a multicultural virtual organization.
  • Positive outlook, humble and with a healthy sense of humor;
  • Sound judgment, professionalism and integrity;
  • Strong writing and presentation skills, articulate, persuasive.

Details and How to Apply

  • This position is based in the Asia-Pacific region, with a strong preference for Jakarta, Manila, Seoul or Singapore.
  • The selected individual must have the legal authorization to work in in their work location.
  • Preferred start date is asap.
  • Compensation commensurate with experience.
  • Please submit a cover letter and current CV as attachments to jobs@opengovpartnership.org. Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis, so applicants are encouraged to submit their materials as soon as possible. The cut off for accepting applications is 15 March 2018.
  • Because of the volume of applications, we will not be able to respond to every applicant. We thank applicants in advance for their expressions of interest.

Questions

Please address any questions to jobs@opengovpartnership.org.

The Open Government Partnership is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people of color, including bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.

Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. Please advise in writing of special needs at the time of application.

About OGP

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is an international, voluntary effort to improve government performance, encourage civic participation and enhance government responsiveness to people. OGP is overseen by a Steering Committee composed of governments and civil society organizations in equal numbers, a unique model that embodies the goal of civic participation. In its first six years, OGP has grown from 8 to 90 participating countries and subnational entities, each of which works with civil society partners to develop and implement an OGP action plan. These action plans include concrete commitments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. OGP has also established an Independent Reporting Mechanism to periodically track country progress against commitments, thereby promoting greater accountability at the country level.

About the OGP Support Unit

The Support Unit is the organization tasked with keeping the Open Government Partnership moving forward.   As such, the Support Unit assists participating governments and civil society organisations, as well as the Steering Committee and the broader partnership to advance the goals of OGP. Recognizing the significant growth of OGP and the relatively small size of our team, we work closely with the Steering Committee to outline clear strategic priorities and cultivate high-impact partnerships to achieve these goals.  Each member of the Support Unit team juggles multiple, diverse tasks, ranging from high-level diplomatic outreach to the nuts and bolts of organizing meetings.  While being extremely sensitive to the diplomacy required in a multi-stakeholder initiative, the team strives to remain accessible, nimble and innovative, in keeping with the goals of the Partnership.  As OGP shifts its strategic focus from growth to implementation, we are increasing our capacity to provide direct support to OGP participating entities and to facilitate peer learning.”