Partnership Specialist

**Partnership Specialist**

We are searching for an experienced Partnership Specialist at our Jakarta facility.

**Background of the Project**:
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 managed by Palladium on behalf of the Government of Australia through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

**Purpose of the Position**:
The Partnership Specialist is a **half time (.5) staff position** reporting to the Deputy Director - Development Priorities and Communications. The Partnership Specialist is responsible for managing all programmatic aspects of the INOVASI Partnerships program. The specialist will seek to establish partnerships and collaborations that leverage INOVASI’s contributions to achieving its outcomes. These partnerships may include small grants or technical collaborations with development partners, NGOs, philanthropic and faith-based organizations, teacher training institutes, education associations, and others relevant stakeholders. In managing the grant partnerships, the specialist will work closely with the procurement and operations team. The Partnership Specialist acts as focal point with external stakeholders in relation to the Partnerships program.

**Duties**:

- Identify and cultivate partnership opportunities:

- Seek and evaluate potential collaboration opportunities with education institutions/associations, development partners, NGOs and other relevant organisations to support the achievement of INOVASI outcomes.Establish and maintain relationships with key contacts at potential partner organizations to foster collaboration.
- Develop and implement collaboration strategies:

- Design and implement strategies to facilitate technical collaboration with partner organizations to enhance achievement of inclusive foundational skills at pre-primary (one year) and primary school levels. Coordinate with internal program teams and external partners to align objectives and ensure cohesive efforts.
- Leverage resources and expertise:

- Leverage the expertise, resources, and networks of partner organizations to achieve educational outcomes. Facilitate knowledge sharing and capacity-building activities among partners to promote best practices.
- Engage in technical collaboration:

- Coordinate and support technical collaboration efforts, including joint projects, research, and capacity-building initiatives with partner institutions. Work with relevant technical teams to provide technical guidance and support to partners in the development and implementation of educational programs and interventions.
- Manage small grants programs:

- Work with the procurement team to develop, manage, and oversee a small grants program a