IKN Program Senior Adviser At Adam Smith International

Position: IKN Program Senior Adviser
Duration: 5 months (to June 2024)
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia with frequent travel to Balikpapan
Reports to: P4I Executive Director (TBD)
Closing date: 16 February 2024

About P4I
Partnerships for Infrastructure (P4I) is an Australian Government initiative partnering with Southeast Asia to drive sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth through quality infrastructure. P4I partners with Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

P4I works with partners to strengthen infrastructure decision-making and practice across the transport, energy, utilities and telecommunications sectors. P4I’s focus is on the early stages of the infrastructure lifecycle, including planning and prioritisation, financing strategy, and procurement.

Delivered through a single team, P4I is led by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in collaboration with EY, Adam Smith International, The Asia Foundation and Ninti One.

P4I has a regional program office in Bangkok, with staff also located in Australia and each partner country. More information about P4I is available at www.partnershipsforinfrastructure.org

The Role
The Adviser will work as part of P4I’s support to Indonesia’s new national capital city (IKN) project.

P4I is providing project management advice to the Government of Indonesia during the early construction phase of this estimated IDR 70 trillion undertaking.

P4I works with the Execution Task Force (ETF or ‘SATGAS’), within the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, who oversee the wide array of construction programs needed to develop IKN Phase 1. P4I’s role is to provide information exclusively to the ETF to help it supervise the Project Management Consultant (PMC), other departments, and their contractors. Through this activity, Australia is supporting the ETF for successful delivery of Indonesia’s largest and most high-profile infrastructure program.

P4I’s scope of works include providing specialist advice on project management, sharing international best practices, methodologies, and tools. P4I has been assisting in the establishment of a program management office (PMO), developing guidance, processes, and tools to enable accurate reporting of project schedules, milestones, risks and issues.

P4I plays a crucial role in offering strategic recommendations towards the advancement of the project’s information management and reporting strategies. This includes the development of a PMO dashboard to provide accurate and real-time reporting on IKN Phase 1 progress to help the ETF make informed project management decisions.

The implementation team is staffed by a combination of EY staff and other experts engaged by P4I to work on areas including inclusion and resilience. Experience in construction project management, excellent communication abilities, and a proactive problem-solving attitude are fundamental for this position.

Responsibilities
The Adviser will:

• Provide strategic advice to the ETF leadership, in particular the head of the ETF on the development and use of project management tools, and information provided through the project management dashboard. This includes advising on best practices for project and program-wide reporting in schedule, risk, and issue management. It also includes recommending areas for improvement to the existing project management processes and tools, ensuring that the information shared through the dashboard is accurate, relevant and offers valuable insights for the ETF.
• Provide project management capacity building to ETF staff (including senior staff) using a range of approaches that are appropriate to the context, including but not limited to workshop-style training, on-the-job training and coaching.
• Manage stakeholder relationships with the Government of Indonesia, including the Ministry of Public Works and Housing and Ministry of Transport and other agencies involved in the delivery of IKN. This will include liaising with counterparts on work planning and monitoring progress. The Adviser will also liaise with other development partners involved in supporting IKN, such as the Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency.
• Work closely with P4I’s gender equality, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI) and disaster risk reduction and climate change (DRRCC) teams to ensure agreed approaches are implemented in line with DFAT expectations. Support activity specialists with identifying appropriate approaches to engaging with government counterparts meaningfully on these topics.
• As required, work with P4I senior staff to coordinate regular briefings on activity progress and issues to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, along with analysis of the broader policy and implementation context for IKN. Contribute to ad hoc briefings requested by P4I or DFAT.
• Assist the P4I activity team during the final months of the activity, ensuring all documentation, final reporting, and reviews are completed in a timely and efficient manner. This also includes final project evaluations, summarising the project’s achievements and potential areas for improvement, to ensure accountability and learning for future projects.

Selection Criteria

• At least 12 years of project management experience supporting the planning and delivery of complex infrastructure projects.
• Experience with project management and control tools, including Microsoft Project and Microsoft Power BI.
• Strong understanding of Government of Indonesia bureaucracy, policy, and protocol context, including experience working with Indonesia’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing.
• Ideally, experience working in an advisory capacity through a development assistance program in Indonesia.
• Excellent analytical and judgement skills, including analysis of issues related to policy and practice influence, capacity building, political economy, and monitoring and evaluation in a development assistance context.
• Excellent communication, liaison, and coordination skills, with demonstrated ability to operate effectively in a complex, multi-stakeholder organisation.
• English and Bahasa Indonesia language skills would be a significant advantage.