GDC EVENTS & PROJECT OFFICER At Practical Action

Practical Action
ABOUT THE ROLE
The Events & Project Officer will be a member of Practical Action’s Global Distributors Collective (GDC) team.
For the past six years, Practical Action has been hosting and building the GDC: a collective of 200 last mile distribution companies that cumulatively reach millions of the poorest consumers in the world with beneficial products like solar lanterns, water filters and improved cookstoves. The GDC provides a collective voice for distributors to ensure their voice is heard; drives research and innovation across the sector; facilitates the exchange of information, insight and expertise; and provides critical services that leverage economies of scale.
After a successful first phase, the GDC is scaling up its operations in six key areas:
• Accelerating innovation, e.g., through our Replication Facility
• Building capacity, e.g., through information exchange, learning events, formal training for managers and agents, and mentoring programmes
• Helping members access products, suppliers and services at affordable prices
• Helping members access finance and become investment-ready
• Undertaking market intelligence and research, e.g., by creating a performance benchmark for the last mile distribution sector
• Engaging with members and advocating for their interests
The Events & Project Officer is a new role in the GDC team that is essential to driving forward our member engagement and advocacy workstream, which sits at the heart of everything we do. The post holder will be responsible for delivering the GDC’s online webinars/workshops series, as well as bringing to life our in-person GDC member learning and collaboration events and global forums. This role will also support in the planning and evaluation of those events working closely with the activity leads and MEL specialist.
The person in this role will work very closely with the wider GDC programmatic and communications teams, while also regularly liaising with GDC members around the world, external partners and suppliers, and colleagues at GDC strategic and implementing partner Bopinc.

ACCOUNTABILITIES
Project management 60%
• Utilise event planning processes, tools, and templates (e.g., using Asana, GANTT charts, etc.) for consistent use across the programme.
• Develop individual event plans, with particular attention to financial and time constraints, to ensure on- and offline events are delivered on schedule and to agreed standards.
• Manage all event arrangements, including sourcing and preparing venues, considering technological and catering requirements, ordering and coordinating materials from external suppliers, organising transport for site visits, etc.
• Support sponsored GDC members to attend events, including purchasing tickets/flights, drafting letters of support, and responding to GDC member queries.
• Support other GDC projects, as needed; for example, the peer mentoring programme, training programme, bi-annual member survey, etc.
• Track project deliverables, and lead on all day-to-day administrative support across the assigned projects
• Obtain timesheets and expenses claims from outsourced suppliers, review them for their accuracy, and process them accordingly.
• Raise invoices on the internal system, and liaise with the Practical Action Finance Team as needed to ensure timely and accurate payments
• Other reasonable tasks and duties as requested by the line manager.
Stakeholder liaison 20%
• Act as the main point of call for event participants, coordinating planning and preparation calls, and reviewing presentations.
• Support the technical leads as required to work closely with partner organisations who may be event co-hosts, sponsors or donors, including participating in planning calls, coordinating partner visibility and co-branding, etc.
• Liaise with a range of external third-party suppliers to obtain quotes and book venues, including negotiating with vendors to get the best value for money.
• Elicit and coordinate inputs from the wider GDC team, to ensure a collaborative approach to event design and content development.
• Ad hoc support to the wider GDC team to prepare for other global and regional events/fora.
Content development and dissemination 5%
• Work closely with the GDC communications team to develop and disseminate event marketing materials and event-specific communications plans.
• Support technical leads develop and design engaging, interactive, and inclusive virtual and in-person session formats, e.g., multistakeholder panels, TedTalk-style presentations, networking/match-making sessions, peer learning groups, etc.
Event delivery and evaluation support 15%
• Manage end-to-end delivery of online webinars/workshops, including speaker tech checks and backend Zoom functionality e.g., coordinating breakout groups, polls, etc.
• Act as the central point of contact for in-person events to ensure high quality delivery, e.g. room setup, speaker coordination, technology, time-keeping, catering, transport, etc.
• On occasion, deliver short presentations, facilitate roundtable discussions, act as a notetaker, and/or otherwise actively participate in on- and offline GDC events.
• Support the GDC MEL specialist to evaluate event successes and required improvements, including supporting in the development and analysis of participant surveys, and drafting evaluation reports as required by the donor(s).

PERSON PROFILE
To be successful in the role, the ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate the following experience and knowledge:
Essential

• Hands-on experience of designing and delivering high quality in-person events
• Hands-on experience of designing and delivering high quality online webinars/events, including using Zoom and MS Teams
• Exceptional relationship management skills, with experience of working with internal and external suppliers and stakeholders at all levels
• Meticulous attention to detail
• Organised, able to prioritise tasks, and adept at working on multiple projects at once
• Excellent oral and written communications skills
• An aptitude for problem solving
• Ability to work independently, flexibly, and accurately under pressure
• Self-starter and able to work remotely with limited supervision
• Proficient in using Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint)

Desirable

• Familiarity with project management approaches, tools, and phases of the project lifecycle
• understanding of monitoring, learning and evaluation in a development setting
• Some experience in turning complex, technical information into clear, easy-to-digest messaging for experts and non-experts
• Copywriting experience, e.g., writing for the web and social media channels
• Qualitative analysis skills
• Experience working with networks, membership organisations or communities of practice
• Experience in last mile distribution
• Understanding of, or a willingness to learn about, gender dynamics within inclusive business