Knowledge Management Consultant At The Asia Foundation

Terms of Reference

Role:Knowledge Management Consultant

Reporting to:Knowledge Management Advisor

Duration: 2 months (up to 12 days between Oct-December 2021)

Location: Where the consultant resides (anywhere in Asia, Australia and New Zealand)

About Partnerships for Infrastructure

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

The focus is on infrastructure planning and prioritisation, procurement, and policy and regulation, using either rapid or longer-term infrastructure advisory services, government-to-government partnerships, and regional learning and networking. All services include the cross-cutting priorities of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI), and disaster risk reduction and climate change (DRRCC).

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

Further information about P4I is available at www.partnershipsforinfrastructure.org

Purpose of the position

As Australia’s flagship infrastructure initiative for Southeast Asia, P4I has the potential to play an ambitious and innovative knowledge-based role in the region. This could take place through a range of mechanisms including research, policy dialogue, institutional partnerships, or learning activities. These mechanisms will complement the infrastructure advisory services that P4I delivers to individual countries.

The Knowledge Management Consultant will work with the Knowledge Management and Regional Engagement Adviser to provide guidance on knowledge management and regional engagement to support quality infrastructure development in Southeast Asia.

Background

In the last quarter of 2021, P4I will undertake a review of its objectives. This review will devote particular attention to P4I’s regional characteristics.

While the Program is currently developing a series of bilateral engagements across the region, P4I aims to achieve regional outcomes that are more than the sum of its country-level results. Such outcomes will arise from engagement with ASEAN and other regional platforms, and there is also the opportunity to undertake trilateral, cross-border, and subregional engagement.

More broadly, P4I also engages with the region though its communications strategy and through the RLN service delivery function defined in the P4I design. Each is discussed briefly below.

The communications strategy includes the development of content for internal and external audiences using both P4I and partner channels, and is based on three key areas – promoting, showcasing and advocating. Promoting involves raising awareness of P4I’s services and positioning expertise through thought leadership activities on a range of infrastructure topics, such as blogs and events. Showcasing is about demonstrating Australia’s expertise in quality infrastructure, both domestically and in the Southeast Asia region, and showing the impact of P4I’s support to partner governments and ASEAN. Advocating seeks to advance quality, inclusive and resilient infrastructure in the region, and also links P4I to relevant national and international days.

The RLN is an important feature of P4I’s design. The contract notes (Schedule 1, Clause 17):

*….The Program presents a significant opportunity to share [Australia’s] experience to build infrastructure governance capacity in Southeast Asia governments and ASEAN, and expand Australian stakeholders’ networks across the region, including with the private sector, civil societies and Indigenous communities.*

The Delivery Partner will support the creation of mutual networking and learning opportunities, where ministers, officials, members of the Delivery Partner Organisations and other sector experts and organisations share knowledge and experience, and promote opportunities for reform and engagement with the Program.

An initial RLN Plan was developed in June and is valid until March 2022. The short-term focus is on promoting awareness of P4I through engagement in regional events. However, there is growing recognition within P4I that regional engagement could be more than ‘learning’ and ‘networking’. There is a broader, knowledge-based regional engagement role that P4I can play, the potential of which needs to be better understood.

The objectives review provides an opportunity to step back from the detail of the communications and RLN strategies to consider P4I’s broader potential for knowledge-based regional engagement. There is a range of potential knowledge-based activities that P4I could undertake:**

• Thought leadership or thought brokering, where the former is focused on generating knowledge, and the latter is focused on identifying and sharing relevant knowledge amongst partners.

• Undertaking or commissioning analytical work, evaluation, or research.

• Delivering or funding professional development activities, including formal award programs.

• Developing institutional relationships or twinning arrangements between Australian and regional partners, as well as other international organisations. This could include academic institutions, think tanks, or professional associations. Supporting such arrangements could vary from simply providing funding to more direct, systematic engagement.

• Policy dialogue with like-minded partners – either as one-off discussions on specific issues or developing structured, ongoing engagement.

• Broader policy advocacy to partners in the region, for example on issues such as GESI or DRRCC. Policy dialogue and advocacy functions could include track one or track two diplomacy.[1]

• Knowledge management, as a function that underpins much of the above, including the development and dissemination of knowledge products and information.

• Communications and events, which intersect with knowledge management and advocacy, but also play separate messaging and promotion functions.

Some of these concepts overlap and all require further definition. Most importantly, all require framing within a strategic narrative that defines their objectives and function within P4I’s context as a regional program.

Purpose and Scope of Activity

The purpose of this activity is to facilitate a well-informed discussion within P4I about the potential for knowledge-based regional engagement. This discussion will feed into the objectives review and subsequent discussion about functions, resources and structure.

The Consultant will work in collaboration with the Knowledge Management Advisor to:

1. Review key program documents (contract, Partnership Charter, RLN Plan, Communications and Public Affairs Strategy) and undertake initial consultations with P4I staff.
2. Prepare a discussion paper that provides options for how P4I might conceptualise and approach knowledge-based regional engagement. To support an informed discussion, the paper will:

· Briefly place knowledge management and regional engagement within a theoretical and policy context relevant to development assistance and foreign policy.

· Provide definitions of key terms (such as those listed under the previous heading) to help ensure that discussion within P4I and DFAT is based on a shared understanding.

· Provide a summary of knowledge management initiatives underway in a selection of other DFAT or other Development Partner programs, as well as the multilateral development banks. (Examples of DFAT programs include the Investing in Women Initiative, the Indonesia Knowledge Sector Initiative, Pacific Women, and the ASEAN-Australia Counter Trafficking Program.

· Provide a rapid scan of relevant policy forums, learning programs and research institutions in Southeast Asia to inform discussion about how P4I might position itself strategically with respect to other actors.

· Note relevant, existing practice within EY and The Asia Foundation with respect to knowledge management and thought leadership.

1. Co-facilitate an online discussion amongst a group of P4I staff that aims to identify options for strategy and implementation.
2. Prepare a final paper that captures the outcomes of the above discussion. The paper will provide recommendations on how P4I can define its objectives in this space and identify pathways for implementation (including with respect to structures and resources).

Selection Criteria

· A Master’s degree in a relevant field, such as knowledge management, organisational learning, communications, or international development

· More than 8 years’ professional experience in development programming, ideally in Southeast Asia and / or related to infrastructure.

· Demonstrated experience in helping organisations to develop innovative approaches to knowledge management

· Excellent facilitation and communication skills in English (including in an online environment)

· Excellent writing and presentation skills, with demonstrated ability to produce clear, succinct analysis in English.

Terms and Conditions of Solicitation

Applicants who meet the requirements should submit a letter of expression of interest, which should include the following:

• A suitability statement, including alignment of experience and expertise with tasks listed above
• Updated CV that clearly spells out qualifications and experience
• 3 references from organizations that have contracted the consultant either as an organization or individually proving ability to carry out the tasks outlined herein.
• Daily/hourly rate information
• Detail on whether contractor operates individually or as part of an institution

The Curriculum Vitae (CV) and expression of interest should be sent to Robin Bush (robin.bush@asiafoundation.org) no later than 4PM of October 13, 2021.