TITLE: Regional Program Officer, Peace and Transitions Team

LOCATION: The Asia Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand

SUMMARY OF POSITION 

The Asia Foundation’s regional peace and transitions team seeks a skilled and enthusiastic program officer with relevant experience to play a vital role in our regional programs for the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia Foundation is an international development organization committed to the development of a peaceful, prosperous, just, and open Asia-Pacific region.

The Asia Foundation’s regional peace and transitions team supports effective programming across the region. Alongside our country offices, the team is addressing the root causes of instability through locally grounded and context-driven efforts to improve governance, targeted support for peacebuilding, policy analysis, and concerted efforts to reduce gender-based violence. Emphasis is placed across programs on partnering with domestic institutions and building better understanding of how violence can be addressed.

The regional peace and transitions program covers several contrasting initiatives working in this space. There is a significant current focus on Myanmar, for which discretion and care is required. The program has a strong policy research element and places emphasis on knowledge and communications as a core part of its work. Priority is given to ensuring that inputs and research findings are used by policymakers and others, building networks of specialists, and ensuring that initiatives achieve a strong, positive impact. Gender and social equality objectives are integrated across this work.

The program officer will work as part of a team and interact with other organizations across the region. An initial 2-year contract will be offered. This post is expected to be based in Bangkok; applicants need Thai nationality or eligibility to work in Thailand.

Main job responsibilities

• Planning programs and activities, contracting suppliers and consultants, monitoring progress and expenditure, coordinating reports to funders, and related measures.
• Maintaining good relations with partners and donors across several ongoing initiatives.
• Communicating with colleagues and partners across the region and beyond.
• Development of presentations, documents, briefings and online material, potentially including basic graphic design, some facilitation, presentation or public speaking.
• Coordinating online events, in-person meetings (when possible), in-house specialists’ network, stakeholder lists.
• Tracking performance and general expenditure against project objectives and indicators
• Other tasks to support the daily management and longer-term planning of development, peace support and knowledge generation initiatives, with support from colleagues and managers.

Qualifications

• A minimum of five years’ experience in development, peacebuilding, social research or related fields. Relevant alternative experience may also qualify.
• Competence in managing projects including implementation, monitoring, reporting to funders.
• An interest in peace, justice, and equality across the Asia region, and in working on challenges in Myanmar from a regional base in Bangkok.
• Respect for discretion and willingness to navigate political sensitivities.
• Self-motivated, good organizational skills, detail-oriented, ability to prioritize, multi-task and meet deadlines.
• Fluent or near-fluent written and spoken English, with experience of writing project reports and briefs or articles considered a bonus.
• Strong communication skills including the ability to work as part of an in-house team and to work effectively with partners and colleagues across diverse cultures and different countries.
• Familiarity with popular social media platforms, and non-technical understanding of content management systems and web design
• University degree or first degree in Politics, Social Sciences, or a similar related field. Relevant postgraduate degree also an asset. 

Please send a cover letter specifying the position to which you are applying with your resume or CV by email to poonsook.pantitanonta@asiafoundation.org by July 17, 2022. In the email subject title, please include ‘Regional Program Officer, Peace and Transitions Team’.

(Only short-listed candidates will be notified.)