About Alinea International

Alinea International (Asia and the Pacific) is a rapidly growing international development consulting firm dedicated to quality contributions towards sustainable futures with empowered communities. We are committed to supporting economic, social, and political development that leads to positive, inclusive and sustainable impacts. We provide a range of technical, advisory, facilitation, and managerial services tailored to the needs of our clients.

We work with the Australian Government and other international donors, civil society, non-governmental organisations, and private sector groups. As a certified B Corporation, Alinea International is proud to be an ethical business that upholds the highest standards of environmental and social performance and accountability throughout our work.

Alinea International (Asia and the Pacific) is part of the global Alinea International group, headquartered in Canada. www.alineainternational.com.

At Alinea International we value diversity, equity, inclusivity, accessibility and belonging in everything we do. We are an equal opportunity employer opposed to all forms of discrimination. We actively seek and encourage applications from people of diverse backgrounds recognising that an inclusive workforce enriches our organisation and achieves smarter, more innovative results.

Alinea is committed to the protection of children and vulnerable adults. Due to the nature of our work, all candidates will be subject to due diligence checks and extensive background checks where appropriate.

About the Program

The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme is a signature initiative for the Australian Government that enables workers from 9 Pacific Island Countries (PICs) and Timor-Leste to work in priority sectors in Australia. The Pacific Labour Mobility Support Program (PLMSP) builds on the successes of the Pacific Labour Facility (PLF) program, with a renewed focus on the provision of tailored support to worker sending countries to address their specific needs and priorities. Palladium is contracted to deliver PLMSP on behalf of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

PLMSP’s role is to provide DFAT and governments in 9 PICs and Timor-Leste with support to enable workers to access PALM scheme in inclusive ways that maximise the benefits for the workers and national economies while minimising risks from labour mobility participation. PLMSP’s primary functions include capacity building for PALM scheme labour sending units; skills development and training for PALM workers; support for returning PALM workers and their families; information system management; monitoring, evaluation, research and learning; and communications.

About the role

The Economics Research Coordinator will be responsible for implementation of PLMSP's economic research program. Based on extensive data collection and research, the economic research program provides DFAT, DEWR, partner governments and other stakeholders in the Pacific and Timor Leste with economic analysis on the PALM scheme’s economic impacts, including the effects of worker remittances and contributions to the Australian economy and those in partner countries.

responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of the Economics Research Coordinator can be broadly described as follows:

• Develop a range of strategic and responsive economic activities, including international macroeconomic analyses, labour market analyses and large-scale studies (quantitative and mixed methods) involving multiple stakeholders.
• Engage with DFAT and Pacific and Timor-Leste government counterparts to identify research needs and priorities, and to co-design, deliver and report on economic activities.
• Develop a range of persuasive reports / dashboards / analyses that communicate key findings and inform the policy-making and operations of partner governments and other stakeholders.
• Facilitate the uptake of economic analyses / economic research results with relevant counterparts.
• Plan and implement research plans that include literature reviews, data analysis, and data collection in the field.
• Ensure that all economic analysis assesses and communicates the impacts of labour mobility on diverse people, including women, people with disabilities and marginalised people.
• Ensure that all economic activities contribute to the outcomes of PLMSP.
• Ensure activities are on track according to the annual plan and overarching PLMSP Research Framework.
• Work closely with the Economics Research Manager, Senior Economist and contracted research teams (when required).
• Provide support and advice to broader monitoring, evaluation, research and learning activities.
• Work as a part of collaborative partnerships and network with relevant organisations and consultants undertaking economic research on labour mobility.

Relationships, Communication & Development:

• An ability to listen carefully to what our partners in the Pacific and Timor Leste want to know about labour mobility.
• Develop and maintain client and stakeholder relationships across your assignments and maintain professional, respectful and effective relationships with your colleagues.
• Self-evaluate quality of work, thrive on continuous improvement, encourage and value feedback from others and develop skills in providing balanced feedback to others.
• Encourage a respectful work environment through applying effective conflict resolution techniques and unbiased motivational support in order to settle differences in a positive and constructive manner.
• Work patiently and adaptively in response to evolving research demands, including being able to move between concurrent projects based on ad-hoc needs.

Other:

• Other tasks as reasonably requested by the Economics Research Manager.
• Travel locally and internationally, as required. International trips to the Pacific and Timor-Leste of between 1 – 3 weeks, and likely 3 – 4 trips per year is a requirement of this role.
• Advocate for Australian development priorities.
• Foster equality, diversity and inclusion, drawing on capabilities from within the country/region wherever possible.
• Comply with, and advocate for, DFAT’s policies in all aspects of implementation, including gender, disability, fraud and anti-corruption, PSEAH, child protection and environmental and social safeguards. This includes incorporating policy principles into planning and everyday work, promoting process improvements, and reporting concerns to your Line Manager.
• Operate with high levels of integrity, consistent with the intent of DFAT’s Ethics, Integrity and Professional Standards Policy Manual.

Reporting Requirements:

This role reports into the Economics Research Manager. Reporting requirements may include but are not limited to:

• Attendance at team meetings, other requested meetings and regional meetings (e.g. townhalls).
• Regular (minimum of monthly) one to one meetings with your line manager on the status of personal Key Result Areas (KRAs), career development discussions and any other matters.
• Alinea encourages flexible work practices to enhance wellbeing, productivity and team culture. For this role, we require that employees maintain an in-office presence for at least 50% of their working week. For example, if an employee works five days a week, they must spend at least three days physically in the office.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Tertiary qualification in Economics (or other relevant research discipline, such as econometrics, statistics, or business analysis).
• At least 5 years’ practicing economics in the international development context and/or on labour market systems.
• Excellent multi-stakeholder engagement skills, including the ability to communicate and work with different stakeholders, including government counterparts and multilateral stakeholders.
• Experience with quantitative research, including data collection using surveys, data analysis using software packages and communicating data with visual tools.
• Experience with qualitative research, including field research and case study analysis.
• Excellent report writing skills, including the ability to convert complex data/information into understandable outputs for non-technical audiences.
• High level skills in identifying and synthesising key strategic and operational issues through a participatory process.
• Demonstrated cultural competency with people of diverse backgrounds. Experience in the Pacific and Timor-Leste is preferred.

Due to the evolving nature of our program, it is possible that the incumbent may be expected to undertake duties that fall outside the remit of their original Terms of Reference as reasonably required to ensure the ongoing success of the program.

Where this is required, the following will occur:

• The adviser has the skills and experience to fulfil the duties.
• This arrangement will be short term in nature.