Africa Conference & Regional Platform Coordinator

Role Overview

This role is the operational engine behind the Africa Ageing Conference and the Africa Coordination Mechanism. It converts strategic guidance and partner agreements into practical plans, managed workflows, productive meetings, and completed follow-up. By linking conference delivery with year-round regional platform coordination, the coordinator helps ensure that network member priorities, evidence, and learning feed into continental dialogue and action, while commitments made at convenings are captured and advanced.

Key Responsibilities

• Run the day-to-day coordination of the Africa Ageing Conference alongside the Regional Advisor, Africa, the Conference Planning and Coordination Team, network members, and external partners.
• Turn the Conference workplan into delivery schedules, milestones, and dependency maps; monitor progress and surface risks, issues, or resource gaps for timely resolution.
• Provide coordination support to Conference governance arrangements, planning groups, and technical workstreams, including meeting preparation, documentation, and follow-through.
• Organise partner engagement, consultations, and Conference meetings so that participants are prepared, discussions are captured, and agreed actions have clear owners.
• Support the Africa Coordination Mechanism’s operation and development by coordinating meetings, learning exchanges, and working sessions involving network members, national and sub-regional platforms, older people’s organisations, and strategic regional partners.
• Maintain systems for tracking decisions, actions, commitments, learning, and implementation progress arising from both the Conference and the Mechanism; prepare regular progress reports against agreed priorities.
• Distil emerging learning, good practice, and recommendations into briefings, reports, knowledge products, and partner communications that inform future planning and collective action under the Africa Plan.
• Work with the Africa Resource Mobilisation & Partnerships Manager to ensure Conference plans, priorities, and resource requirements shape fundraising, sponsorship, and partner engagement.

Requirements & Qualifications

Essential

• A degree in international development, public policy, international relations, social sciences, public administration, event or conference management, or a related discipline—or equivalent professional experience.
• Substantial experience coordinating complex regional, multi-country, or multi-stakeholder programmes, networks, partnerships, or convenings, with demonstrated responsibility for moving plans and decisions into delivery.
• Proven track record coordinating the planning and execution of regional or international conferences, major events, policy forums, or multi-stakeholder initiatives.
• Strong project coordination abilities: workplanning, action tracking, meeting coordination, stakeholder follow-up, and risk or issue escalation.
• Experience working with civil society networks, membership organisations, regional platforms, or multi-partner coalitions.
• Excellent written communication, including agendas, minutes, briefings, reports, trackers, and concise partner-facing materials.
• Excellent information-management skills, high attention to detail, and the ability to keep accurate records across several workstreams at once.
• Confidence coordinating senior stakeholders and partners across institutions, countries, and cultures.
• Ability to coordinate multiple workstreams simultaneously and work effectively across time zones.
• Fluency in English.

Desirable

• Knowledge of African Union, Regional Economic Community, or UN coordination structures.
• Experience working with African regional institutions, government stakeholders, UN agencies, development partners, or international organisations.
• Knowledge of ageing, demographic change, health and care, social protection, human rights, gender, climate resilience, humanitarian action, or inclusive development.
• Experience coordinating technical working groups, regional platforms, conference programmes, partner roundtables, or high-level event logistics.
• Experience supporting sponsorship or donor-engagement processes in collaboration with fundraising colleagues.
• French, Portuguese, or Arabic language skills.