View Vacancy - Consular Assistant - Somalia, Kenya & South Sudan A2 (53/18 NR)

Main purpose of job:

Supporting the Vice Consul in providing consular assistance to cases originating from Somalia and South Sudan.  Providing consular services including the processing of emergency travel documents for customers in Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan.  Contributing to Nairobi network consular initiatives on prevention (including outreach) and crisis management.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?:

Assistance:  support the provision of consular welfare and repatriations to mainly victims of forced marriage and held against will cases that originate from Somalia and the small number of cases originating from South Sudan including arrests/detentions, hospitalisation, lost/stolen passports, deaths, bereavement, etc. with a focus on those who most need our help. Handle escalated telephone and email inquiries and update our records of cases on our consular case management system, Casebook (full training to be provided).  Liaise with Consular Staff in the Sub Saharan Africa network, and the UK’s consular casework team and Forced Marriage Unit in London (who would provide support to the operation).

Assistance:  Provide cover for the A2 Consular Assistant – Kenya (based in Mombasa), remotely providing assistance (with occasional visits) to British nationals in hospital, prison and detained by the police, and when required morgue facilities.

Services:  Prepare and issue Emergency Travel Documents, reconciling fees taken on a daily and monthly basis (full training to be provided).  Arrange citizenship ceremonies in Kenya for the Consul to officiate.

Consular Outreach and Prevention: Supporting the Consular Team’s work to build local partnerships which complement the delivery of effective consular services and contribute to a reduction in the number or complexity of preventable consular cases. Help arrange meetings with relevant local authorities, and monitor developments in local laws, procedures and practices which may inform the prevention strategy.  Support global consular campaigns, tailoring to local circumstances where suitable, which provide advice and information to British nationals in Somalia, Kenya and South Sudan about what consular officers can and cannot do, and what measures they can take to reduce the likelihood of needing our help.  Set up and participate with the consular team in outreach events with the British community.

Crisis Management:  Contribute to testing and updating of a fit for purpose Crisis Management Plan covering UK interests in Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan.

Professionalism: Provide statistical monthly information reports for London and regional colleagues.  Lead on a small amount of Consular procurement of goods and services.

The successful applicant will receive significant support from colleagues in the Nairobi consular team.  Full consular training will be provided but the jobholder will need to be capable of operating independently in what will be a restructured position within the existing team, following a recent review of Consular resources in Nairobi.

The jobholder will need to take a flexible approach to the challenges of consular work. Customer service skills are important for this role and experience in a customer facing role will be useful.  They will need to handle distressing and upsetting situations calmly and sensitively.

While most work will only be escalated to them after triage from a remotely operated Consular Customer Contact Centre, enabling core hours to be kept, there will be the occasional out of hours requests, for which a shift disturbance allowance is payable upon approval.

• Minimum 3 years Customer service skills;
• Organisational skills;
• Time management skills;
• High level of written English;
• Networking skills;
• Counselling-type skills;
• Knowledge of Kenyan and Somali Government health, Law enforcement and citizen services;