View Vacancy - Vice Consul South Africa and Lesotho/Eswatini Liaison Officer (17/19 PTA)
Main purpose of job:
Vice Consul
Delivering consular services and assistance to British Nationals in South Africa and Lesotho in line with the standards set out in our publication "Support for British Nationals Abroad: A Guide”
Lesotho/Eswatini Liasion Officer
- Supporting the High Commissions in Post Crisis Management Planning
- Resilience
- Point of Contact
Roles and responsibilities:
VICE CONSUL
Providing consular assistance to distressed British Nationals (BNs) across South Africa by leading on high profile/complex cases and providing support for team members on all other cases (20%):
- Leading on complex/high profile cases involving vulnerable British Nationals. Assistance work includes issues such as welfare, mental illness, rape/sexual assault, victims of serious crime (including the families of murder and manslaughter victims; please note this could require visiting mortuaries and other challenging environments); and cases with media/parliamentary interest.
- Supporting and advising consular assistants in South Africa and the wider region on complex assistance cases, alongside covering where necessary for the vice-consul based in Pretoria.
- Meeting consular business targets and ensuring team promptly record casework on our case management system and submit monthly statistical returns;
- Effective management of the consular section in Pretoria, in conjunction with B3(L) 100% Vice-Consul.
Supporting Consular Directorate’s Prevention objectives by building strong relationships and liaison with local authorities and organisations (20%):
- Active outreach to British Nationals and partner organisations around South Africa to establish further sources of assistance for British Nationals;
- Organise visits, seminars and events to engage stakeholders on key areas of policy;
- Identify and lobby authorities;
- Creation and delivery of prevention and other communications campaigns;
Supporting the Consular work of the new High Commissions in Lesotho and Eswatini (10%):
- Management of Honorary Consuls, ensuring skills kept up to date, and provision of advice and support to them as required;
- Leading on the recruitment of new Honorary Consuls when the need arises;
- Development and continous updating of the Consular elements of Post Crisis Plans
LESOTHO/ESWATINI LIASION OFFICER
Supporting the High Commissions in Post Crisis Management Planning (20%):
- Develop initial Crisis Management Plans for both countries, based on the exisiting Annexes of the South Africa Crisis Plan;
- Ensure consistency with the South Africa Crisis Management Plan, reflecting that crisis activity in either country will likely require additional support from South Africa and the use of South Africa as an evacuation route;
- Liase with the Regional Crisis Advisor to arrange, and assist with the delivery of, training and exercising to ensure both posts attain good levels of crisis prepardness;
- Assist with the provision of crisis training to SA based consular volunteers who might deploy to Lesotho/Eswatini;
- Regularly review and update both countries Crisis Management Plans.
Resilience (15%):
- Support the new Heads of Mission in any transition activities required, including the organisation of any introductory events and communications activities;
- Provide surge capacity in periods of crisis, to cover for extended periods of absence, or to assist with activities requiring an additonal resource commitment such as election monitoring, organisation of large events and Chevening interviews
Point of Contact (15%)
- Act as a liaison point for new missions with regional teams based in Pretoria;
- Maintain ownership of the Lesotho/Eswatini archive – identifying and forwarding relevant background documents on request of the new misisons;
- Assist with the co-ordination of any incoming visits that impact on Lesotho/Eswatini and South Africa – liasing closely with the Protocol team on airport arrangements for visitors transitting Johannesburg.
Resources managed:
2 x Honorary Consuls in Lesotho and Eswatini.
Management and delivery of projects from the Consular Devolved Budget (119-20 allocation).
- The successful candidate will need to have excellent all-round communication skills to manage customer expectations and deliver difficult messages; calmness under pressure; ability to research and follow guidelines, and to plan and prioritise effectively; experience working in a customer facing environment; evidence of supporting and developing staff.
- This is a rewarding and often challenging role. You will be supported by your line manager, wider team, and colleagues in the CG, but you must have high levels of personal resilience to succeed.
Language requirements:
Language: English spoken and written
Level of language required: Fluent
- Experience working in an international environment.
Learning and development opportunities:
The successful candidate will complete a training programme for delivering consular services made up of: mandatory e-learning; job shadowing elsewhere in the region; and the Essential Assistance Work course in the UK.
Depending on the demands of the non-consular aspects of the role, there may be opportunities to job-shadow or provide resilience for other consular teams across Sub-Saharan Africa, and to attend our annual consular conference (normally held in Pretoria).
Coaching and mentoring are widely supported in the High Commission.
The British High Commission pays in full for the Key Care Plus option on Discovery Health for staff including spouses/partners and dependants.
- Once you have successfully completed your probation the British High Commission will contribute 9% of your monthly salary to a Provident Fund.
- Annual leave entitlement of 25 days
- Working hours per week of 36.5
Working patterns:
Because of the unpredictable nature of consular work and the time it takes to travel around South Africa, additional hours will sometimes need to be worked. Where staff work beyond their conditioned hours, they are entitled to claim Time off in Lieu (TOIL) or overtime, depending on the nature of the work and subject to approval. The jobholder will generally be expected to work from the Consulate, particularly during counter opening hours. Some home working may be possible subject to line manager agreement and business need.
The job holder will be expected to travel to Eswatini and Lesotho, particularly during the first few months as our new High Commissions are being established there.
This is a rewarding role in a supportive team. The position’s line manager will be based in Pretoria initially but is likely to move to Cape Town, at which point the role will be managed remotely with regular visits.
- Please complete the application form in full as the information provided is used during screening.
- Please check your application carefully before you submit, as no changes can be made once submitted.
- The British High Commission will never request any payment or fees to apply for a position.
- Employees recruited locally by the British High Commission in Pretoria are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law in South Africa.
- All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit.
- The responsibility lies on the successful candidate to;
- Obtain the relevant permit
- Pay fees for the permit
- Make arrangements to relocate
- Meet the costs to relocation
- The British High Commission do not sponsor visas/work permits except where it may be local practice to do so.
- Employees who are not eligible to pay local income tax: e.g. certain third-country nationals and spouses/partners of UK diplomats will have their salaries abated by an equivalent amount.
- Information about the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Competency Framework can be found on this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-competency-framework Please note: AA=A1, AO=A2, EO=B3, HEO=C4, SEO=C5
- Reference checking and security clearances will be conducted on successful candidates.
- Please log into your profile on the application system on a regular basis to review the status of your application.
This opportunity is closed to applications.
