View Vacancy - VNM - Business Environment and Financial Services Adviser, C4(L)

Main purpose of role:

We are seeking a motivated and high performing development adviser to support our governance and inclusive growth programmes and campaigns.

The focus of the Development Adviser (Governance and inclusive growth) in Vietnam will be to support the Embassy’s campaigns and programmes to:

• Reduce poverty and stimulate inclusive, sustainable economic growth;
• Improve the overarching business environment (e.g. regulatory reform, transparency) and finance
• Supplement wider Embassy/HMG efforts to reduce barriers to trade;
• Open new markets for international businesses, including UK companies.

This role will bring together a high level of independence in a complex environment, working closely with trade, economics and prosperity leads at the Embassy as well as across the region and in the FCDO and Other Government Departments in the UK.

The successful candidate will build relationships and work closely with delivery partners, the Government of Vietnam, businesses, beneficiary agencies, NGOs and other external stakeholders to ensure successful delivery of the programme. S/he will work to the Head of Development at the British Embassy in Vietnam and will coordinate with regional team in Singapore and in the UK to achieve UK policy objectives and to ensure that programmes comply with OECD rules for ODA. An important aspect of the job will be working with Department of International Trade colleagues in Vietnam and in London to unlock the opportunities created by the Programmes’ interventions for increased inward trade and investment, particularly for UK companies.

The Post will be based at the British Embassy in Hanoi, an international organisation committed to diversity and staff development. This is a challenging and exciting opportunity to play an influential role in a high-profile and strategic development initiative in South East Asia, which aims to have a positive impact on economic development and trade, as well as strengthening the relationship between the UK and Vietnam.

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

We are looking for a pro-active, engaged individual with a passion for delivering development impacts. The job holder will have three main responsibilities:

• Leading on policy advice and advocacy:
  • Lead policy advice and lobbying on policy areas including regulatory reform, transparency, governance and financial system development.
  • Engage with delivery partners, proactively seeking opportunities to oversee in-country delivery of the programmes’ components by delivery partners. Utilise strong insight into the impact of the programmes beyond delivery of activity, ensuring synergy with other UK programming and activities in country;
  • Collaborate with Department of International Trade colleagues in country to unlock opportunities for increased inward trade and investment, particularly for UK firms
  • Advise and design future ODA programmes to support inclusive growth in Vietnam.

• Proactive stakeholder management:
  • Building strong relationships with the Government of Vietnam; across government Departments in Hanoi, HCMC and London and delivery partners / implementers;
  • Avoiding wider duplication through awareness of other donor activities in the same space. 

• Effective and impactful day-to-day management of the programme:
  • Deploy excellent programme management skills to drive forward delivery of the programmes in-country, including: inputting into and critically evaluating monitoring, reporting, evaluation and learning; inputting into procurement processes, providing local insight; overseeing delivery including resolution of issues and mitigating risk; managing local benefits realisation and managing relationships with implementing partners.
  • Liaise with the regional and global networks (Economics and Trade) and Communications colleagues to deliver effective communications activities.
  • Co-ordinate with other programme officers in the SE Asian to drive consistency, deliver efficiencies and increase impact
  • Reassessing the ongoing commitment to programme activities, planned outputs and outcomes;

Alongside your core responsibilities you will need to:

• Support the wider Vietnam network’s corporate agenda on diversity and inclusion

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

Staff: The staff will line manage a A2 Programme coordinator based in Hanoi

Resources: ODA programmes to support inclusive growth in Vietnam

We are looking for a proactive, confident self-starter who can prioritise to operate in a fast-paced environment, largely unsupervised, delivering to deadlines.

• Graduate with a university degree and at least five years of experience in a relevant field, ideally in a development context
• Experience of policy on trade and economic reform.
• Broad understanding of the Vietnamese business environment, ideally having worked both in the public/private sectors. Thorough understanding of poverty reduction and gender equality issues.
• Experience in developing policy advice/analysis and delivering successful programmes.
• Experience of delivering high quality reports.
• Experience of delivering value for money projects / programmes.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.