View Vacancy - Vice Consul Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon (09/17 YAO)

Main purpose of job:

To lead on providing consular services and assistance to British nationals in Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, in line with the standards set out in our publication "Support for British Nationals Abroad: A Guide. Once fully trained and operational, to support the wider resilience of the Sub Saharan Africa Consular network, particularly in smaller consular posts in Francophone Africa.

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

Providing consular assistance to distressed British Nationals (BNs) across Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, by leading on high profile/complex cases and providing support for team members and honorary consuls on all other cases:

• Leading on complex/high profile assistance cases including cases involving vulnerable British nationals. Assistance work includes issues such as international parental child abduction, deaths, lost or stolen passports, mental illness, missing persons, rape/sexual assault, victims of serious crime; and cases with media/parliamentary interest;
• Supporting and advising consular assistants on complex assistance cases;
• Meeting consular business targets and ensuring team promptly record casework on our case management system and submit monthly statistical returns;
• Acting as Emergency Passport Working Stock Custodian and carrying out HM Passport Office DVA checks and approving Emergency Travel Documents (ETDs) issued by foreign embassies in the four countries.

Staff and Resource management:

• Oversight of the Consular elements of  the work of 1xA2L and 1xA1L member of staff in accordance with FCO Guidance;
• Management of Honorary Consuls in Douala, Ndjamena, Libreville and Malabo Management checks in line with audit specifications;
• Management and profiling of section budgets ensuring full spend is achieved within the financial year.  Putting together business cases for future financial year budgets.

Liaison with local authorities and outreach to partner organisations:

• Active outreach to partner organisations (other embassies, NGOs, charities, and other civil society groups) 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 on key issues;
• Delivery of  consular prevention communications campaigns and targeted influencing projects.
• Attend meetings at EU Mission relating to consular issues

Support Cameroon, Chad, EG and Gabon network crisis preparations:

• Lead on consular elements of BHC Yaoundé’s Crisis Management Plan;
• Participation in Post consular crisis team; organisation and participation in crisis exercises;
• Provide crisis training to consular volunteers in the CMP as appropriate.

Wider Sub Saharan Africa network support:

• (Once established in the role as a practitioner level consular officer) provide support and resilience to the wider Sub Saharan network with an focus on smaller posts in francophone Africa, both remotely and through a programme of training and mentoring visits.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

• Line Management of 4 x Honorary Consuls and management of the Honorary Consul network.
• Annual consular section budget of approx £3000.
• Consular programme funds, amount dependent on successful bids.

For many British nationals, the only contact they will ever have with a British mission overseas will be through our consular services, often in times of great personal distress. As a customer-facing member of staff, the jobholder will need to have excellent communication skills and be able to deal with distressing situations in a sensitive manner and with empathy.  

The successful candidate will need to be able to demonstrate the following key skills and attributes:

• Excellent all-round communication skills to manage customer expectations and deliver difficult messages;
• Calmness under pressure;
• Confidence and authority when dealing with senior colleagues/local authorities;
• Ability to research and follow guidelines, and to plan and prioritise effectively;
• Ability to work well with others - to build and maintain relationships with customers and stakeholders;
• Experience of supporting and developing staff

• Three years of relevant works experience 

• A self starter, able to work independently and with remote teams
• Must be able and willing to travel regularly in Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the wider West Africa region

• Fluent in English and French

The job holder will report to the Consular Regional Operations Manager, currently in Abuja.  As no other members of the Yaoundé High commission spend more than 10% of their time on Consular work, the successful candidate will need to demonstrate the confidence and dynamism to get on with the job at hand and demonstrate leadership and management of the team with minimal supervision

Good communication skills; IT ability; English and French