View Vacancy - Vice Consul - Somalia & South Sudan B3 (42/17 NR)

Main purpose of job:

To lead on providing consular services and assistance to British nationals in Somalia and South Sudan 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.

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

Providing consular assistance to distressed British Nationals (BNs) in Somalia and South Sudan, 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; Forced Marriage, FGM 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 in Nairobi and South Sudan.

Staff and Resource management:

• Oversight of the Consular elements of  the work of 1x A2L member of staff in accordance with FCO Guidance;
• 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 strategy and targeted influencing projects.

Support Somalia, Nairobi and South Sudan on crisis preparations:

• Lead on consular elements of British Embassy, Somalia Crisis Management Plan;
• Participation in Posts 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 both remotely and through a programme of training and mentoring visits.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

• Line Management of 1 A2 (L) Consular Assistant.
• Annual consular section budget of approx £8000.
• Consular programme funds, amount dependent on successful bids.

• Undergraduate Degree
• Fluent in English and Somali
• Good understanding of Somalian Culture
• Minimum of 3 years work experience
• Good communication skills
• IT ability

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.

The job holder will report to the Consul in Nairobi, 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.