View Vacancy - MYR - Programme Officer (Political Section), B3(L)

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Policy & Political roles)
Political

Main purpose of job:

The Programme Officer is responsible for around £1m ($1.2m) of programme funds every year, disbursed in small grants to fund local organisations in priority areas such as promotion of human rights, women’s rights, democratic reform and sustainable political solutions to ongoing internal conflicts.  

The Programme Officer plays a key role in leading the implementation of the Embassy’s Impact Fund and Global Britani Fund - from identifying and advising on proposals, recommending projects for funding, to evaluating and analysing impact. This role will also collaborate closely with subject matter experts within both the Political Team and wider Embassy.

This job is a great opportunity to develop project administration, political and diplomatic skills.

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

  • Manage nearly £1m of programme funds (£0.5m from Impact Fund, £0.4m of Global Britain funding), to help deliver the Embassy’s core objectives on support to democracy, stability and peace. Work closely with potential project implementers to provide expert advice on content of project proposals. 
  • As part of the Funding Committee, play a key role in identifying projects for funding by providing comprehensive recommendations for review of the panel composed of the Head of Political Section, and team leaders from across the Embassy.
  • Once decisions are taken, liaising with project implementers to ensure the project gets off the ground and is being run effectively. This includes visiting projects as appropriate, evaluating and reporting on progress as well as identifying opportunities for publicity.
  • Lead on ensuring programme compliance to procurement and finance policies. This includes supplier set up and purchase order payment. During project implementation, the jobholder is responsible for preparing the budget and updating monthly expenditure reports for the relevant Funds. This may require timely budgetary and administrative support on all programmes. 
  • Building a strong  network of contacts within the aid/donor community and civil society in order to collect, share and analyse information relevant to the Embassy’s core objectives on support to democracy, stability and peace.  Maintaining up-to-date contact information of INGOs, NGOs and CBOs funded by British Embassy.
  • Following the completion of programmes or returns, provide analysis of the successes and lessons learned to feed into the next round of Impact and Global Britiain Funding.
  • Work closely with teams across the Embassy, including the Prosperity Team and Department for International Development, liaising with them on similar areas of interest, advising them on ongoing projects and looking out for opportunities for collaboration.
  • Providing some administrative and ad hoc support to the Political Section, including assisting on high profile VIP visits and managing the team budget.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

  • Around £1m of programme funds.

 

  • Good financial skills, including familiarity with spreadsheets and budget management
  • Good judgment and analysis of project suitability
  • Good knowledge of Microsoft office applications, especially Excel and strong typing skills
  • Fluency in English and Burmese, both oral and written
  • Personal qualities such as organizing, problem solving skills and motivated with a sense of customer focus
  • Excellent team player who can work effectively with colleagues and in a team
  • Language: English (Fluent) and Burmese (Good)
  • Experience in project management, including budget administration and reporting is desirable
  • Good knowledge and understanding of LNGOs/CSOs and current political context in Burma
25 March 2018
Executive Officer (EO)
Fixed Term, Full-time
35
12 months
Asia Pacific
Myanmar
Yangon
British Embassy
1
USD
1309
23 April 2018
22 April 2019

Learning and development opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed): The British Embassy Rangoon supports staff to undertake any relevant learning and development training, including courses and learning trips.  If no prior experience of project management, we would recommend project management training at the start of the job.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is committed to developing its staff. There will be opportunities for formal training alongside collaborating with a wide range of colleagues delivering on-the-job learning.

The British Embassy Rangoon offers a competitive remuneration package, including salary, benefits, leave entitlement of 22 days per annum (calculated in pro rata).

Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment and security checks.

Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy Rangoon is subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law.


All applications must be received before 25 March 2018 at 23:55 Burma Standard Time.

Incomplete application forms will not be taken into consideration, so please ensure you provide the information requested. We regret to advise that we will only be contacting short-listed candidates. Applicants called for an interview will be assessed on the core competencies listed above.

The successful candidate should be able to start as soon as possible.

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

This opportunity is closed to applications.