View Vacancy - Community Liaison Officer, Part Time - Bridgetown

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 (Residence and Support Staff)
Community Liaison

Main purpose of job:

To work closely with Post Management to support the welfare of all staff at Post, with a primary function as advocate for and provision of support to UK-based staff and families (FCDO and PAGs)

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

Information gathering for UK-Based officers and their spouses/partners and families (including for those not yet at Post).  To include information on spouse/partner employment at Post (including completion of the annual DSFA Spouse/Partner Employment Report); information on children's education and childcare options (through completion of separate HR School and Nursery Information Sheets of authorised schools and nurseries at Post); a comprehensive information pack on childcare at post, feedback on adult education; career and training opportunities; single officer and foreign born spouse/partner issues; recreational facilities; social matters.  The CLO is responsible for the twice yearly cost of living survey (March and September).

Welfare at Post: welcoming all staff on posting to Bridgetown (including those on temporary duty) and their accompanying families to ensure as smooth an integration as possible into the life of the Post community; following up to check that the settling in process is working; being a source of referral and support where questions, problems and difficulties arise; providing a short induction to post (CLOs are not expected to be medically trained).

Advocate for UK-based staff and families in addressing issues of importance with Post Management, including on evacuation/contingency planning and housing committees, and as the chief link between Post and DSFA in London.

Communicating: . The CLO should participate in relevant committees at Post to support the welfare of staff and families, The CLO should advertise details of DSFA career support services and courses to eligible UK-Based spouses/partners at Post. CLO is expected to a communication channel for staff and spouses/partners across Post, such as a WhatsApp group, in accordance with the FCDO social media policy. The CLO is responsible for communicating effectively on community and social matters across Post to all staff and coordinating occasional social events.

Information management, including  Post Welcome Pack, CLO Teams site, input to update and review of Post Report, Education Return and Factsheet. medical / dental providers.  CLOs should be accessible and able to provide information in areas including pre-Posting information, spouse/partner employment at Post; child and adult education, childcare, medical and dental providers, recreation facilities and training opportunities, CLOs should be aware and involved in staff arrivals/departures and are responsible for domestic float inventory management and distribution.

Emergency Planning: the CLO is involved in Post contingency and evacuation plans, including supporting the DHM with the development of post medical evacuation plans (MERP).  For Bridgetown, this also includes acting as welfare lead for the Crisis Team, crisis planning and training in preparation for the hurricane season in the Caribbean. 

All the above tasks require the CLO to have strong links with senior management, relevant FCDO departments (eg FCDO Education team and Health and Welfare) and the DSFA’s London office.


Essential on arrival:  

The CLO can be involved in sensitive and confidential welfare issues at post, and in order to support staff and families effectively needs to have strong communication and listening skills. Sensitivity, empathy and absolute discretion are essential for the role. 

The ability to build networks and assimilate local information, in order to provide information to UK staff on a range of activities and facilities at post.

The CLO is required to have excellent communication skills and the ability to build strong and effective relations with a wide network of contacts.

The CLO must quickly build and maintain strong information networks with all BHC staff, represent the interests of BHC staff in Post management committees and be adept at handling sensitive situations and personal information.  The post holder needs to be able to get on with people and demonstrate strong engagement skills.

An excellent command of the English language (written and spoken) is required.

Must have the legal status to work and live in Barbados.

Making Effective Decisions, Managing a Quality Service, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together
26 June 2022
Administrative Officer (AO)
Fixed Term, Part-Time
20
24 months
Americas, Caribbean & Overseas Territories
Barbados
Bridgetown
British High Commission
1
BBD $3234
1 August 2022
1 August 2024

Given the wide range of the job, the CLO will need to prioritise certain activities.  This is especially the case when, for example, there are high numbers of new arrivals.   The post also usually entails some work outside hours, eg. while managing events.

Some creativity is required in taking forward events and in fund raising for the CLO Fund and for local charities.

Learning and development opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed):

  • All CLOs should try to attend the CLO Course (virtual programme) as soon as possible after completing probation to help them fully meet the demands of the job 
  • Induction
  • Government Data Protection Regulations 
  • Safeguarding

Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary, eg some non-local national staff and some spouses or partners of UK diplomatic staff, will have their salaries abated by an equivalent amount.

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.