British High Commission
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Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Policy & Political roles)
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Political
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Main purpose of job:
The British High Commission Suva is part of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) world-wide network of 270 Posts, representing British political, military, development, economic and consular interests overseas. The successful applicant will be part of the regional Pacific Development Unit, which is co-located between our High Commissions in Suva, Wellington and Canberra.
The successful applicant will play a key role in delivering the UK’s development engagement in the Oceania region, as set out in our White Paper on International Development in a Contested World: ending extreme poverty and tackling climate change and the Integrated Review Refresh 2023: Responding to a more contested and volatile world. You will work on an exciting breadth of issues and activities including regional development and humanitarian programming, policy engagement, strategic communications and engaging with and influencing partners.
Reporting to the Development Counsellor in Suva the role will deliver:
- Policy support on key development and humanitarian priorities including on human and economic development, gender, trade for development, capacity building and development finance for Small Island Developing States;
- Support the delivery of the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) programmes across the Oceania region, including by working on partner engagement, monitoring and evaluation, reporting and communication; and
- Administrative support across the Pacific Development Unit.
The ideal candidate will have qualifications and/or experience working on international development and humanitarian issues and be able to demonstrate policy and programme management skills and experience. The role will also require regional travel for both work and for training, occasionally at late notice, and the ability to deputise for colleagues. Flexibility, adaptability and enthusiasm will be important as will readiness to work on multiple agendas simultaneously and to take on new challenges.
There is considerable scope to develop skills and experience in the development and humanitarian fields whilst working in the friendly, supportive and dynamic environment provided by the British High Commission Suva.
Good networking and relationship building skills will be important and an existing network of development contacts across Fiji/wider Pacific will be an advantage.
As with any role, there will be occasions when the work is reactive to instructions and tasking beyond planned workloads. All staff are expected to be collaborative team players, willing to turn their hand to any task.
The ideal candidate for this role will have:
- qualifications and/or experience working on international development and humanitarian issues;
- policy and programme management skills and experience;
- communication and presentation skills (both written and verbal in English), and the ability to deliver high quality work on time; and
- an ability to assess and prioritise own workload and deliver outputs on time.
The British High Commission is a responsible and flexible employer that puts values of inclusion, respect and excellence at the heart of everything we do. The successful candidate can expect to join a supportive working environment that promotes learning, inclusion, welfare and prioritises creativity and development.
Roles and responsibilities:
1. Policy Support and Programme Management (50%)
- Provide policy support on a number of specific development and humanitarian agendas that affect the Pacific Island Countries. This may include background research and providing summaries of key information with recommendations for further action.
- Support the programme management for UK development programmes including programme design, reporting and communication, partner engagement, monitoring and evaluation;
- Develop and maintain a good regional network of contacts across the development and humanitarian fields, for example with officials in government departments, academics and development partners, to help inform UK policy development and programme implementation; and
- Support evidence and data collection and analysis of the UK’s development engagement in the region, and shape the communication of this information both internally and externally.
2. Administration and Briefing (40%)
- Maintain information briefings on key thematic issues and partner countries for internal use including for UK Ministers, the Oceania network, and to inform external communications;
- Organise events including internal seminars, external workshops and conferences, and staff training; and
- Coordinate consultations on development issues internally and externally.
3. Learning and Development (10%)
- Proactively maintain on-going learning and development across the international development and humanitarian agendas and programme management to strengthen skills and experience. This could include overseas travel to work on development issues in other posts in the network.
The above is only an outline of the tasks, responsibilities and outcomes required of the role. You will carry out any other duties as may reasonably be required by FCDO. These responsibilities may be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the FCDO Oceania network.
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- Degree/post-graduate qualification and/ or four years of professional work experience in this field;
- Project / programme management and organisation skills and experience;
- A “can-do” attitude and willingness to work flexibly across the breadth of the development and humanitarian agenda including support for our posts across the Oceania network; and
- Enthusiasm to work on international development agendas, including willingness to travel around the region and potentially to the UK.
- Must be a Fiji citizen or have a current work permit
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- Experience of operating in a diplomatic environment or working in a similar role for a development partner;
- Understanding of international development and humanitarian issues; and
- Good networking and relationship building skills. An existing network of development contacts across Fiji/wider Pacific will be an advantage.
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Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Seeing the Big Picture, Working Together
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5 May 2024
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Executive Officer (EO)
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Fixed term, with possibility of renewal
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38
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Asia Pacific
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Fiji
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Suva
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British High Commission
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1
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FJD
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FJD 36,208.79 annual / FJD 3,017.40 monthly
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1 July 2024
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Open to Fiji citizens, permanent residents. Interstate applicants will be required to meet their own travel and relocation expenses.
No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position.
Staff recruited locally by the High Commission are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local Fiji employment law.
Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary may have their salaries reduced by the equivalent local income tax amount.
Learning and development opportunities:
Staff across the Oceania network are expected to make appropriate time for all L&D activities guided by 70/20/10 where 70% of learning is on the job, 20% is structured learning i.e. with a coach, and 10% is through formal courses. By planning your development in this way, you will be playing your part to build the learning culture of the FCDO and are embodying our key organisational values of: Taking Responsibility, Working Together and Encouraging Innovation.
Investing in the L&D of our people is critical to FCDO delivering on its priorities and goals, embedding new ways of working, and contributing to wider government reform. L&D helps strengthen team and employee capability, performance, and behaviours. It supports our employee’s engagement, motivation, and their career development. It underpins our ability to learn, innovate and continuously improve.
L&D covers a range of activities, most done in the flow of work – including taking on new tasks, feedback, peer learning and reflection, coaching, networking, shadowing, mentoring, e-learning, research, videos, conferences, and more formal courses.
Working patterns:
- 0800 – 1615 Monday to Thursday
- 0800 – 1300 Friday
Occasionally, in line with operational duties or travel, we might ask you to work outside normal working hours and would expect flexibility.
Other Information:
A probationary period of three months, extendable to six, will be used to ensure that the successful candidate is able to deliver this unique and flexible role and that we as an employer meet the candidate’s expectations.
The British High Commission promotes family-friendly flexible working opportunities where operational and security needs allow. We do not discriminate and welcome people of all backgrounds.
We offer challenging and interesting work. We provide opportunities to staff to change jobs and apply for promotion through internal recruitment process. We support staff in developing for future careers within and outside of the network by providing a wide range of learning and development opportunities to develop skills and knowledge.
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Please note that your application must be submitted before 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline.”
Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.
We advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application since only applications completed and submitted before the deadline will be considered. Applicants called for an interview will be assessed on the core behaviours listed above.
All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the online application form completely including the employment and educational details, experience, professional skills and behaviour-based questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the applications and incomplete form in any respect may not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.
Only shortlisted candidates for interview will be contacted. Interviewees will be assessed on the core behaviours/qualifications listed above. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified via the system in due time. Appointable candidates who were unsuccessful may be placed on a ‘reserve list’. If during the reserve period of 6 months the same or a largely similar role becomes available, that role may be offered to the second or subsequent candidate.
For inclusivity and diversity, please remove the following personal information when uploading your CV: name, address, email address, age, date of birth, gender, and nationality.
The start date mentioned in the job advert is a tentative start date and the successful candidate will be required to undergo security vetting procedures. Any offer of employment will be subject to the candidate achieving suitable clearances.
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