Deliver and manage consular services and assistance to British nationals in Zambia in line with our public guide Support for British nationals abroad and the Consular Charter. You will be expected to manage both straight-forward and multiple complex cases with appropriate oversight but largely without direct supervision.

You will be based at the British High Comission in Lusaka, but will work collaboratively with colleagues across the Southern Africa Consular Network, providing advice and remote support to neighbouring countires.

You will lead on specific prevention projects in Zambia, writing preventitive online guides, organising engagment and networking events and lobbying stakeholders to help minimise risks to British residents and visitors to Zambia to help prevent them from getting into difficulty. You will also support on crisis preparedness and response and be expected to fulfill the deputy consular manager or consular manager role in a crisis. You will be required to deliver services to British nationals, including issuing travel documents, visiting those detained in Zambia, and leading on officiating Citizenship Ceremonies.

Roles and responsibilities

Consular assistance

• Leading on complex/high profile cases involving vulnerable British Nationals. This might involve supporting families of people who have been bereaved, including giving welfare assistance to destitute British people; supporting victims of crime (including rape and sexual assault) and people who have been hospitalised; as well as visiting British prisoners and responding to a host of other issues. Please note this could require visiting mortuaries and other challenging environments; and some cases will have media/parliamentary interest.
• Supporting and advising consular officers in the Southern Africa region on complex assistance cases and where needed.

Prevention

• Leading on prevention projects and initiatives that support British nationals on the most relevant risks and issues that affect British people. This could include hosting workshops, organising events and generally working on themes such as complex death cases, mental health, addiction and recovery, tourism safety, victims of crime (including Rape & Sexual Assault) and homelessness/destitution.
• Identify and lobby stakeholders and national/local government authorities on key consular issues, with support from colleagues.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with internal and external stakeholders through regular engagement and outreach.
• Prevention fundamentals – research and draft online guides (e.g. bereavement and prisoner guides) for UK government web pages.
  Crisis
• In a crisis, or when supporting on a complex case, you may be expected to travel at short notice or work outside of normal contracted hours.This could include being asked if you can provide regional resilience in the region.
• Support crisis preparedness and response at post. This includes contributing to the CMP, planning the consular aspects of crisis response, and acting as deputy consular manager or consular manager in a crisis.

Consular services

• Managing Consular Services, such as issuing Emergency Travel Documents to British nationals.
• Organising and officiating at Citizenship Ceremonies for new British nationals.

Managing people, operations and information

• Meeting consular business targets and ensuring cases are updated promptly on the management system. Delivering in line with agreed KPIs and promoting compliance and high performance against expectations, monitoring monthly statistics on Iris and producing monthly reports.

Corporate

• As part of the High Commisison team you will be expected to contribute to the corporate life of the mission. There are many different ways that you will be able to do this and specific roles will be discussed/agreed once you ahve settled in to the role/mission.

You should be aware that consular work involves difficult conversations with distressed individuals and may require visiting challenging environments, such as prisons and hospitals, so emotional intelligence and personal resilience are essential.

You can expect to travel a few weeks per year, both within Zambia but also sometimes within the SSA region and occasionally to the UK

Learning and development

You’ll be joining an enthusiastic and supportive team that takes continuous learning and development seriously and that values a diverse range of skills and backgrounds. On starting in the role, you’ll be supported in becoming familiar with consular policy, as well as the structures of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the operation of the British High Commission, which includes an induction day.

Mandatory Courses:

In your first year, you will be required to complete an online “Consular Fundamentals Course” and our “Developing Consular Expertise Course”, which is usually delivered in person in the UK. There are several other mandatory training courses which include: processing Emergency Travel Documents; Case management e-learning and Crisis management.
You will also be required to complete several other online training modules, including on safeguarding and data protection and others, on an annual basis.

Further opportunities:

When you are settled in the role, you will be encouraged to seek out further opportunities (both formal and informal) to deepen your expertise of consular work, and to develop wider skills tailored to your personal interests and development needs. Mentoring and coaching opportunities are available to all staff at the British High Commission.
Opportunities can also include attending regional conferences, joining leadership and development courses and applying to volunteer for crisis training and deployment.

• Possess excellent all-round communication skills to manage customer expectations and deliver difficult messages;
• Ability to remain calm and professional under pressure when dealing with emotive subjects and distressed people;
• Experience working in with Zambia authorities and support organisations.
• Skills to research and follow guidelines and to plan and prioritise effectively.
• Experience working in a customer facing environment and working with vulnerable people is essential.

This is a rewarding and often challenging role. You will be well supported by your line manager, wider team, and colleagues across UK in Zambia, but you must have high levels of personal resilience to succeed