Main purpose of job:

Consular teams in British Embassies and High Commissions across the Asia-Pacific region offer consular assistance to British people who need support while abroad, 24/7, 365 days a year.

Prevention is an integral part of our consular work. Prevention is about what the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is doing to prevent (consular) incidents from happening. In some situations, an incident may not be preventable, but we may be able to work with partners or host authorities to improve the level of support available. When done well, prevention leads to fewer consular incidents, and/or better information and  outcomes for British people overseas (both travellers and residents), for host authorities, and for the FCDO.

The Regional Prevention Adviser will embed consular prevention activity, in line with the FCDO’s Consular Strategy, across consular teams working in British Embassies and High Commissions throughout the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The jobholder will provide expert advice and build capability to help consular staff to develop effective prevention interventions based on behaviour change approaches, with host authorities, partners, and British nationals. They will help enable prevention best practice across APAC. They will contribute to the development of the FCDO’s global prevention policy and sharing of prevention best practice globally.

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

Help Posts to deliver effective Prevention Interventions (50%)

• Work with stakeholders and use consular data and local insights to help consular staff to identify prevention priorities.
• Provide expertise and challenge to assist in developing proportionate and effective prevention interventions, using a variety of different levers (lobbying, outreach, partnerships, advice and information, comms and capability building projects) to shift behaviours.
• Ensure that all prevention work is planned, delivered, monitored and evaluated effectively in line with Prevention guidance. Amongst others, this includes: (1) Agreeing priorities with teams; (2) Advising on suitable interventions; (3) Quality control (Providing advice and support to teams through planning, monitoring and evaluation).
• Helping consular staff with funding bids where appropriate, including advice on project implementers, due diligence and measures of success. Identify common themes across the region, and globally, encouraging teams to work collaboratively and learn from each other. Assist in developing cross-cutting prevention activity, where appropriate.

Help the region deliver and report progress on the Prevention strand of the Consular Strategy (25%)

• Engage with Consular Regional Director, Consular Regional Operation Managers, and seniors at Embassies and High Comissions as appropriate, to ensure engagement with prevention work across APAC.
• Coordinate Consular prevention work in APAC. Monitor and report on all prevention work in APAC, ensuring that the APAC Consular Leadership Team have full visibility of APAC’s prevention work. This will include presenting to senior colleagues at Consular Leadership Team meetings.
• Work closely with Consular Directorate’s Prevention leadership (in FCDO HQ) and fellow RPAs to contribute to central prevention policy and tools.
• Use creative ways (including Prevention champion networks) of engaging the region in prevention work, and disseminate central prevention messaging.

 Prevention Capacity Building (25%)

• Identify and share prevention best practice across APAC. Signpost the prevention work of other consular regions, sharing best practice in both directions.
• Identify prevention skills and capability gaps within APAC. Liaise with regional / global Learning and Development teams to address these gaps, helping to design and develop global learning tools which can be adapted regionally, and ensure staff in APAC have the right skills and tools to carry out prevention work.  Deliver prevention upskilling in person and virtually in the region. 

Keep up to date with the latest thinking on behaviour change, as well as travel industry and other trends where relevant to prevention, sharing with posts and upskilling colleagues as appropriate.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

A small budget for regional travel. Oversee grants for prevention work within APAC (<£5000).

We offer time and financial support for the successful candidate to take advantage of professional learning and development opportunities inside and outside of the organisation.

• Experience in planning, implementing, and/or evaluating campaigns or similar activities.
• Able to communicate with and facilitate both virtual and live (face-to-face) groups effectively.
• Demonstrates initiative and ability to work flexibly both in a small team and autonomously, and across a wide international network.
• Excellent consultative and partnering skills. Able to maintain a range of contacts to build effective working relationships and collaborate effectively across teams and posts.
• A confident communicator with strong outreach and networking skills. Proven ability to engage at all levels internally and with external stakeholders.
• Excellent English Language skills, both written and spoken. Able to express ideas and messages clearly and concisely.
• Excellent planning and organisational skills. Ability to work quickly and reliably with limited supervision, and able to prioritise own workload and meet deadlines without compromising the quality of the work.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools, particularly Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams.