Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Policy & Political roles)
Political
Main purpose of job:
To coordinate British High Commission Kigali work to combat climate change and protect the environment, in particular diplomatic action to deliver on UK objectives as host of COP26. There will be two key platforms for this delivery:
1) The 2020 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali; and
2) The 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) in November 2021, which the UK is hosting in Glasgow.
Roles and responsibilities
- To coordinate regular bilateral engagement with the Rwandan government on climate and environment issues. This will include creating strong relationships with officials across the Government of Rwanda on climate and environment issues including mitigation, adaptation, nature, plastics and renewable energy among others.
- Relevant Government of Rwanda ministries include: Ministry of Environment, Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- To understand UK COP26 objectives including negotiations, mitigation commitments and the 5 priority campaigns, and to spot opportunities to engage with partners in Rwanda to achieve these objectives.
- To work with colleagues to ensure coherence between UK COP26 priorities and CHOGM Environment priorities.
- To develop, maintain and implement the British High Commission’s COP26 strategy for Rwanda. This will involve working with BHC colleagues working on economic, political, prosperity, development and communications issues.
- To coordinate with colleagues based in the UK on engagement with Rwanda, advising on local sensitivities and priorities.
- To lead on drafting and coordinating briefing for meetings and visits that UK ministers and senior officials will have with Rwandan counterparts.
- To shape climate messaging for external communications to best demonstrate UK objectives and efforts in this area, alongside BHC communications colleagues.
- To plan and implement engagement with non-Government actors. This will include building relationships with working level contacts in Kigali City Authority as well as relevant businesses, NGOs and civil society.
- To monitor progress and impact of UK engagement with Rwanda and continue to work together on shared climate goals after CHOGM and COP26 while Rwanda remain Commonwealth chair.
- Strong interest in climate change and environment issues.
- Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field, for instance, Public Policy, Public Administration, International Relations, Climate and Environment Science, etc.
- Understanding of international climate change policy – UNFCCC and COP.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Experience of managing diverse and senior level relationships.
- Excellent task management, especially ability to manage multiple pieces of work at once.
- Excellent written English.
- Ability to work at pace.
- Self-starter. Will be managed remotely so will need to be able to work independently.
- Excellent IT skills.
- Experience working for an organisation in a relevant field, for example, working for/with national or regional government, international organizations or agencies, preferably in climate change or environment.
- Experience of working closely with the Government of Rwanda.
- Knowledge of financial / budget management principles or previous financial management experience.
- Knowledge or experience of project management and relevant skills.
Seeing the Big Picture, Leading and Communicating, Collaborating and Partnering, Delivering at Pace
20 November 2020
C4 (L)
Fixed Term
18 months
Africa
Rwanda
Kigali
British High Commission
RWF 1,638,675
11 January 2021
Learning and development opportunities:
- Compulsory online training courses include Diversity and Inclusion.
- Compulsory training on UK government climate change policy and COP26.
- The British High Commission Kigali has an active L&D Committee and offers a wide range of in-house training and funding for external training on policy and programme work
Working patterns:
Under normal conditions: Able to offer one day a week of home working and flexible hours to work around broader life commitments.
Under COVID restrictions: Expectation to spend 3 or 4 days a week working from home.
- Please complete the application form in full as the information provided is used during screening.
- Please check your application carefully before you submit, as no changes can be made once submitted.
- The British High Commission will never request any payment or fees to apply for a position.
- Employees recruited locally by the British High Commission in Kigali are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law in Rwanda.
- All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit.
- The responsibility lies on the successful candidate to;
- Obtain the relevant permit
- Pay fees for the permit
- Make arrangements to relocate
- Meet the costs to relocation
- The British High Commission do not sponsor visas/work permits except where it may be local practice to do so.
- Employees who are not eligible to pay local income tax: e.g. certain third-country nationals and spouses/partners of UK diplomats will have their salaries abated by an equivalent amount.
- Information about the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Competency Framework can be found on this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-competency-framework Please note: EO=B3
- Reference checking and security clearances will be conducted on successful candidates.
- Please log into your profile on the application system on a regular basis to review the status of your application.
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