South Asia Programme Officer

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)

**Main purpose of job**:
The Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) is funded through Official Development Assistance (ODA) as part of the UK’s £500 million Blue Planet Fund (BPF). Through the OCPP, the UK government partners with ODA-eligible countries to deliver tangible and positive impacts on the livelihoods of coastal communities that depend on healthy marine ecosystems. Bilateral partnerships under the OCPP are primarily delivered by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The OCPP supports countries to:

- strengthen marine science expertise.
- develop science-based policy and management tools.
- create educational resources for coastal communities.

The purpose of this role is to support and manage delivery of the OCPP in South Asia. Initially the focus will be on Sri Lanka however it is anticipated that the role will develop to include regional responsibilities. Regional responsibilities will include linking Sri Lanka delivery with other OCPP countries in region (India, Bangladesh, and Maldives) by identifying opportunities for join up and elements of the programme which could benefit from a regional approach. The role will include leadership, oversight and coordination of stakeholder engagement to enable the effective delivery of OCPP work streams. The role holder will establish a detailed understanding of the programme’s overarching and country specific objectives, including understanding the legacy of delivery to date. Key to successful delivery will be the job holder's use of existing contacts and networks to allow for appropriate programme design and to help facilitate and validate demand-led prioritisation.

The role holder will need to work closely with the UK based delivery partners (Cefas, JNCC and MMO) and relevant international delivery partners. Local stakeholder interaction will include the British Embassies and British High Commissions (BHC), regional and multi-lateral organisations, non-government organisations (NGO), and the private sector, to maximise the impact of the OCPP locally and in region.

The role scope will be reviewed to ensure it remains effective in supporting the programme as it matures. This will include identifying the timeline for which the Sri Lankan perspective is expanded to include regional responsibilities.

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

This is a great opportunity for a highly motivated self-starter with strong project management skills, experience in advising on programme design of international development and/or marine programmes, and stakeholder engagement, including with senior government officials and local communities. We are looking for a someone who adopts a proactive approach to help ongoing shaping, implementation, and outcome realisation of OCPP deliverables both in Sri Lanka and regionally in South Asia.

The job holder will report to the FCDO Head of Prosperity department at the British High Commission in Colombo and be countersigned by a member of the Cefas delivery team in the UK. BHC and Cefas will work closely to ensure alignment and reporting on cross HMG job holder objectives. The position will be afforded a good level of autonomy supported by a communications plan to ensure tasks remain focused and agreeable to all parties.

You will also be able to access professional development opportunities, including scope to work on the wider OCPP and BPF programme and other embassy priorities, including UK advocacy work on the marine environment across the region. The role will also support UK based delivery partners to coordinate the delivery of all OCPP initiatives in country, identifying additional key contacts where necessary. You will need excellent communication and presentation skills (both written and verbal), and the ability to deliver high quality work. You will need to assess and prioritise your own workload within given timeframes, to meet project schedules. This role will also require good international development, political and policy skills to ensure successful delivery, cooperation and collaboration between delivery partners, and results for recipients.

This role will also require a certain amount of in country travel with regional travel likely at a later date. As with any role, there will be occasions when the work is reactive to instructions and tasking either from teams in the UK or from Embassy Senior Management. All staff are expected to be collaborative team players, willing to turn their hand to any task.

**Main duties include**:
**OCPP programme coordination and delivery - 80%**
- Create, validate, plan and deliver a strategy to ensure OCPP programming is complementary with other in-country and regional donors and their