Community Engagement Project Officer

Community Engagement Officer

Would you like to join a unique, highly creative, and passionate team focused on working alongside a wide range of communities to bring about positive outcomes in Wandsworth?

This role will be part of a community focused team listening to and working with communities and other partners to create better spaces and places for local people

The new approach will see a greater emphasis on developing resident and community understanding of Wandsworth's Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) and mobilise communities and stakeholders (statutory and non-statutory) to co-design viable projects suitable for NCIL funding.

Community outreach, inspiring and mobilising communities to make a difference, is central to the role. It involves working with charities, public sector partners, and a wide range of Council Services to engage with seldom heard communities. This is a fixed term role for 1 year and 6 months.

About the role

The prime responsibilities of the Community Engagement Officer, as a key member of Stronger and Safer Communities, is to ensure that an adequate level of communication between the Council and residents is developed, maintained and the engagement of residents in participating in decision making for their area, is stimulated, and developed. This work will inevitably involve close links with senior officers in other Council departments, statutory agencies and the voluntary and community sector. The Community Engagement Officer will take the leading role for the key areas of information, consultation, participation, and community development with all residents within the borough. Community Engagement Officers will receive guidance, co-ordination, and line management from the Community Funding Manager.

The successful candidate will:

• Build meaningful relationships and trust with our communities - so this role is highly social, requires someone who is empathetic, can initiate dialogue with communities, whilst also being outcomes focused and results driven.
• Inspire and mobilise communities to make a difference. It involves working with charities, public sector partners, and a wide range of council services to engage with seldom heard communities.
• Co-ordinate regular public facing community-based events involving local Councillors, Council and partner services, that can help to deepen our understanding of local issues as well as seek people's ideas of how their neighbourhood can be improved.
• You will need to bring a good working knowledge of how to engage different communities, develop effective relationships and managing multiple stakeholders within the community.
• You will need to bring an understanding of how to support the co-design of projects that could be suitable for NCIL funding. As part of this you will work collaboratively with the Community Funding Manager who will manage the NCIL proposal evaluation and allocation.
• You will be at the forefront of delivering the Council's 'community engagement approach' meaning there will be an expectation the engagement posts will be a present and active member of Wandsworth's many communities.

On occasions you may be required to work evenings and weekends, for which you will be given time off in lieu.

This position will mostly entail working within the community.

Essential Qualifications, Skills and Experience

The successful post holder will have:

• At least two years working in community engagement or similar.
• Experience of working with underrepresented groups.
• Experience of producing community engagement plans.
• Knowledge of community organising and mobilising communities.
• Knowledge of Asset Based Community Development (ABCD).

We value diversity in its broadest sense. We're committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone is able to be themselves, give of their best and reach their full potential. We believe that a diverse workforce helps us to better understand our communities and deliver the best services for our residents.

We want to receive applications from all regardless of age, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status or social economic background. We want to harness the mix and ensure that everybody can apply and be part of our recruitment processes. We will therefore make reasonable adjustments to accommodate our candidates.

Closing Date: 22/09/2024.

Interview Date: TBC.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment and selection process, please let us know. This campaign is anonymised.

We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Some posts may be exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to these posts will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to attract, develop, and reward our employees such as 40 days annual leave (including Bank Holidays), flexible working and a generous pension plan.