BRIGHTON & HOVE CITY COUNCIL

JOB DESCRIPTION

JOB TITLE:                             Community Engagement Officer

REPORTS TO:                      Community Engagement Manager

DEPARTEMENT:                   Neighbourhoods, Communities and Housing

SECTION:                              Communities, Equality and Third Sector

PURPOSE OF JOB

To enable resident-led neighbourhood based initiatives that improve the quality of life and/or services in an area, independently and/or in collaboration with the council, other public services and/or local businesses.

To strengthen and diversify resident participation in local decision-making processes and in the review, design and delivery of council services including the council as a landlord.

To facilitate joint working between public services in neighbourhoods, and between these services and residents to make practical improvements to residents lives and embed collaborative working in services.

To identify, capture, collate and analyse performance data for community engagement and take necessary action to improve performance indicators with particular focus on removing barriers that stop the widest range of residents getting involved.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABLITIES

1. Using information and intelligence from councillors, communities and services alongside statistical data, instigate and facilitate inclusive, collaborative task and finish groups, which comprise residents, council services and relevant stakeholders to improve the quality of life and services in the city, overseeing changes from initiation to completion.  

2. Work with residents to identify the barriers that prevent all residents collaborating with the council to improve services to and the quality of life for residents, and instigate collaborative, inclusive task and finish groups to deliver changes that increase the diversity and inclusion of residents.

3. Through the provision of information, advice, guidance, training and networking opportunities support, resident-led groups to maximise their impact and be as effective and as representative as possible when working to achieve their goals. This includes efficient management of community spaces and/or buildings.

4. Support resident-led groups to bid for funding from the council and/or other funders by providing information, advice and guidance including signposting to support from other organisations locally and nationally.

5. Act as point of contact for councillors seeking support for their constituents to progress ideas and improvements for their locality, and broker relationships between relevant services, groups and people to make change happen using creative and innovative as well as more traditional approaches.

6. Act as a point of contact for specialist advice and guidance for council services wanting to collaborate with service users, residents and communities and drive change and innovation by facilitating new collaborations that value and make best use of public and community resources and assets.

7. Embed community collaboration as a delivery model in council and other public partners’ policies, practices, plans, programmes, services and strategies through participation in relevant strategic/operational change/development groups and processes. As appropriate and agreed with the service(s) lead the engagement process.

8. Develop and deliver as a team a communication strategy involving creative and digital as well as traditional approaches that promotes and engages residents, communities, councillors, businesses, community and voluntary organisations, council colleagues and staff of other public sector organisations in the purpose of the team.

9. Build and maintain positive working relationships with services across the council, other public sector organisations, community and voluntary groups and businesses in order to achieve the purpose of the role.

10. Establish and manage processes for capturing and analysing community engagement information including equality monitoring data, and for evaluating impact of engagement for residents, services and the city; provide, as required, performance reports that include recommendations for improvement.

11.  Maintain expert knowledge and skills on best practice in community engagement – learning from local, national and international good practice and policy development.  Recommend policy and operational changes as appropriate.

12. Apply for additional funding for creative and innovative community collaboration projects that improve resident lives and localities.

13. Monitor  and report on budgets arising from new projects and any additional funding secured.

14. Capture and share across the team learning about, and technical knowledge of, issues raised by communities and solutions implemented to apply best practice across communities and maximise resources.

Other Duties / Responsibilities

1. Ensure that the Council's Equalities Policy is implemented at a level appropriate to the job and carry out all duties with regard to the Council's Equalities Policy

2. Be aware of and comply with responsibilities under Brighton & Hove Council's Health and Safety Policy.

3. Undertake any other work as directed by the Resident & Community Engagement Manager, and other duties commensurate with the grading of the post.

The list of duties in the job description should not be regarded as exclusive or exhaustive. There will be other duties and requirements associated with your job and, in addition, as a term of your employment you may be required to undertake various other duties as may reasonably be required.

Your duties will be as set out in the above job description but please note that the Council reserves the right to update your job description, from time to time, to reflect changes in, or to, your job.

You will be consulted about any proposed changes.

BRIGHTON & HOVE CITY COUNCIL

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Job Title	Community Engagement Officer
Reports to	Community Engagement Team Leader
Delivery Unit	Neighbourhoods, Communities and Housing
Team	Communities, Equality and Third Sector

CRITERIA
Job related education, qualifications and knowledge	Educated at ‘A’ Level standard, NVQ3 or evidence of equivalent experience
	In depth knowledge of one or more of the following: · Inclusive community engagement in a neighbourhood setting · Inclusive resident engagement in service reviews, design and delivery · Working with communities that are seldom heard/engaged · Enabling community-led projects
	Strong awareness of city issues and council priorities
	Knowledge of the demographics of the city and inequality experienced by some of city’s communities
Experience	Experience of inclusive community and/or resident engagement including successfully involving residents seldom heard and understanding issues raised by the community
	Experience of influencing and negotiating with wide range of stakeholders with differing and competing agendas and priorities, and building consensus on contentious issues
	Experience of complex project management  from initiation through to completion and evaluation; ability to turn ideas and ambition into practical, resourced actions
	Experience of securing funding for projects either directly or through partnering with another organisation and of budget monitoring
Skills	Experience of building and facilitating productive multi-agency partnerships, including building and maintaining credibility and trust with residents and community representatives as well as public private and voluntary sector representatives and elected Members
	Well developed ICT (Microsoft office) skills and the ability to research, gather, analysis and present complex information simply to a wide range of audiences
	Self-motivated with highly developed organisation and time management skills
	Ability to generate new innovative and creative ideas/solutions and alternative options  and turn them into practical actions
	Tenacity for enabling residents and community-led and delivered projects/services
Equalities	A good understanding of the council’s equal opportunities policy with the ability to promote it as part of a customer focused team
	To understand the needs of disadvantaged, under represented or excluded sections of the community and actions to tackle inequality
Other requirements	Flexibility to attend meetings in evening and weekends Commitment to ongoing professional development