Community Empowerment and Engagement Officer - Waverley Court

Description

• Provide support to local community and third sector participation in empowerment and engagement activities including community planning and delivery activity arrangements. This will involve assisting in the design, organisation and delivery of events, issuing and publishing of papers and promotion/awareness raising.
• Contribute to the provision of support for community centre management committees. Support the implementation of Health & Safety responsibilities for a number of community centres across the city pending a review of these arrangements by the Council.
• Support the arrangements for delivering community planning priorities, projects and programmes of action at a locality level in line with the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 with particular emphasis on collaboration, consistency, coordination and public engagement.
• Attend and contribute to the activities of steering groups, representative forums and review groups at a locality level to support the work of the Edinburgh Partnership in addressing its priorities and targets as required.
• Contribute to the support of individual partnerships/groups across a range of functions as required to ensure that the decision-making and business processes operate efficiently and effectively, and appropriate linkages are identified/achieved.
• Support engagement and dialogue with a wide range of locality representatives including but not limited to; Neighbourhood Networks, Community councils, tenant and resident’s groups, friends of groups, community centre management committees, the local voluntary sector and other community planning partners to support the collation of local interests and priorities in response to a wide range of Council initiatives.
• Work in partnership with key stakeholders within local communities to promote & support the development of a network of contacts to develop community capacity enabling residents to take leading roles in the development of their communities.
• Work in partnership to support the implementation of the Edinburgh Partnership governance framework and work programme.
• Support and contribute to the review and refresh of Locality Improvement plans along with other relevant community planning partners/lead partners.
• Assist in monitoring and administration of the locally devolved Community Grants Fund budget Assist in supporting/enabling community involvement/influence in the decision-making processes associated with the expenditure of the above and any other devolved Council budgets.
• Undertake any administrative duties as deemed necessary in the execution of the above tasks/activities. Work closely with local Elected Members, senior officers and external agencies to represent the Council’s interests.
• Assist in the preparation and content of reports, strategic plans, other documents, briefings, presentations and FOIs for Council meetings, external agencies, senior officers, including the Council Management Team and the relevant committees as well as business and stakeholder groups.
• Support the Council’s democratic process, by attending all relevant committees and other meetings of the Council and Elected Members as required.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• The post holder will support the building and development of relationships with key partners including but not limited to; locality community planning partnerships, neighbourhood networks, tenant and resident’s groups, friends of groups, community centre management committees, the local voluntary sector and other community groups etc to support local empowerment and engagement and local community planning models and develop community capacity.
• The post holder will demonstrate a high level of initiative and support the identification of opportunities for the development of the local Community Empowerment and Engagement activities which link community organisations including community councils and the Third Sector to the Edinburgh Partnership, City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Government priorities and policies.
• The post holder will support innovative arrangements for delivering community planning priorities, projects and programmes of action in line with the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 with particular emphasis on collaboration, consistency, coordination and public engagement.
• The post holder will be required to effectively manage varying levels of reputational and political risk in the delivery of their responsibilities and demonstrate effective working within a full range of non-formal and formal political environments.
• The post holder will be expected to engage with and have daily contact with a wide range of community representatives, management committees, third sector organisations, elected members, internal Council services, statutory bodies and other stakeholders. As such they must have demonstrated their ability to communicate and negotiate effectively at all levels whilst maintaining effective relationships with a diverse range of people and organisations.
• The post holder will represent the Council on a range of external bodies, working groups, committees and boards at a local level as required.
• The post holder will be expected to operate with a certain amount of autonomy, making daily decisions in the course of their duties, within the context of strategic and local priorities considering, financial planning, equalities impact, effective management of resources, reputation and appropriate engagement with communities and other community planning partners as relevant.
• The post holder will be required to contribute to the strategic development of Community Planning and Engagement services across the city.
• The post holder will be required to provide accurate advice and guidance to community groups or understand when it is more appropriate to refer to other organisations. The post holder will be able to assess the risks, e.g. equalities impact, to outcomes of any proposed community planning and engagement activity.
• The post holder will be required to make complex decisions for the service within the context of strategic and local priorities considering financial planning, equalities impact, effective management of resources, reputation and appropriate engagement with communities.
• Decisions will have a significant impact on local communities, Council reputation and other stakeholders across the Locality with a high public profile and visibility and as such, the post holder will be required to effectively manage a significant level of reputational and political risk in the delivery of their responsibilities.