Trailblazer Programme Lead

About Babbasa

Babbasa is an award-winning, Bristol-based, social enterprise with a vision to create a world where all people are inspired and able to realise their employment and enterprise ambitions, irrespective of where they live, their nationality, ethnicity, gender, race, sexuality or faith. Babbasa realises its mission through its subsidiary enterprises including Babbasa’s Youth Empowerment Programmes and Recruitment & Inclusion Services (BRIS) and our core values of Imagination, Determination and Kindness.

Babbasa supports low income and ethnic minority young people to prepare for the workplace as well as support employers to recruit diverse talent, develop cultural competencies and create inclusive work environments for all to thrive. The direct support for young people includes soft skills training, mentoring, and information and guidance support. The direct support for employers includes Recruitment, Inclusion Advisory Support, Cultural Competency Training, Research, Inclusion Needs Analysis and Onboarding Support. Over the next decade, Babbasa plans to grow its services to both young people and employers to respond to the pressing imperative to overcome the structural barriers to workforce inclusion and associated social inequalities in Bristol and beyond.

Job Purpose

The Trailblazer Lead is an exciting and important role that leads delivery of Babbasa’s Trailblazer Programme - a brand new programme to support the continued professional and personal development of Babbasa’s alumni of young people who have been through our programmes (called ‘Trailblazers’). One of the core aims of the programme is to promote underrepresented young people’s voices in spaces of influence, and to positively shape policy and decision making to better ensure young people’s needs and interests from across the city are represented. 

The Trailblazer Lead will achieve this by organising and coordinating activities to support Trailblazers’ professional and personal development, from skills training and workshops, to 1:1 support, to brokering access to resources, spaces, and incentives to support their growth. Alongside this you will be working across the entire team to broker leadership and influencing opportunities for the Trailblazers and supporting them to engage with these from board positions, to speaking engagements, to engagement in research, alongside other influencing activities. The other arm of the programme involves supporting Trailblazers to engage in activities to support other young people and their local communitie, from outreach engagements, to peer mentoring, to leading and delivering their own youth projects. The Trailblazer programme is a groundbreaking programme in Bristol designed to tangibly support young people to tangibly engage in and lead on influence making and policy shaping, in a way that also supports their personal professional ambitions. 

Role Specific Responsibilities

General Responsibilities

Person Specification

Knowledge and Experience - essential 

You build trusting relationships with young people - you have proven experience working with young people aged 15-30 from a wide range of backgrounds. You have a strong sense of professional boundaries and understand how to engage with young people in a way that makes them feel safe, and supported. You have experience delivering information and guidance to young people using best practice including referring to specialist help where needed. You have a strong understanding of the barriers under-represented or marginalised young people might face in realising their aspirations. You understand safeguarding policies and procedures, and are able to assess young people’s needs and challenges, making appropriate referrals where needed.

You’re aligned with our mission - You have lived experience and/or an understanding of the critical issues surrounding equality, inclusion and diversity, including structural issues around race and class, and how they impact young people within the communities that Babbasa serves. You are passionate about securing the best possible opportunities and life outcomes for young people and believe that with the right support, everyone has the potential to achieve.

You can deliver effectively - you have experience designing, delivering and evaluating a variety of youth programmes and projects, including activities to build and embed youth voice. You understand the barriers that young people from marginalised and underrepresented backgrounds face when pursuing their aspirations and have developed effective interventions to support young people from these backgrounds toward their chosen outcome. You have good working knowledge of careers information and guidance, as well as pathways to further and higher education and are able to deliver effective support and guidance to young people, referring to specialist support where needed.

Organised and committed - You are well-organised and have good attention to detail. Demonstrating efficient self time management. You have a track-record of balancing multiple tasks and responsibilities. You take responsibility and accountability for your work, striving for the best and consistently reflecting on working practices and improving where necessary. Able to work to deadlines, take initiative and are proactive in your approach to work. 

You have a good understanding of Service Delivery – You value the ability to deliver excellent customer service experience to make an impact. You have the ability to problem solve in a complex and rapidly changing environment. You have personal resilience and have the ability to stay focused.  You are prepared to work flexibly occasionally including evenings, weekends and other unsocial hours to fulfil the needs of the service. 

Knowledge and experience - nice to have

You are aware of the city landscape - you understand who the city-wide level stakeholders are in Bristol, as well as the wider funding and delivery landscape in the youth sector. You are able to draw on a variety of relationships across education, youth, statutory, voluntary, public, and private sectors to promote youth voice, successfully deliver activities, and find opportunities for collaboration.

Skills and Abilities

Essential

Nice to have:

Business development skills and the ability to spot and maximise on opportunities.

Coaching skills and/or qualification.

Knowledge and Experience

Essential:

Experience of working with young people including designing and delivering training or workshops for young people aged 16-30.

Experience delivering career development and/or professional development support to young people aged 16-30.

Experience of implementing youth voice into projects and programmes with knowledge of different strategies to engage young people in decision making.

Experience collaborating with partner organisations and/or individuals in delivering youth programmes and/or projects.

Knowledge of, and interest in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

●   Experience of scoping and successfully delivering youth projects.

●   An understanding of the principles and implementation of Equality and Inclusion, Child Protection and Safeguarding Policies.

●   Experience of using a variety of information technology and the ability to maintain records on a database.

Nice to have:

Teaching, youth work, or Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) qualification.

Driving licence and access to a car.

Incentives/ Benefits

Work in an inclusive environment working with a team which prides itself on ensuring staff feel seen, valued and heard.

Access to a confidential Employee Assistance Programme with a range of support offers available including free counselling.

We aspire to nurture existing talent at Babbasa and recognise we all have something to bring to the workplace, we are a growing organisation and will work with you to find suitable progression and professional development opportunities.

Work for one of the few organisations in the UK honoured with Queen’s Award For Enterprise for Promoting Opportunity.

Be part of transforming the lives of low-income and ethnic minority young people in Bristol, helping to make Bristol a more inclusive city.

Have access to flexi and hybrid working arrangements.

31 days annual leave including public holidays.

Access to a MediCash policy (after successful completion of a 6 month probationary period).

3% employer pension contribution.

Next Steps

If you are interested in working with us and would like to find out more about this role or have any questions, we’d love to hear from you.

How to apply: 

Please send a CV and cover letter outlining your suitability for the role.

Please complete our Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form.

We will be in touch with you as soon as possible to discuss your application.

Please submit your application by Wednesday 25th June . Shortlisting is scheduled for Thursday 27th June with in person interviews scheduled for Tuesday 2nd July. (With availability for an adventure weekend trip 30th August - 1st September)

If you have any questions on the role please contact Babbasa. Further information about Babbasa can be found on our website.

Good luck