Senior Project Officer

Equality Trust, Closing date: 28 August 2024

If you are passionate about dismantling inequalities and working for social and economic justice, even if you don’t fully meet the person specification, then we want to hear from you We are looking for a motivated and organised individual who enjoys working in a high trust, high autonomy environment with remote, supportive line management. This role is designed to strengthen links between communities and the council in Birmingham, support and grow our Birmingham Community.

Job title: Senior SED Project Officer (Birmingham) 

Hours: Part time, 3 days/21 hours per week (0.6 FTE)

Contract type: Permanent, subject to funding

Salary: £40,681.61 (FTE) prorated 0.6 to £24,408.97 per year plus 7% employer pension contributions.

Location: Remote working in West Midlands with travel within Birmingham

Benefits: Time off between Christmas and New Year, £100 towards eye care, flexible working, remote work, 25 days annual leave + bank holidays (prorated for part-time staff), work phone and laptop provided.

Employment details: Part-time – 3 days/21 hours per week

This post is part-time (21 hours per week) and we have a Flexible Working Policy. This post will be home based in the West Midlands and will require regular travel to meet with organisations in Birmingham and to deliver training/facilitation. This post may require some evening and weekend work which can be taken as TOIL.

Reporting to: Co-Executive Director (Jo Wittams)

How to apply: Please send a CV (not more than 2 pages) and a supporting statement outlining how you meet the person specification (experience, skills, knowledge and abilities) for this role by 9am, Wednesday 28th August 2024 to recruitment@equalitytrust.org.uk. 

The supporting statement can be completed in ONE of the following ways

Written A4 (No more than 2 sides, 11 point font)
PowerPoint (No more than 5 slides)
Audio recording (No more than 5 mins)
Video recording (No more than 5 mins)
If you have any questions about the role, please email info@equalitytrust.org.uk 

Interviews: Friday 6th September in person in or near central Birmingham

Start Date: October 2024

If you are passionate about dismantling inequalities and working for social and economic justice, even if you don’t fully meet the person specification, then we want to hear from you

We are looking for a motivated and organised individual who enjoys working in a high trust, high autonomy environment with remote, supportive line management. We offer a dynamic, friendly team and an empowering and flexible working environment. The Equality Trust is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in recruitment. We know that organisations with a diverse team perform better, and we particularly welcome applications from those who identify as from the Global Majority, working class, LGBT+, disabled and older applicants.

JOB DESCRIPTION
Purpose Of The Role
This Barrow Cadbury Trust funded post is designed to:

Strengthen links between communities and council officers and councillors in Birmingham.
Support Birmingham City Council to improve their processes for meaningfully engaging with people with lived and living experience of poverty and inequality.
Develop our Community Reporting Network in Birmingham to build a lived experience evidence base.
Increase community knowledge of the drivers of, and solutions to, economic injustice – including the socio-economic duty (SED).
Identify and create opportunities for wider mobilisation of lived experience evidence.
Support Community Reporters to explore movement building.
Develop a plan for the sustainability of the Community Reporter Network in Birmingham.
The SED is a key piece of legislation from the Equality Act 2010 that requires public bodies to pay due regard to socio-economic disadvantage when making strategic decisions. It is currently uncommenced in England, but was promised as part of the 2024 Labour manifesto.

With partners, we have worked across England on voluntary adoption of the SED with an emphasis on the key role of communities in providing both insight and accountability. This enables residents to have greater say in decision making and to hold their local authority to account. Our vision for SED commencement in England is that lived experiences and voices further from power will be central to implementation, and our work in Birmingham forms a key element of this.

Community Reporting is an open, participative research method and movement which enables people to tell their own stories in their own ways. Community reporters connect stories together to create a better understanding of issues – directly from the people who are experiencing them. The methodology also connects stories and Community Reporters with decision makers and power holders, and creates the conditions to work together towards positive changes.

Responsibilities Include
Maintaining the existing network of Community Reporters – including in-person meeting, communication by email, text message and phone.
Growing the Community Reporter Network in Birmingham – through training a further cohort of Community Reporters (training and support will be provided to the Senior Project Officer to deliver or co-deliver this).
Proactively scope opportunities for the gathered lived experience evidence to be mobilised in Birmingham, building relationships with Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Combined Authority and other stakeholders.
Linking Community Reporters with other opportunities to be involved in economic justice work – both within the Equality Trust and with external partners.
Attending Economic Justice Alliance bi-monthly open meetings and monthly advisory group meetings.
Scoping and building opportunities to co-deliver information sessions with Community Reporters on socio-economic inequality and the SED to relevant stakeholders in Birmingham.
Evaluating the project, and work with Co-EDs to write funder reports.
Developing the Community Reporter Network in Birmingham, assessing the sustainability of this as an independent body.
Working with Co-EDs and freelance fundraiser to develop continuation funding bids.
Understanding your own health and wellbeing needs when working remotely in a changeable environment, and asking for the support you need.

ABOUT YOU
Essential Experience
Proven history of community engagement and capacity building with diverse ethnic, socio-economic, age groups and disability community groups in Birmingham.
Experience of providing one-to-one support to people who have been disempowered.
Experience of being able to develop and sustain projects on your own with limited supervision.
Experience of developing training materials and facilitating training.
Experience of being involved in campaigning and social action.
Experience of co-creating a long term plan at a local level that motivates community/grassroots groups and, where appropriate, brings pressure to bear on relevant stakeholders.
Experience of influencing and working collaboratively with others, both internally with staff, and externally with prospective partner organisations, stakeholders and local councillors.

Desirable
Experience of setting up local networks to influence local agendas.
Experience of Community Reporting as a research and engagement methodology.
Experience of involvement in or facilitation of participatory democracy mechanisms (eg Conversation of Change, citizen’s assemblies, participatory budgeting).
Experience of organising, campaigning or developing leadership with people or groups from marginalised communities.
Knowledge of local and regional government in Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Experience of successfully working with user-led groups to explore different governance models and develop funding opportunities for sustainability.
Experience of working remotely, including remote line management.

Abilities And Skills
Understanding of good practice in community organising, engagement and capacity-building work.
Ability to network and forge partnerships.
Ability to converse with and build relationships with people from all walks of life.
Strong understanding of the impact that structural inequalities have on people and communities.
Strong understanding of economic and social issues in Birmingham and the West Midlands, within the context of the UK as a whole.
Excellent written and oral communication skills.
Ability to plan, manage project budget and deliver a project to a tight deadline.
Ability to translate research into communications and media that engage a variety of audiences.
Ability to write briefings and reports.
Ability to work on your own initiative.

ABOUT US
The Equality Trust is the national charity that challenges concentrations of income, wealth and power to create conditions where people and communities thrive. To make this happen we gather evidence, build coalitions for change, campaign, and support others to do so.

Inequality in the UK is among the highest in the developed world. Evidence shows that this is bad for everyone. People in more equal societies live longer, have better mental and physical health and are more socially mobile. Community life is stronger where the income gap is narrower, children do better at school and they are more likely to achieve their potential. Rates of drug and alcohol addiction are lower. When inequality is reduced people trust each other more, there is less violence and rates of imprisonment are lower.

We want a just and equitable transformation in UK society where a more equal distribution of income allows everyone to have a decent standard of living and high wellbeing; a greater flow of wealth and resources is channelled to communities and public services; and the structures supporting power and decision making are more inclusive, diverse and participatory.

We are at the forefront of debates to tackle structural inequalities as well as supporting local grassroots groups to bring about change in their areas. The Equality Trust is working with others to build a social movement for change – through research, organising at grassroots level, amplifying voices less often heard through our communications and campaigning.

Published: 1st August, 2024

Updated: 2nd August, 2024

Author: Jo Wittams