Community Development Worker

Responsible to: Community Connections Project Manager

Hours: 36 hours full time

Salary: £27,000

PURPOSE OF JOB: To work as an integral part of the multidisciplinary Neighbourhood Health and Social Care Teams in Lewisham bringing community development expertise to the teams and building the capacity of the community and voluntary sectors to respond effectively to preventative and personalisation agendas.

AUKLS strives to create an open and participative working environment. We work to our core values of being supportive, professional and person centred. These are reflected in the way we work with the people we support, with each other and with our partners. Teamwork, collective responsibility, delegated authority are central to this process. A key element of all roles is to develop and maintain the organisation’s working ethos and culture.

AUKLS aims to provide a supportive working environment for all staff and volunteers in order that they can develop personally and professionally and acquire new skills. The contribution made by staff and volunteers in achieving the organisation’s goals is recognised by all.

This job description does not provide an exhaustive list of tasks and activities as all posts within the organisation are subject to evolution as the organisation develops and grows.

Key tasks and responsibilities

  • To work as an integral part of the multidisciplinary Neighbourhood Health and Social Care Teams within Lewisham.
  • To identify and collate information onlocal community opportunities, responsibilities and assets building comprehensive, accessible and up to date information on available services to enable people access to improved information and make informed decisions.
  • To work with the multidisciplinary teams and community support brokers/facilitators to identify unmet community needs that will build community resilience
  • To work with the Community Connections volunteering lead to identify volunteering opportunities and work with local agencies to target unmet needs
  • To lead the development and maintenance of a Neighbourhood Cluster Forum that establishes effective working links and information exchange between adult social care, health and community partners..
  • To plan and develop, with key stakeholders, appropriate action to respond to the identified community needs building capacity within the sector to respond to the preventative and personalisation agendas.
  • Facilitate local organisations and services to respond effectively to the personalisation agenda, building their knowledge and capacity to utilise personal budgets etc.
  • To maximise the potential of community resources and groups to be self sustaining and to attract the necessary resources to enable this
  • To work with community sector to undertake fundraising to increase the sustainability of groups and met unmet needs.
  • To work within the community to enable the development and sustainability of networks that support people to engage supportively with one another and with community resources.
  • To work with the community sector to encourage collaborative working that provides people with services that enable them to exercise greater choice and control.
  • To be computer literate and administratively self supporting.
  • To keep accurate records and perform other administrative duties as appropriate, including maintaining an up to date diary and work schedule.
ORGANISATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
  • Meet legislative and regulatory requirements.
  • Provide statistical information in relation to monitoring requirements
  • Contribute to the overall achievement of AUKLS mission and objectives
  • Provide a supportive working environment to all staff and volunteers
  • Ensure the values of AUKLS are upheld across the organisation
  • Attend staff and team meetings as requested
  • Undertake any other duties as determined by the project manager

Promotion of a Supportive Working Environment

A supportive working environment can be defined as an environment where contribution is recognised, encouraged and rewarded. Staff and volunteers alike expect to be encouraged to develop personally and professionally and to acquire new skills at a pace that is suitable to them. All staff and volunteers must promote this environment as part of their roles and responsibilities.

Training and Development

Training and development of staff and volunteers is a key expectation of all staff employed by the organisation. They will demonstrate their commitment to staff and/or volunteer development by assessing skills, planning development activities, discussing outcomes and evaluating effectiveness. They will be expected to motivate, encourage, coach and support staff and/or volunteers towards the outcomes agreed.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

The successful applicant must be able to demonstrate empathy for the people we support and be committed to the promotion of a person centred working environment.

All posts within the organisation are subject to change as the organisation grows and develops. Staff must be able to adapt to change and, therefore, flexibility is a key attribute required of all employees.

It is essential that the postholder possess the following personal qualities:

  • Drive, energy and enthusiasm
  • Self motivated
  • Excellent interpersonal skills
  • Creative and person centred
  • Diplomatic and approachable with the ability to develop and maintain positive working relationships across a variety of organisations
  • Commitment to the core aims of the organisation
  • Able to work as part of a highly diverse staff and volunteer work force

It is essential that the postholder has the following experienceand knowledge:

  • Experience and a good working knowledge of community development work with a wide range of agencies working across different sectors
  • Good understanding of personalisation and preventative agendas
  • Experience of successful project development, implementation and management
  • Experience of delivering projects in a multi agency setting, across voluntary and statutory sector services.

It is essential that the post holder has the following skills and abilities

  • Highly developed written and verbal communication, presentation and negotiating skills
  • Ability to learn rapidly and manage varied information intelligently
  • Good IT skills, including Microsoft word processing, spreadsheets, databases, internet and email
  • Excellent organisational skills including information, resources and time management with the ability to set and manage priorities within a busy work environment

Other

Able to travel within LB Lewisham

The successful applicant will be required to have an enhanced DBS Check