Community Southwark 

Community Southwark is the umbrella organisation for charities and community groups in Southwark. We support the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) with advice, training, and volunteers. We connect organisations to eachother, funders, and decision makers to make change, together.

We are proud to host Healthwatch Southwark (HWS) and support its work in connecting individuals and community groups to Health and Social Care Providers, ensuring their voices are heard and able to influence change. Healthwatch Southwark is the local health and social care champion. We are independent and have the power to make sure NHS leaders and other decision makers listen to local feedback and improve standards of care. We also help residents to find reliable and trustworthy information and advice. 

Job Description

Main Purpose

The key objectives of the role are to:

·       Develop and Co-ordinate the Community Health Ambassadors Network to address local health and wellbeing priorities and reduce health inequalities.

·       Build relationships with historically under-represented communities.

·       Research, adapt and share health and wellbeing messaging to effectively reach target communities and to help eliminate barriers for access to local services.

·       Present feedback from Ambassadors to statutory partners and support Ambassadors to develop and deliver projects

·         Provide support and advice to Community Health Ambassadors in their ongoing activities.

 Principal Responsibilities and Accountabilities

Develop and co-ordinate the Community Health Ambassadors Network

• Recruit new Community Health Ambassadors in Southwark, targeting communities where gaps are identified e.g. young people, older people, specific ethnic backgrounds.

• Seek out, organise and facilitate training and engagement activities for Ambassadors to equip them with local knowledge and relevant skills.

• Carry out the administration and monitoring of the Health Ambassadors programme, paying expenses, tracking attendance at ad-hoc paid activities, and maintaining regular contact

• Build relationships with historically under-represented communities

• Engage with Ambassadors to gather local health intelligence through regular surveys polls, and WhatsApp interactions.

• Develop responses to community research, suggesting Ambassador involvement where appropriate.

• Provide a link between Healthwatch and the Community Health Ambassadors Programme for community engagement opportunities.

• Engage with local community and voluntary sector (VCS) organisations.

Research and presentation

• Work with Council and Healthwatch colleagues to disseminate information and support communities with emerging challenges (e.g., food, finance, GP registration).

• Research, adapt and share health and wellbeing messaging to effectively reach target communities and to help eliminate barriers for access to local services, including through multilingual resources.

• Collate and share feedback with the Council, NHS and other relevant partners to develop solutions.

• Compile intelligence from the Ambassadors Network into reports to inform stakeholders and future programs.

• Support Ambassadors to develop and deliver interventions that address health and wellbeing priorities for Southwark communities

• Attend ICS and Public Health meetings and collaborate with Healthwatch in South East London.

General

• To support the mission, vision, values and strategic objectives of Community Southwark and Healthwatch Southwark. 

• To undertake other tasks from time to time and as appropriate, that may be required by management in line with the goals of the organisation. 

• To work within all of Community Southwark’s policies.

• To perform five days (pro rata) consultancy on behalf of the organisation.  

Changes

This is a description of the job as it is presently constituted.  It is the practice of the organisation to examine job descriptions from time to time and to update them to ensure they relate to the job as then being performed, or to incorporate whatever changes are being proposed. This would be conducted in consultation with you through your Support & Supervision sessions.

For further information on the Health Ambassadors programme, please visit our website: Join the Community Health Ambassadors Network | Healthwatch Southwark

Closing Date: Monday 3rd February 2025 at 9am

Interviews will be held on Friday 7th February 2025

 Person Specification

Knowledge, Skills and Experience Needed       

• Experience of community engagement

• Experience of volunteer recruitment and management

• Excellent project management skills including financial planning, time management, project planning, monitoring and evaluation

• Ability to facilitate workshops and focus groups as well as excellent presentation and communication skills both written and oral 

• Ability to analyse and present data from surveys, community meetings and focus groups

• Good organisational and time management skills

• Ability to interpret research, legislation and policy and present it in an accessible way 

• An understanding of the demographics and health inequalities of Southwark

Personal Qualities                                                                                  

• Ability to prioritise and manage own workload/caseload 

• High level listening, influencing and negotiating skill; positive, flexible and proactive attitude 

• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to engage with people from all backgrounds 

• Reliability 

• A full commitment to equality of opportunity with practical ideas for its implementation within the scope of the post