Background  

Sport England is investing in local communities, specifically in those places where it is hardest to be active.  

Physical activity is vital for our physical and mental health, from walking to work to playing sports with friends. 

But not all of us have the same opportunities to be active. 

When children don’t have safe spaces to run and play, when adults are working long hours and constantly worrying about making ends meet, it makes it harder to be active and healthy.  

Through placed-based working we can work deeply in a place, developing meaningful partnerships with communities and the organisations that support them – this is why we are calling the work ‘Place Partnerships’. With these partnerships in place, we can better co-design opportunities which make it easier for residents to be active when they step out of their homes.  

To achieve this, we need to:  

• work together, from community members to voluntary organisations to local government.  

• build networks and develop relationships in place  

• break down the barriers that get in the way of being active.  

• strengthen communities in a way that is reflective of their unique needs, relationships and geography.  

We are looking to build extra capacity to support the work in several places and consequently are looking to recruit for a number of roles.  

Find out more  

Watch this film to find out more about the ethos and learning behind creating change in places.  

Values and behaviours are critical to this work.  The values, mindsets and behaviours listed below have been pulled together from learning from place-based work in other areas of the country. We are looking for people who work this way.   

• Curious and reflective  

• Open and honest (integrity)   

• Humble and approachable   

• Enthusiastic & passionate (caring to make a difference)   

• Courageous and disruptive (willing to do things differently and challenge status quo)  

• Comfortable with uncertainty and complexity, with a positive approach to risk/failure  

• Values driven and outcomes focused (purpose over process)  

• Flexible, agile and responsive    

• Resilience and perseverance   

• Collaborative, inclusive, engaging & empowering (involving people in finding solutions)  

• Empathetic (takes time to understand lived experience)  

• Genuine commitment to tackling inactivity, inequalities & discriminatory practices  

• Non-hierarchical (valuing leadership at all levels)  

Place Partnership work in Derby   

Derby is one of the places that has been identified to be part of a bigger programme of work, funded by Sport England. This is an exciting new role that will enable people living in in specific areas of Derby to be more active and lead healthier lives.     

Derby is a relatively small city, governed by a unitary authority that has rich industrial background, with some amazing people living and working there. But for a while now some people living in certain parts of the city have been finding it hard to be active and lead a healthy lifestyle, and we want to collectively do something about this.    

By working deeply with 5 communities to address the root causes of ill health and inactivity, the post holder will work with a range of organisations in close partnership with communities to co-design solutions, which can provide support to lighten the load and make it easier to be active where people live. Helping to improve health and wellbeing.    

Derby has considerable assets to support this role: a thriving voluntary and community sector, a strong ethos of partnership working at every level and key senior stakeholders who are passionate about reducing the significant inequalities in health outcomes in the city.  

This role will be employed by Active Partners Trust (the employing body for Active Derbyshire), hosted by Derby City Council and based at Derby Council House - the home of Derby City Council and NHS Derby & Derbyshire Integrated Care Board.  

Derby Place Partnership Lead  (Move More Derby) 

This role will lead the Place Partnership work in Derby. Building strong collaboration across a wide range of partner organisations, the focus will be on creating the culture and environment for change, reflecting the needs of communities and their barriers to being active.   

Derby Place Partnership Lead (Move More Derby) will have the following areas of responsibility: 

Understanding and insight - informed by people and communities 

• Understand existing place-based work in Derby and work with partners to establish a shared position on the strengths, barriers, gaps and connections within the system. This will look at culture, as well as practice, and result in shared priorities for future action. 

• Understand the community insight that exists (lived experience and resident voice). Synthesise, analyse and translate this to inform action. 

• Map the strengths of community engagement work in Derby and work with Derby Health Inequalities Partnership (DHIP) and others to facilitate and strengthen community influence across Derby, Derby Health & Wellbeing Board, Derby Place Partnership and the wider system.  

Grow Collaboration 

• Working with colleagues and place-based partners, agree a set of principles for how we will work together. 

• Lead multi-agency strategic approaches to position the place partnership opportunity as a key strategic driver for change across the city for physical activity, health and wellbeing. 

• Develop an initial stakeholder plan for the partnership, informed by existing community insight of systemic barriers. Grow collaboration and connectivity across the system, convening partners around the place partnership opportunity.  

Leadership and workforce development 

• Co-design a Workforce Development plan that complements the Sport England Leadership programme, identifying priorities to support place-based work. 

Learning and evaluation 

• Lead the development and implementation of a local evaluation and learning framework, aligned to the national Place Partnership evaluation framework ensuring:  

• a local Theory of Change for Derby is developed, aligned to the Making Our Move Theory of Change  

• the evaluation is embedded within the work, learning informs action and takes place in a timely way across the system  

• partners undertake a self-assessment of system maturity  

• connections are made to improve the data set within Moving Communities in Derby. 

Preparing for the future  

• Work with colleagues to prepare and submit a bid to Sport England for the full Place Partnership award. Ensure this is based on a good understanding of the lived experience of communities and the systemic barriers to physical activity that exist.  

Governance, management and reporting 

• Work closely with Active Derbyshire, Derby City Council, NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board, Public Health and VCSE organisations to support and evolve appropriate governance for the work at a community and system level.  

• Prepare reports into Derby City Health & Wellbeing Board, Derby City Place Partnership (ICS), the Move More Place Partnership leadership group and Active Partners Trust Board. 

• Line manage the Derby Place Partnerships Health Lead.  

• Ensure a commitment to Safeguarding and Equity and Diversity through all work internally and externally.  

We are looking for someone to join us who: 

• Is committed to reducing inequalities, recognising some communities need more support, and understands the role physical activity can play in this. 

• Is passionate about Derby and understand its residents’ needs. 

• Understands the relationship between physical activity and health. 

• Has proven strong leadership skills, including the ability to lead in complexity, adapt as necessary and inspire distributed leadership. 

• Across a large city footprint and several identified communities, is able to create highly collaborative environments through building shared purpose and developing strong, trusted relationships. 

• Is able to generate a clear purpose and develop and implement a shared vision. 

• Can apply the principles of co-production in enabling change. 

• Can develop positive relationships with people from different backgrounds, organisations and sectors. 

• Understands and can work within a political environment. 

• Understands the importance of values and behaviours in creating the culture and environment for place-based working. 

• Is self-reflective, self-aware and adapts own behaviours. 

• Has strong interpersonal skills and understands the value of being humble. 

• Is an excellent communicator – writing, speaking and presenting to a variety of audiences. A good listener – inquisitive and curious. 

• Can use a range of IT platforms and equipment. 

• Understands the value of learning and evaluation and can embed this within place-based work, across a number of communities and partners within a city footprint. 

• Is analytical and able to interpret and understand complex data and insight from a range of sources and use it to inform the work. 

• Demonstrates strong strategic planning skills and the ability to manage complex programmes 

• Is motivated and able to plan, organise and prioritise own workload to meet deadlines. 

• Is able to travel to meetings in Derby and Derbyshire. 

Before applying, please visit Place Partnerships recruitment - Making Our Move for more details about this specific role, place partnership working and Active Partners Trust.