About Active Partners Trust (APT)

Being physically active is good for us, for society, health, and even for the economy. There's no doubt about that. But how do we get people moving more? That's a bit trickier, and the need varies from place to place, programme to programme, and person to person.

As one of 43 Active Partnerships (APs) across England, Active Partners Trust, working in Derbyshire and Notts, teams up with local councils, community groups, businesses, healthcare organisations, charities, schools and more to find out what's needed. That means asking questions, making suggestions, sharing our knowledge, finding the right partners, and spotting opportunities, all to make movement part of everyday life. Because when we all work together, we can better understand, reach, and support the people who need it most.

Making our Move – Our shared vision for Uniting the Movement in Notts and Derbyshire is a new plan to guide our and partners' work over the next 10 years - where we work and how we work.

As one of two Neighbourhood Leads at APT, working in Nottingham City you will have a key role in strengthening local capacity across communities to support this vision.

Neighbourhood Lead

The Neighbourhood Lead will play a vital role in strengthening local capacity across Nottingham Place Partnership's priority Middle Super Output Areas (MSOA) areas to achieve our vision;

Children, young people and families in Nottingham feel connected and confident to move in ways that fit their lives and improves their health and wellbeing.

The role supports key anchor organisations, Sports, Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) partners and frontline services to collaborate effectively, build shared skills, and capture rich community insight. This insight will directly inform the Place Partnership's strategy, enabling the system* to understand and address the barriers and enablers that shape physical activity behaviours.

Through engagement, facilitation and coordination, the Neighbourhood Lead ensures that local voices and lived experience shape services, investment decisions, programme development and workforce approaches.

Although you will work closely with a smaller number of priority areas, you will also have a theme lead across the city.  This will either be developing the delivery workforce or supporting evaluation and sharing learning.

*What we mean by system: The collection of organisations, people, processes and relationships that work together to achieve a shared outcome.

The Neighbourhood Lead will have the following areas of responsibility:

Strengthening Collaboration & Local Partnerships

• Facilitate strong, effective collaboration between statutory partners, sport and voluntary sector organisations with a focus on children, young people (CYP) and families.

• Support anchor organisations funded to lead work within each of our priority areas.

• Build trusted relationships with partners working with CYP and families, identifying opportunities for joint action.

• Observe local ways of working, advocate for the Place Partnership approach, and strengthen cross-sector connectivity.

• Build trust with the community and community organisations to enable honest and open conversations about what is needed, what is and isn't working, and how working together can drive change.

• Oversee the allocation of the collaborative Place Partnership delivery budget across each area.

Community Engagement & Insight

• Support the collection of high-quality community insight and lived experience across their MSOA areas.

• Ensure insight is gathered consistently using developed frameworks and inclusive community conversations.

• Continue to identify barriers and opportunities to physical activity at local level.

• Collect, collate and synthesise insight to identify themes, gaps, opportunities and emerging patterns.

• Feed findings into system partners through the System & Community Partnerships Lead to inform wider Council services including planning and service design.

• Work with Marketing and Communications colleagues at APT to present findings accessible for different audiences.

Supporting Local Workforce & Capacity

• Build skills, confidence and capability across the local workforce — including frontline staff, volunteers, community champions and informal leaders.

• Co-design a Workforce Development Plan and training to strengthen the understanding and delivery of physical activity in the community.

• Oversee the delivery of local workforce development activity.

• Continually identify and work to support the workforce needs within each neighbourhood.

• Support the successful placement and development of Coach Core apprentices in priority places.

• Support community organisations to access funding and development support, helping them build the capacity, systems and confidence needed to deliver safe, effective activities that encourage people to be more active.

Programme Delivery & Development of Local Provision

• Support the establishment of local physical activity programmes that reach CYP and families effectively.

• Ensure movement and activity are embedded across wider health, wellbeing and community provision.

• Work with anchor organisations to understand local assets, places, spaces, and activities that enable movement, and where gaps, barriers and opportunities exist.

Learning, Evaluation & Continuous Improvement

• Oversee collection of community data in line with the Evaluation and Learning Plan.

• Work with the Evaluation Lead to analyse insight and translate findings into clear learning.

• Ensure learning is fed back into the system to strengthen decision-making and improvement.

• Support the effective use of Moving Communities as a tool for capturing physical activity behaviours.

• Plan and facilitate monthly reflective development and learning sessions with our external consultant.

• Contribute to a culture of curiosity, reflection and continuous learning.

Organisational delivery

• Provide vision, leadership and commitment in safeguarding, equity and diversity matters, with internal and external colleagues and stakeholders.

• Be accountable for the achievement of identified actions in the annual operational plan and regularly record change on APT systems.

• Support the management of external contracts e.g. with external consultants, for programme delivery, adhering to organisational financial policies and procedures.

We are looking for someone to join us who:

Essential

• Demonstrates the ability to develop strong collaborative partnerships, unite stakeholders around a shared vision, apply co-production approaches, and drive positive change.

• Understands the importance of values and behaviours in creating the culture and environment for place-based working, such as being self-reflective, self-aware and adapts own behaviours.

• Is an excellent communicator – engaging in meetings, writing, speaking and presenting to a variety of audiences. A good listener – inquisitive and curious and can use a range of IT platforms and equipment.

• Has experience of community engagement, facilitation or workforce development, particularly with children, young people and families.

• Has proven project management and coordination skills.

Desirable

• Has experience of working in Nottingham and understands the needs of its residents.

• Understands the relationship between physical activity and health.

• 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 able to travel to meetings in and around Nottingham and the wider East Midlands area.

• Understands ways to reduce inequalities, recognising some communities need more support, and understands the role physical activity can play in this.

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

Please note that these are the skills we want you to tell us about in your application as we’ll be assessing candidates against them.

Our values

Our values and behaviours define us as an organisation – they are who we are and what we stand for.

Make a Difference. We seek to positively make a difference through movement, physical activity and sport. We add value through insight and learning, influencing relationships, strengthening our networks and connections and embedding what works well.

Integrity. We will act with integrity in all that we do, being open, honest and trusted. Encouraging this culture with others.

Collaborate. We commit to collaborate, giving time and space to develop relationships, to listen, to reflect and to build shared purpose. We take collective responsibility and learn together to inform our work.

Inclusive. We ensure we are inclusive in everything we do. We are open-minded and equitable, encouraging others to reflect on how they think and act. We are a committed ally to inclusion.

Passionate. We believe in what we do. We are energetic, curious and aspire to think creatively. We are bold in our thinking, not afraid to try new things.

Our behaviours

• We will

• Seek to understand and add value

• Be open and honest

• Be mindful of others and show emotional intelligence

• Lead by example, adapting our style as required

• Take collective responsibility and be accountable for our actions

• Give time and space to developing relationships

• Be open-minded and equitable

• Commit to being an ally of inclusion

• Be willing to learn and grow

Your main place of work will be at our office based in Nottingham, with regular travel across the priority areas of Bilbrough, Bestwood and Cinderhill, Beechdale, Aspley, St Ann's, and Clifton.

If you’re passionate about addressing inequalities and physical activity, we welcome your application. We encourage people to join our organisation from all walks of life, you don’t need experience in the sport and physical activity sector to work for us. Disabled people and those from ethnically or culturally diverse communities are underrepresented in our workforce and are particularly encouraged to apply.

Please note that we are unable to support employees with Visa costs. Proof of Right to Work in the UK is essential and will be requested during the application process.

If you want to find out more about the role to help you decide whether to apply, you are welcome to email Helen Davis at recruitment@activepartnerstrust.org.uk or give her a call on 07771 885 590 for a quick chat.

How to Apply

Complete the anonymised work-related questions by Thursday 27th August at 11:59pm.

Submit your CV whilst completing your application – please note your personal details will remain anonymous whilst shortlisting decisions are made.

Stage 1 interviews (online): Wednesday 9th September in the morning, or Thursday 10th September in the afternoon on Teams (for 30 mins).

Stage 2 interviews (in person): Tuesday 15th September Dryden Enterprise Centre, Nottingham, NG1 4FQ.

This post is funded by Sport England Lottery Fund.