We are recruiting to fill 2 vacancies.

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 several roles.  

Find out more  

On this link you will find a short film and more information articulating the ethos and learning behind creating change in places and the Place Partnerships work. 

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 Nottingham   

Nottingham is one of the places that has been identified to be part of a bigger programme of work, funded by Sport England. These are exciting new roles that will enable people living in specific communities in Nottingham to be more active and lead healthier lives.     

Nottingham has a proud history and heritage with a rich and high-profile background in sport, arts and culture. It is a large city of around 324,000 residents, governed by a unitary authority, with some amazing people living and working there. For a while now, some people living in certain parts of the city have been finding it harder to be active and lead a healthy lifestyle. We want to collectively understand what is needed to make this easier.  

By working deeply within 9 communities in Nottingham, and with a wide range of partners, these roles will help to better understand, identify and co-design opportunities which can make it easier for people to be active where they live.  

The roles will be employed by Active Partners Trust (the employing body for Active Notts), hosted locally in Nottingham and work closely with support and guidance from key partners across Nottingham including the City Council, Public Health, Nottingham CVS and Nottingham City Place-Based Partnership.  

Nottingham Place Partnership Connector 

This role will build collaboration and connectivity between communities and the system. It will focus on collating and analysing the insight and community engagement that exists and ensuring this is used to co-design opportunities and break down the barriers to being active.   

Nottingham Place Partnership Connector will have the following areas of responsibility: 

Understanding and insight - informed by people and communities 

• Scoping current community engagement across the identified areas in Nottingham to determine what has already been done, what was identified in recent engagement work and where the gaps are.  

• Working with and alongside the community voluntary sector and statutory service delivery partners to undertake community engagement in their communities. Develop a local engagement plan to do this. 

• Link into local networks and programmes; examples could be the Integrated Neighbourhood Work with PCN partners in place, Family Hubs, Local Design Teams, Active Travel and Social Prescribing, This Girl Can and Greenspace projects 

• With the direction of the Nottingham Place Partnership Lead, undertake local asset and system mapping to understand the barriers, gaps and existing connections with communities and the system. 

Grow Collaboration 

• Build collaboration and connectivity on the ground between communities and the system, convening partners around the opportunities. 

• Build and maintain trusted relationships, engaging with the relevant parts of the local system across the identified areas in Nottingham (which sit within specific wards / PCN areas). 

• Join up the work, collating and building on the insight gathered and feed this into the system to help inform design and delivery of services and what’s needed in place. 

Leadership and workforce development 

• Build the skills and support the workforce to contribute community conversations around what it takes to be active. This will involve many partners from those working in frontline services to community champions and informal volunteers. 

• Working with the Nottingham Place Partnership Lead, co-design a Workforce Development plan to include support for the workforce within local communities. 

Learning and evaluation 

• Capture what’s coming out and identify ways to analyse and make sense of what we’re seeing and hearing. 

• Ensure the outcomes of the work feed into the local evaluation and learning, engaging as appropriate in the processes and requirements of this. 

Preparing for the future  

• Support the development of a bid to Sport England for a full award, ensuring our understanding of lived experience and the systemic barriers to physical activity are reflected in this.  

Governance, management and reporting 

• Work closely with the Marketing and Communications Lead to translate and present the findings as appropriate in different formats for different audiences. 

• Manage a small budget to enable community engagement events/activities. 

• 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 Nottingham communities and recognises the importance of understanding residents’ needs. 

• Understands the relationship between physical activity and health. 

• Has strong leadership skills and is able to help others to lead (particularly in communities). 

• Is able to build strong collaboration and trusted relationships with communities and partners that serve those communities. 

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

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

• Can use a range of IT platforms and equipment. 

• Analytical and understands the value of community insight and able to gather, interpret, share it – ensuring it informs the place partnership work.  

• Understands the value of learning and evaluation and can embed this within place-based work. 

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

• Is able to travel to meetings in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. 

For more details of the vacancies and terms and conditions visit Place Partnerships recruitment - Making Our Move