Programme Manager Communities WCC618533

As our Consultation and Engagement Reform Programme Manager you can make your own powerful contribution to Westminster's success. Joining the Communities Department on a 12 month fixed term contract or secondment, your focus will be on capacity building and innovation, and improving the way the Council consults and engages with our residents and stakeholders.

Supporting the delivery of consultation activities across our organisation, work that will include providing guidance to teams and helping deliver engagement projects in the community, you'll coordinate and manage the Consultation and Engagement Reform team's training arm, sourcing guest speakers, case studies and best practice to share with your colleagues. We'll also expect you to project manage our community walks series and administer the council's internal engagement network, encouraging collaboration, information sharing and continuous improvement.

You'll have a number of additional responsibilities - these include enabling our approach to equalities and managing the support process for equality impact assessments. Working with a range of stakeholders to improve our processes and widen participation in consultation and engagement activities, you'll define the critical success factors for each project and ensure the key deliverables are delivered. Committed to the ethos of putting our communities at the centre of how decisions are made about them, and role modelling community co-creation and partnership working, you'll also prepare information about projects and present these to senior leaders and cabinet members.

With well developed experience of co-ordinating work across multi-disciplinary departments and with external stakeholders, you'll be ready to co-produce and innovate with our local communities in an enabling and empowering way. Capable of delivering a wide range of consultation and engagement activities, and with good knowledge of consultation processes, best practice standards, process mapping and service improvement, you'll have a clear commitment to equality, inclusion and diversity.

We'll expect you to possess the ability to establish and build partnerships and working relationships with Senior Managers and Councillors, Public and Private Sector Partners and Organisations, Business Groups, Communities and Public Agencies, and your superb written and verbal communication skills will make you a confident negotiator and influencer. You should also have well developed programme management, development and delivery skills, an understanding of the importance of working with communities, and a willingness to better understand their needs through co-production.

A confident user of IT, with a particular focus on the Microsoft Office 365 suite of applications, you'll possess practical knowledge of PPM tools or be willing to undertake the necessary training. We'll also look for good financial and budget management skills, the ability to analyse, evaluate performance indicators and present complex information in an understandable way, and experience of compliance and data protection requirements. Always happy to share new ideas with your team and capable of presenting complex information in an understandable way to a range of audiences, experience of facilitating training sessions would be desirable but is not essential.

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF GRACE'S PASSION AND DEDICATION

The Environment & Communities Directorate in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where dedicated people like Grace are using their skills and passion to progress environmental action in the heart of London.

It was at university where Grace first started campaigning for improved recycling facilities, water refill stations, and other eco-friendly initiatives. When she saw the real difference people could make when they came together, she knew she wanted to dedicate her career to community action for the planet.

When she joined us as Principal Engagement Officer, Climate Emergency, she quickly established herself as a passionate advocate for community outreach, engaging various stakeholders across Westminster in the social causes, impacts and solutions to climate change, air pollution, and biodiversity loss.

Grace became a driving force behind our first Citizens' Climate Assembly, which took place across two weekends in the summer of 2023. Fifty residents were chosen at random from across our diverse communities to come together, learn about the climate emergency, and deliberate how we overcome the barriers to becoming a net zero city by 2040. The assembly produced several recommendations which have informed the evolution of our Climate Emergency Action Plan. Due to the success of this initiative, we're holding more assemblies to continue community involvement in local decision-making., Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster.

Westminster City Council's strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city's future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties

As a forward thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.