Network Development Worker

TN United Kingdom; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 35,000

Job description

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Making people's experience of temporary accommodation be short, safe and healthy.

About this role

We are looking for a motivated individual with an understanding of homelessness to fulfil this exciting role gathering people, exploring challenges and considering solutions related to temporary accommodation (TA). The role will be responsible for pioneering, supporting and facilitating the delivery of a number of Temporary Accommodation Action Groups (TAAGs), primarily in the North West, that feed into national discussions and policy recommendations through Justlife’s campaigning work. Could this be you?

You will be comfortable leading cross-sector meetings and navigating conflicting priorities to move towards change. You will also be enthusiastic to represent an organisation which puts people with lived experience at the heart of everything they do. You will be a self-starter with great communications skills and a dedication to supporting people with current or lived experience to engage in the change making process.

This role will be based out of our Manchester office (minimum 2 days per week in office) but will also require regular travel, including some national travel and occasional overnight stays.

What do we do?

Justlife delivers impactful services in Greater Manchester and Brighton & Hove, supporting and empowering people experiencing homelessness in temporary accommodation.

Why work for us?

Here at Justlife, we're committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want to be an organisation that's representative of the communities we serve, which is why we strive for diversity of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity and perspective.

Perks of working at Justlife

• Great holiday package! Starting at 27 days annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays (increasing to 29 days after 5 years’ service and 30 days after 10 years’ service)
• Additional 5 days annual leave purchase scheme through salary sacrifice
• Enhanced pension contribution scheme, 5% Justlife contribution (correct at time of print)
• Cycle to work scheme
• 2 Volunteering days per year

Employment Terms and Conditions

Job Title: Network Development Worker

Hours: Full time, but open to part-time hours for the right candidate

Contract Type/Term: Permanent

Normal hrs. to be worked: Monday-Friday 9am-5pm

Location: Manchester - minimum 2 days per week in the office. This role will also require regular travel, including some national travel and occasional overnight stays.

Closing date for applications: Midnight on Wednesday 23rd April.

Application Process
To apply, please upload a covering letter addressing how you meet the person specification, together with an up to date CV.

Job Summary

The Justlife Network Development Worker will have a desire to see systemic change for individuals and families experiencing temporary accommodation (TA) across the north and a commitment to doing so with the voice of lived experience at its heart.

The role will include:

• Work within the network and TAAGs team to support the existing work of TAAGs, including possibly taking on a leadership/facilitation role in Bristol.
• Explore the possibility for new TAAGs across the North West and get new TAAG groups started.
• Supporting TAAGs to work with existing lived experience forums locally in order to ensure effective and safe lived experience engagement in the TAAGs.
• Developing learning around TA and building potential solutions through issues raised.

Key Responsibilities

• Working in partnership with local authorities, charities, accommodation providers and people who live in TA or have lived experience of TA, to support and facilitate a number of TAAGs to thrive and achieve their aims.
• Supporting TAAGs to work alongside existing lived experience forums in order to ensure effective and safe lived experience engagement.
• Convening and supporting regular steering group meetings bringing partners together to share learning across the TAAGs and enabling the TAAGs to feed into national discussions and policy recommendations.
• Proactively engaging with local organisations working with people in TA, strengthening their voice, building their connections and capacity to bring about change in the sector.
• Gathering good practice models and developing potential solutions with partners to issues relating to TA that can be tested by Justlife frontline services and partner organisations.
• Being part of Justlife’s Research, Policy & Communications team, attending weekly virtual team meetings, contributing to reports, presentations and communications to share learning.
• Contribute to the TAAGs team to support other Network Development Workers and share learning and best practice.
• Being part of and contributing to the Justlife team, attending meetings as appropriate and to be involved in appropriate staff development and training and be committed to team events.

This job description is intended as an outline indicator of general areas of activity and will be amended in light of the changing needs of Justlife. It is expected that the post holder will be as positive and flexible as possible in using this document as a framework, and in performing other duties commensurate with these responsibilities, the band of the post and skills and qualification of the post-holder.

Person Specification

Experience & Knowledge

• Experience of engaging with a wide variety of stakeholders in a variety of environments and across sectors.
• Experience of working in multi-disciplinary environments where competing priorities are represented.
• Experience of working/volunteering with, or research involving, people facing multiple disadvantage (such as those experiencing homelessness).
• Desirable: Experience of initiating networked approaches to working or pioneering innovative work that works in partnership with diverse stakeholder groups.
• Understanding of systems thinking approaches, including systems mapping and stakeholder analysis.
• Understanding of co-production and other user lived experience engagement models.

Skills

• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships, influence and communicate effectively with a range of people.
• Ability to Interpret and analyse data to make convincing arguments and capture people’s interest.
• IT skills (Office suite, online cloud-based tools).
• Flexibility, adaptability and an ability to think creatively.
• Excellent communication skills, verbally and written, including ability to write content and engage in social media.

Personal attributes

• A strong commitment to drive change for people living in TA.
• Commitment to diversity and anti-oppressive practice in all areas of work.
• Self-motivation, able to prioritise workload and operate without close guidance from a manager.
• Willingness to travel across North-West and, from time to time, further afield.