Family Support Project Co-ordinator

Title:  Family Project Co-Ordinator

Project: The project is funded by Big Lottery to help parents and children under the age of 12 who slip through the net of existing support. Currently those families from Minority Ethnic backgrounds including Traveller and Migrant Worker families are more likely to need the support of this project which aims to ensure that the families least likely to participate in existing support build their confidence and ability to so rather than duplicate existing services. The BIG family project is a STEP partnership with other key providers in the wider Mid Ulster area. The project aims to identify families meeting the project criteria, help parents and children to increase their knowledge, confidence, skills and opportunities and enable them to identify their own strengths assess the challenges they are facing, and potential opportunities to address these; to enable families to build on these to develop sustainable engagement with such opportunities helping them towards sustainable family resilience and active participation in the community.    

Location: STEP: The position will be based in our Dungannon office.  The post holder will be required to travel within and occasionally beyond Northern Ireland.

Working hours: 37.5 hrs per week. This will normally be worked between 9.00 am and 5.00pm Monday to Friday but there will be a requirement for some evening work and occasional Saturday work as determined by effective meeting of project delivery

Line Management: 

 The post holder will be directly responsible to the STEP Head of Support Services

Duration of Contract: This position is currently funded by the Big Lottery for five years. The post is offered for the duration of the funding.

Salary: £27, 930 per annum. NJC Scale SO1.   Pension Contribution:  currently 3%

Probationary Period: The probation period for this post is 3 months.

Allowances: Travel and subsistence expenses are paid, in accordance with STEP travel and subsistence policy, when the post holder is absent from the organisation’s premises on the organisation’s business.

Holidays:  Holidays are pro rata equivalent of STEP Holiday entitlement for full-time workers.

There are 35 days Paid holiday leave - 20 days’ annual leave + 15 days fixed public holidays.

Continuing Professional Development:  The post holder will be encouraged and supported in accrediting and furthering their career development as part of the five-year programme.  

Start Date: The person will be required to start as soon as possible. The project is already ‘up and running’.

Summary of Responsibilities

The post holder will be responsible for the effective delivery of the Families in Communities project funded by Big Lottery. This will include operational management and direct service delivery; supervisory management of two part-time project delivery staff; administration; planning and partnership co-ordination.

This post attracts a management salary at NJC scale SO1 and the post holder is expected to be competent to that level on all aspects of management on taking up the post.    The project sits within the integrated delivery of STEP advice and support services under the direction of Head of Support Services.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

Experience      

• Proven experience of successful project co-ordination in the context of complexity of beneficiary need (minimum 15 months)
• Proven experience of casework and management in the context of families including dynamic risk management at casework level (minimum 15 months) 
•  Proven experience of co-ordination/ management in context of partnerships and multi-agency work.
• Proven experience of working directly with marginalised individuals including families and children.
• Proven experience of working individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds.       
•  Cultural Competence in the context of ethnic diversity  
• Awareness of holistic, rights-based and empowerment approaches community development.

Technical skills

•  Excellent organisational and administrative skills.   
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.          
• Good IT skills including the use of Microsoft Office programs that include Word, Outlook, Publishing or equivalent software.  
• Proven ability to gather, analyse and disseminate information to various audiences.
• A grounded understanding of equal opportunities and diversity issues and the implications for these for this role. 
• Ability to organise, prioritise, manage a changing workload.
• Ability to lead, motivate and supervise a small team and work in partnership with staff from a wide range of different organisations and services.          
• Ability to understand and externally represent issues of importance to STEP policy and practice, and outcomes for clients
• Ability to record, monitor and contribute effectively to the evaluation of the five-year project.

Desirable Criteria:

• Management qualification at level NVQ 4/5 or Degree level or Social Work qualification
• Two years project management or three years in deputy management of family support in context of children under age of 12
• An established working relationship within the past 3 years with key agencies supporting families with complex needs. Previous experience in delivery of Incredible Years Programme
• Previous experience of working with/ delivery of Incredible Years Programme

Application packs can be requested by contacting [email protected] or telephoning 028 877 50211. The closing date for application requests is Tuesday 11th July at 12 noon and completed applications must be returned to the STEP office by 5pm on Monday 17th of July. Interviews will be held during the last week of July with an anticipated start in September.