Background
The Healthy Cities & Counties Programme is a Department of Health funded initiative within local government with a focus on life‑long wellbeing, prevention of illness, enabling healthy environments and reducing health inequities. It emphasises the role of local government in enhancing community wellbeing outcomes and promotes a whole‑of‑local‑government approach to address wider determinants of health and wellbeing.
Position
The Healthy Ireland Co‑ordinator is an Administrative Officer grade post responsible for leading the local health and wellbeing agenda within Galway City Council. The role coordinates the Healthy Cities project, oversees the Healthy Ireland Programme, and works across council directorates and external partners to deliver health and wellbeing initiatives.
Responsibilities
* Work intensively with communities of interest and place to co‑design, develop, and implement locally tailored wellbeing initiatives.
* Apply principles of empowerment, participation, social justice, and equality in all aspects of planning and delivery.
* Work with relevant Healthy Ireland partners to ensure integrated and improved delivery of health and wellbeing initiatives and support programmes across the City Council.
* Use and gather relevant local datasets to target communities experiencing the greatest health inequities and build evidence cases for resource allocation or intervention.
* Develop a 5‑year Healthy Cities Work Programme based on local need and priorities, established from innovative and participatory community engagement and needs assessment exercises with Annual Action Plans comprising of Healthy Ireland Fund or similar funding to action local priorities.
* Participate in Regional Healthy Ireland Co‑ordinator Cluster and National Network fora.
* Map, align and leverage local authority activities that influence the wider determinants of health and include them in relevant Healthy Ireland data gathering exercises.
* Advise elected members and senior executives on relevant policies and programmes related to health and wellbeing and deliver relevant upskilling/enabling opportunities.
* Facilitate Local Authority wide/Regional Health and Wellbeing Networks and support the development of local wellbeing forums and wellbeing leadership initiatives within communities.
* Work confidently and sensitively with elected representatives, senior executives, and cross‑sectoral leaders to address determinants of health activity within the local authority.
* Act as a catalyst and connector across directorates and sections (e.g., planning, transport, housing, environment, community) to align activity with health and wellbeing objectives.
* Champion whole‑system, place‑based, preventative approaches to health and wellbeing, working across local authority directorates and with external partners to create enabling environments that foster wellbeing for all.
* Explore resource mechanisms across all Government Departments and at EU level to address local community priorities.
* Leverage research, data, innovation, and WHO/EU collaboration to encourage local government leadership in improving health and wellbeing outcomes.
* Develop or contribute to funding bids where appropriate in conjunction with communities to resource local priority initiatives.
* Demonstrate partnership management and stakeholder engagement skills, influencing, aligning and coordinating across internal directorates and external stakeholders.
* Use local data, research and evidence to shape decisions and measure outcomes.
* Represent the Local Authority in regional and national networks and participate in international platforms such as the WHO European Healthy Cities Network.
* Drive whole‑of‑local‑government, whole‑of‑community and whole‑of‑place approaches to wellbeing, focusing on the social, economic, environmental and cultural determinants of health.
* Advance the health and wellbeing agenda in Galway City in line with the adopted Local Economic and Community Plan, City Development Plan and other relevant plans and strategies.
* Perform other duties as the Chief Executive may assign to promote lifelong health and wellbeing in the community.
Additional Information
NOTE: While the successful candidate will be initially assigned to the Healthy Ireland role, they may be reassigned at any stage to another role of comparable grade within Galway City Council.
Galway City Council
City Hall
College Road
H91 X4K8
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