The Empowering Communities Programme will use a community development approach to address social exclusion and the impacts of poverty in specific geographic areas. This approach will be driven by the Community Engagement Worker employed by the Local Development Company.
In County Kildare, the area targeted under the Programme is the Athy West Urban Area, including the following estates: Carbery Park, Townspark, Castlepark, Greenhill's, and St. Dominick's Park. County Kildare LEADER Partnership will be responsible for delivering the Programme in Athy.
The Community Engagement Worker will carry out the Programme by building, enhancing, and supporting connections among existing community stakeholders and between community groups and statutory agencies and structures. The goal is to tackle exclusion and improve meaningful and effective engagement with the community and local services.
The Community Engagement Worker will ensure that ECP's core activities are guided by and responsive to the community. To achieve this, the role will be based in the Athy West Urban Area and will involve extensive face-to-face engagement with residents and local community groups.
Overall, Purpose
The work will concentrate on tackling social exclusion and the adverse effects of poverty and marginalisation within communities. The Community Engagement Worker will adopt a community development approach to enhance the community's ability to collaborate and engage with important voluntary and statutory organisations and structures.
Core Responsibilities
· Engage in door-to-door communication with residents in the designated area to establish contact and build trust.
· Listen to the views of local residents to identify the barriers preventing local community engagement.
· Create and maintain a system for regular consultation with the local community.
· Pilot local initiatives to encourage participation and build capacity with the residents within the community.
· Help develop leadership capacity in the community.
· Engage regularly with all relevant local voluntary and statutory organisations.
· Help establish, develop and/or grow relationships between the community and the relevant local and statutory organisations.
· Facilitate a collaborative approach and develop a coordinated response with the community and other stakeholders to develop a clear work plan.
· Map out the needs and services of the targeted area with associated resources.
· Put in place the necessary supports and structures to address any weaknesses and strengthen the capacity of the local community to engage meaningfully with existing community structures and the ECP.
· Ensure the work plan is inclusive of all communities living in the targeted area, oversee its implementation, develop progress reports, and flag challenges, delays, and potential risk factors as they emerge.
· Engage with relevant community structures such as the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) and local leaders to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the community's representative infrastructure.
· Deliver timely reports, both financial and non-financial, along with briefings to local and national programme teams as needed.
· Collaborate with other Community Engagement Workers and the ECP at a national level to develop a programme monitoring framework and ensure that all local reporting and planning mechanisms are aligned with this framework.
Job Types: Full-time, Fixed term, Specified-purpose
Contract length: 12 months
Pay: €36,696.00 per year
Benefits:
* Bike to work scheme
* Company events
* Company pension
* Employee assistance program
* Sick pay
* Wellness program
* Work from home
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Athy, CO. Kildare