Strategic Lead - Manchester, United Kingdom - Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council

Verified Company

Manchester, United Kingdom

1 week ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

About The Role:

This senior post within Manchester City Council will provide a crucial leadership role for the city council and across the City's Youth Play and Participation Sector in our ambition to be a UNICEF Child Friendly City.

The role will ensure effective co-ordination of key strategies in relation to Youth, Play and Commissioning and will identify and oversee opportunities to improve provision across neighbourhoods through enabling community groups and partners and enhancing infrastructure.

The task we've set ourselves - to deliver excellent services for our children and young people is challenging and will take hard work, collaboration and innovation to achieve our ambitions.

The City Council's commitments are set out in the

Our Manchester Strategy:
a) Young people having a strong sense of citizenship and pride in the city. b) Young people improve their health and wellbeing and be more active. c) Our young people are known to have a high quality of life, better green spaces and access to world class, sport, leisure and culture provision.

Key Responsibilities include:

Responsible for strategic oversight to ensure that there is sufficient access for children and young people to access high quality informal education and leisure activities across Manchester.

Design, develop and implement effective city-wide strategies relating to youth, play and participation work and ensure the involvement of children and young people, elected members, partners and communities within this.

Ensure that there is effective and targeted Youth and Play commissioning and performance management of this within the City through working with colleagues officer and key external third and private sector partners.

Oversee the commissioning, distribution and performance management of activities targeted at addressing inequalities and poverty and improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people, including the Holiday Activity and Food Programme.

Develop and provide oversight of the implementation of a city wide strategy for the engagement of children and young people with the aim of increasing their voice and influence.

i.e. Youth Council, Area Forums and other means.

Ensure that there is strong commitment and involvement from the service, council colleagues and partners in the City's progress to being a UNICEF Child Friendly City.

Ensure that the service meets its relevant statutory, safeguarding and Health and Safety responsibilities when working with children and young people and in the delivery of commissioned or other activity.

Lead the 'Keeping children safe' theme of the Community Safety Partnership through working in a muti-agency way with schools, youth and Play providers, GMP and others to ensure children and young people are safeguarded.

Provide strategic support to the development a sufficient Early Help targeted support, including work on a citywide strategy for young carers, supporting the Work & Skills team to raise participation and reduce the number of Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET) young people across the City.

Oversee programmes to provide a range of new, refurbished and modernised youth assets across the City through initiatives such as the Youth Investment Fund and work with partner organisations.

Ensure that there is an effective Universal Youth Offer to maximise the range of activity and awareness across the sector, maximising funding opportunities and targeting of spread of activity across wards, working with community organisations and the sector.

Ensure Manchester's children and young people are represented at a regional and national level and influence the work of the City and Council and its partners.

You will be a key member of our management team who are proud and passionate about Manchester; supporting the delivery of consistently high standards of practice and be able to demonstrate our behaviours.

We are looking for someone who understands 'good' practice and can effectively work with others in a culture of high support and challenge; and is experienced in delivering improvements and is skilled in strategically leading multi
- agency partnerships.

This post requires you to have a suitable qualification relevant to the role and will require you to undertake occasional evening and weekend working.

You will also need to have,
- comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the Youth, Play and Participation sector at a national, regional and local context
- a strong understanding of the legislative and policy context within which a Youth Play and Participation Service and the wider sector operates