JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION

Post Title: Wesport Place & Communities Officer
Salary: £27,638 - £29,352 per annum
Hours: Full time (37 hours per week)
Responsible to: Strategic Lead for Place & Communities
Responsible for: No line management responsibilities

ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT

The West of England Sport Trust (Wesport) is the Active Partnership for the West of England area (Bath & North-East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire). We are a registered charity and aim to build additional local, regional and national collaborations that will enable more (and better) sport and physical activity opportunities. We deliver national programmes as part of the Active Partnership network alongside local initiatives.
Our mission is:
Establishing the conditions for long-term change, enabling more people to be physically active, inclusive for all.
Wesport has adopted values that are used to guide our work and our decisions:
· We are a team of people with a passion for sport and physical activity, which is at the heart of all we do.
· Collaboration is key; we know when to take the lead and understand when someone else is better placed to do so.
· We are proud to work for Wesport and we place value in the work we do. We are always seeking new ways to make a difference.
· Teamwork is vitally important – we support one another to get the job done, with honesty and commitment.
· We are people-centred; aiming to improve local communities by working with them.
Wesport embraces & champions equalities, diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills to help keep us relevant to the communities that we work within.

KNOWLEDGE / QUALIFICATIONS:

• · Experience in building effective working relationships to achieve positive outcomes

· Experience of reporting & presenting to funders, key stakeholders, other interested parties

• A degree or equivalent recognised qualification in a related field or proven ability to demonstrate equivalent knowledge through experience in professional roles

· Knowledge and experience of working within either the health, and/or sport and physical activity sector

· Evidence of supporting successful resource and project management and an understanding of the techniques required through experience of managing, planning, implementing and evaluating projects.

• Experience of cross-sector stakeholder working, developing strong and successful partnerships. Ideally within the health / wellbeing and physical activity sectors.

· Awareness of the inequalities faced by key audiences (in focus communities) to being physically active
· An understanding of Sport England’s place-based focus and whole system approach
· An understanding of sports equity, safeguarding children and adults at risk policies, planning, implementation and evaluation
· Awareness of current issues and legislation regarding to equalities, diversity, equity, and inclusion (EDEI)
· An understanding of the requirements of key partners, agencies and organisations in demonstrating the value of physical activity to the achievement of objectives (local – national organisations)
· Experience in developing working partnerships with other professional organisations and the voluntary sector.
· Proven ability to move initiatives forward
· Ability to manage multiple demands with attention to detail
· Experience of impact measurement and reporting
· Resource management experience
· Experience of working successfully in cross–organisational teams
· Experience of strategic planning and the process of implementing, reviewing and adapting plans
· Knowledge / awareness of national planning processes for sport and the potential opportunities / challenges this can have on an organisation, such as Wesport
IT literate and a knowledge of the benefits that IT can bring to enhance planning, evaluation, management and communications

PHYSICAL:

· Able to undertake all the physical requirements of the job, such as working with computers in an office environment, and travel to a variety of external locations
· Able to work occasional evenings and weekends if required
This job description sets out the duties of the post at the time it was drawn up. Such duties may vary from time to time without changing the general character of the duties or level of responsibility entailed. Such variations are a common occurrence and cannot of themselves justify a reconsideration of the grading of the post.

STRATEGIC LEAD FOR PLACE & COMMUNITIES – PURPOSE & SUMMARY OF ROLE

Operational Delivery of Places & Communities work for Wesport
This role will work across a broad range of initiatives in which Wesport has a part. Its’ purpose is to ensure there is operational capacity to support the strategic outcomes Wesport is working to achieve.
The role involves raising awareness of the importance of ‘moving more’, physical activity and sport, across places and communities in the West of England. This post will support all stages of the work, including community engagement, project development, project management, reporting, community development and / or sport for development.
Working across the current evolving local focused places, and supporting thematic work, this role requires an understanding of how to influence, organisational skills, flexibility in approach, and the ability to build excellent work-based relationships.
It requires awareness of the benefits of partnership working, as well as some experience working with the community and voluntary sector, education and / or health.

KEY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

·Develop an understanding of the people, places, and communities across the West of England to further Wesport’s work.
Support the building of relationships across community, education, sport & physical activity organisations, along with connecting opportunities that enable people in focused local places to be physically active / move more
Support the Strategic Lead for Place & Communities in thematic responsibilities (CYP - Children & Young People); support Strategic Leads for Place & Communities (this second role is currently a job share) in implementing the Sport England Place Universal Offer.
Work to connect community organisations, particularly in focused places, to opportunities to fund and support their capacity and skills, and delivery of sport and physical activity initiatives to priority audiences (protected characteristics / high levels of physical inactivity)
Line managed by the Strategic Lead for Place & Communities with the CYP thematic responsibility, this role will work with all 3 Strategic Leads for Place & Communities on different initiatives, and also contribute to work lead by the Director for Health & Physical Activity. This role will build on existing connections to continue the momentum of progress made so far.
Building an awareness of the VCSE Sector and potential connections into sport and physical activity, education, active travel, wellbeing and health.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

· Operational support for Strategic Leads working in focused places and thematic work, helping develop, influence and expand our understanding of those places. This links to Wesport’s implementation of Sport England’s Place Universal Offer.
· Operations support and development of Children and Young People directed activities such as:
o Crime Prevention through Sport fund
o School Games
o Building a legacy from the Opening Schools Facilities local investments
o CYP Active Lives Survey (led by Strategic Lead for Place & Communities; support from Strategic Lead for Marketing, Communication, and Insight)
· Community Tennis – operational leadership to support connections and engagement of community organisations in utilising Wesport’s Parks Tennis courts.
· Support planning / delivery of Our City Cup – Refugee and Asylum Seekers football tournament (for review ahead of 2026)
· Support the Strategic Lead for Health & Physical Activity, Strategic Lead for Place & Communities, and Director for Health & Physical Activity on the ‘Link Forward for Vanguard’ to include project management and communication between partners
· Awareness of wider Wesport work and local information (examples include: data, insight, workforce, health, physical inactivity) to aid connections with identified key audiences and community organisations at ‘place’ to support improved community, wellbeing and health outcomes.
· Maintain and develop relationships with identified partners across the community and education sectors
· Keep abreast of relevant current evidence, national guidance and policies related to community development / place working
· Engagement with national Active Partnerships Network and relevant Communities of Practice to share learning, make connections and gain support.

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES

· Setting personal, organisational and partnership performance measurement targets linked to role purpose, key responsibilities and specific duties
· To manage the relevant budgets and to keep up to date financial records in relation to areas of responsibility
· Work within the Wesport team to integrate role objectives into team delivery where appropriate, and to utilise the expertise of colleagues
· Contributing to the review and production of annual plans and the achievement of the long-term vision of Wesport
· Work closely with the Strategic Lead for Place & Communities roles
· Hold and build relationships across places and communities, including unitary authority, education, VCSE, sports organisations
· Explore opportunities for local grants, commissions and brokerage relevant to Wesport and partners
· Connecting, promoting, integrating, and embedding moving more as whole system approach
· Contribute to Wesport’s measurement of impact, evaluation and learning through direct engagement with the Strategic Lead for Marketing, Communication, and Insight, supporting the collection and collation of data, insight and stories.
· Help embed Wesport’s inequalities focus into all areas of responsibility
· Demonstrate Wesport values in everyday interactions

TO APPLY FOR THIS ROLE YOU NEED TO FILL IN AND SUBMIT THE APPLICATION FORM WHICH CAN BE FOUND ON OUR WEBSITE: WWW.WESPORT.ORG.UK/JOBS/

Job Type: Full-time
Pay: £27,638.00-£29,352.00 per year

Benefits:

• Company pension

Work Location: In perso