Purpose of role
Community Engagement is a key strand of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful’s Strategic Plan. The Engagement Officer plays a vital role delivering Live Here Love Here programmes. They will spend time in communities, enhancing and expanding existing LHLH networks, empowering people to make a positive environmental impact in their communities. In addition, they will support LHLH colleagues deliver the Small Grants project.
In conjunction with key strategic partners, Live Here Love Here is Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful’s community engagement platform focused on improving the local environment and building upon and supporting pride in our communities. Adopt a Spot is one of Live Here Love Here’s key volunteer programmes.
About Keep Northern Ireland BeautifulKeep Northern Ireland Beautiful (KNIB) is an independent charity established in 2000. Through education, engagement and empowerment, we seek to inspire change by connecting people to nature. Activities include:- Live Here Love Here is a positive, people-powered campaign that encourages volunteers to appreciate and care for their local areas through regular clean-ups, biodiversity and community gardening projects. Some of the key programmes in Live Here Love Here are Adopt a Spot, The BIG Spring Clean and Healthy Oceans, Healthy Minds.
- Environmental Education that focuses on educating children, young people, communities and businesses on environmental issues and inspiring climate action. This includes Eco-Schools and the 30 Under 30 Northern Ireland Climate Change Makers programmes.
- Local Environmental Quality work that recognises and rewards well managed green and blue spaces across Northern Ireland, particularly through the Green Flag for Parks, Blue Flag for Beaches and Marinas, and Seaside Awards.
Person Specification
Qualifications, skills and experience
Essential
- A relevant third level qualification or at least three years’ demonstrable equivalent experience
- One-year experience of project/programme delivery
- One year’s experience of data gathering and reporting
- One year’s experience of establishing and maintaining strong and lasting partnerships and effective working relationships with stakeholders
- Full current driving licence and/or access to a suitable means of transport to enable you to carry out the duties and responsibilities.
- Good literacy and IT skills, including Microsoft Excel
Desirable
- Experience of working within the environment sector
Knowledge & Understanding - Essential
- Knowledge of environmental issues and activities
OR
- Community Development approaches to behaviour change
Personal Qualities - Essential
- Ability to be flexible, innovative and problem solving
- Confident communicator
- Happy to work outdoors in a range of locations including beaches, streets and open greenspaces with people from all sectors of society.
General
General InformationThe person appointed will work from our office in Belfast a minimum of 2 days per week and may work from home the rest of the week. You will also be expected to travel to Adopt a Spot sites, events, photocalls, meetings etc as required.
IT support and hardware is provided for all staff to enable them to be efficient and effective in their work.
Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful operates flexible office hours between 8am and 6pm, with core hours between 10am and 4pm. Your normal days of work will be Monday to Friday, but given the nature of the work, this role requires flexibility to support communities at their pace and will involve some evening and weekend working. Flexibility for this is vital and time-in-lieu will be offered in return.
This position is funded through the DAERA Environment Fund.
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is a community focussed organisation with a commitment to reducing its impact on the planet. A key approach in achieving this is through Carbon Literacy training for all employees. This programme, delivered in partnership with the Carbon Literacy Project, raises awareness about the climate change challenge that we all face as well as the commitments we can make to behaviour change that will help reduce emissions. New employees will be expected to attend Carbon Literacy training as part of their induction process and contribute to an ongoing dialogue within the organisation about how we can reduce our carbon impact and improve levels of sustainability. AUTHORITY All staff are expected to:- Commission work only in line with company procedures, and always obtain best value.
- Refer any media interest or potential news stories to their line manager.
- Operate within the organisation’s policies and procedures at all times.
- Only commission marketing channels (especially print) in line with those agreed by the Chief Executive.
About us
Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is an independent charity dedicated to connecting people with nature. We seek to do this through Education, Community Engagement and Empowerment, providing pathways for people to learn about and participate in creating a cleaner, greener and more sustainable Northern Ireland. Through our work, and the network of people who are involved, we believe people can and should work together to create transformational change.
Vital to this is the work of the LEQ Department. Through the annual Cleaner Neighbourhoods report and the Marine Litter report we provide important and accurate information to government, councils and the public about the current situation in Northern Ireland. The accreditation programmes we run with international and UK wide partners help define and maintain standards in our public spaces.
Sitting alongside this work Live Here Love Here is about community engagement, with volunteering being a key strand of the public-private-NGO partnership that has made the programme a success for over a decade. Eco-Schools and our Climate Action programmes ensure people of all ages can access scientific-based learning about the environment, and why and how everyone has a role to play.
