Community engagement officer jobs

The role

Job Title: Youth & Community Engagement Officer

Part Time:          8- 12 days per month

Salary: £28-30,000 pro rata

Reporting to: Operations Director

Job Purpose:

 This role will lead the development and delivery of Allergy UK’s youth engagement initiative. We are beginning several exciting new projects focused on engaging young people who live with allergy and providing opportunities for them to have a voice and support them in raising awareness of the issues that affect their life. We are seeking young people’s participation and co-production in all activities we develop to support their needs. The role of Youth Engagement Officer will be to engage with young people across the UK, to ensure that they have the opportunities and support to shape and influence Allergy UK’s programmes and activities for young people living with allergy.

The Youth & Community Engagement Officer will engage with children and young people across the UK to ensure they are meaningfully involved and supported to influence Allergy UK’s services, campaigns and resources. This includes creating safe, inclusive spaces where young people and parents and carers feel listened to and empowered to share their experiences.

The successful individual will develop youth opportunities that build confidence, skills and life chances, while supporting children and young people living with allergy to overcome the social, emotional and practical barriers they may face. A key part of the role will be working collaboratively with parents and carers to ensure their voice inform decision making and design.

As a Youth & Community Engagement Officer, you will have experience of working positively with children, young people and families, and have a proactive, organised and confident approach.

Strong organisation skills and initiative are essential as you will be the lead Allergy UK’s youth provision.

You will coordinate a range of activities on-line and in-person engagement sessions, blogs, podcasts, learning opportunities and digital activities all rooted in co-production principles. You will work as part of a wider team to engage children, young people and parents and carers, to amplify unheard voices and stories, and help drive positive change for families living with allergy.

The post is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund until September 2028. As a grant- funded role, the postholder will be responsible for the effective delivery, monitoring and evaluation of agreed grant outcome and KPI’s, ensuring full compliance with funder requirements and reporting deadlines.

Your main responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Key Accountabilities:

· Design, develop and deliver youth-led and family-centred services across three core areas:

o Continue to design and deliver youth-led services with the existing 18–25 youth group for people living with allergies

o Recruit, , launch and establish a new youth group for 13–17-year-olds living with allergies

o Recruit, launch and establish a support and engagement group for parents and carers of children and young people living with allergies

· Plan, project manage and deliver engaging co-production projects, building positive, trusted relationships with children, young people and parents and carers, and promoting meaningful participation.

· Create opportunities for young people to have a strong and influential voice, supporting them to engage in Allergy UK’s awareness- raising and public affairs activity to influence policy, improve services and drive change.

· Establish, develop and lead the Allergy UK Youth Forum, ensuring it is representative, inclusive and impactful.

· Support and develop young people to become champions and ambassadors for Allergy UK, building confidence, leadership skills and advocacy capability.

· Work collaboratively with a wide range of organisations including but not exclusively schools, local government, health and youth services and voluntary sector organisations.

· Develop and deliver training and development resources to support young people’s skills, understanding and personal development.

· Ensure all required documentation is completed accurately, secularly, and within agreed timescales, in line with contractual, safeguarding and reporting requirements

· Work closely with the Operations Director and wider staff team, providing insight and advice on issues affecting children, young people and families living with allergy.

· Develop and embed effective youth engagement procedures and best practice, ensuring a consistent, safe and inclusive approach across all activities..

· Take responsible for the health and safety including risk assessments and reviews for all youth and family engagement activities, ensuring safety and wellbeing of participants.

· Act as a key role holder for safeguarding, ensuring that the safety and wellbeing of children, young people and vulnerable adults is central to all youth and family engagement activity. This includes promoting a strong safeguarding culture, adhering to Allergy UK’s safeguarding policies and procedures, identifying and escalating safeguarding concerns appropriately, completing and contributing to risk assessments, and working closely with designated safeguarding leads and relevant staff to ensure safe, inclusive and compliant practice at all times.

· Maintain accurate and confidential records, ensuring the secure and compliant recording of sensitive data on Allergy UK’s Salesforce database in line with data protection requirements.

Person Specification

This role involves regular contact with children, young people and potentially vulnerable adults. The successful candidate will be required to undergo an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, in accordance with organisational safeguarding policies.

Essential:

 Education & Qualifications

 Degree or equivalent and demonstrable/relevant work experience.

Essential Experience

 · Minimum of 3 years’ experience working with young people

· Experience of directly engaging children and young people (ideally across different age groups, e.g. 13–25)

· Experience of developing and delivering engaging youth engagement opportunities, following best practice, and adopting methods of co-production

· Experience of planning, delivering and evaluating projects or programmes

· Coordinating online and inperson activities (e.g. groups, workshops, forums, events)

· Managing multiple workstreams and meeting deadline

· Experience working independently while contributing to a wider team

· Practical experience of working in a safeguarding‑aware environment

Desirable Experience

 · Experience of working with or supporting parents and carers, particularly in health, disability or community contexts

 The purpose of this job description is to focus attention on the most important aspects of the jobholders role. It is not intended to be a complete list of duties: therefore, it is to be expected that the day-to-day performance of the job will include tasks not listed above. The list of duties for which the jobholder is responsible may reasonably be varied or added at the discretion of the charity.

What you will bring

Essential Skills and Knowledge

 · Knowledge of safeguarding responsibilities relating to:

o Children and young people

o Vulnerable adults

· Experience of recognising, recording and escalating safeguarding concerns in line with local and national guidance.

· Experience of recording accurate information on a CRM system, ideally Salesforce, ensuring timely and GDPR-compliant data entry.

· Experience of monitoring, evaluation and reporting against grant-funded KPIs.

· A Demonstrable experience of working directly with young people in a youth engagement/participation role.

· Demonstrate experience in the development and delivery of strategies to successfully engage, interact and promote development with young people.

· Experience in planning and delivering youth sessions and activities.

· Experience of working with a range of stakeholders and representing the views of young people.

· Experience of writing reports and meeting conflicting deadlines.

· Experience of managing people, resources, or projects.

· Skills and Knowledge Ability to engage with young people.

· Ability to work independently.

· Ability to motivate others and work as part of a team.

· To ensure young people feel safe and are safeguarded, by ensuring cross partnership and local safeguarding policies and procedures are adhered to.

· Understanding of the issues facing young people.

· Understanding and commitment to equal opportunities policies.

· Evidence of challenging discrimination or implementing equal opportunities with young people.

· Knowledge and understanding of relevant legislation, especially regarding children’s rights, promoting inclusion.

· Proficient in Microsoft Office, including Microsoft Teams, Salesforce (or similar CRM) and Zoom

· Able to work flexibly to meet requirements of the role.

Desirable

· Understanding of allergy

· An understanding of the charity sector and the work of volunteers.

Behavioural Competencies

 Relating & Networking Working with People

Adhering to principles and values Persuading and influencing Formulating strategies & Concepts Planning & Organising

Attitudes

· A positive individual who can guide, inspire and motivate team members

· Decisive and determined

· Ability to think on your feet and adapt quickly when needed

· Ability to manage a large and varied workload, prioritising to meet competing deadlines

· Empathetic and sensitive

· A passionate commitment to delivering the charity’s vision, mission and values

· Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion

Uniting Staffordshire Against Hate provides information, advice, guidance and practical and emotional support to victims of hate crime and hate incidents to help them cope and recover from their experience and exercise their rights under the Victims Code. We also work to raise awareness and encourage reporting of hate crime across Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire. 

The role of a Training and Community Engagement Officer is an exciting and diverse one. You will be responsible for engaging with communities, including those most at risk of or directly impacted by hate crime, to improve awareness and understanding of hate crime, how to report it and how to access our specialist support service. You will do this in a variety of ways including by delivering awareness raising sessions and activities and attending events. You will also provide initial information, advice and guidance to victims of hate in the community and facilitate referrals into our specialist support service. You will be responsible for the development of meaningful and trusted relationships between communities and the service, so that the people who need our support know how to and are confident to access it. You will also be responsible for delivering our awareness raising training to professionals and communities. 

Flexibility is a key characteristic of all our posts, and the post-holder may be asked to carry out other tasks consistent with the grade from time to time. 

This role is based at our offices in Hanley but most of your time will be spent working in communities across Staffordshire and regular travel is a key element of this role. 

Equality and Diversity:  

All staff members are expected to demonstrate a commitment to equality and diversity. We recognise and celebrate the positive value of diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination. 

Role Purpose

This is a hands‑on, creative role at the heart of Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough. You’ll lead and deliver clear, engaging, and accessible communications that put our services on the map, bring our impact to life, and help more people access the advice they need. With a strong focus on digital communications, public engagement, presentations, campaigns, and coordinating a borough‑wide VCSE network, you’ll be the voice and connector of our service across Doncaster.

Job Summary

As our Communications & Community Engagement Officer, you’ll plan, create, and deliver high‑quality communications and engagement activity across digital, print, and face‑to‑face channels. From managing our social and digital platforms to delivering confident in‑person updates and sessions, you’ll make sure our message is clear, consistent, and compelling. You’ll lead and coordinate a VCSE network, bringing organisations together through events, updates, and shared opportunities, while building strong relationships with partners and stakeholders. Through your work, Citizens Advice services, impact, and client voice will be visible, trusted, and well understood across the borough.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Communications & Digital Engagement

• Develop and deliver an integrated communications and engagement plan aligned with organisational priorities.

• Manage and grow Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough’s digital presence across social media platforms (Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp).

• Plan, create, schedule, and evaluate content using a communications calendar, including seasonal messages and awareness campaigns.

• Monitor and analyse social media and website analytics to improve reach, engagement, and effectiveness.

• Maintain and update website content, ensuring accuracy, accessibility, and consistency of messaging.

• Produce engaging materials including articles, case studies, podcasts/audio content, videos, and graphics.

Marketing, Publications & Media

• Produce and circulate a monthly Citizens Advice newsletter via Mailchimp.

• Coordinate consistent strategic messaging across all communication channels (website, social media, newsletters, events, partner communications).

• Design and prepare promotional materials such as leaflets, posters, banners, and digital assets (print and PDF).

• Build relationships with local press, radio, councils, and partner newsletters to secure coverage and profile‑raising opportunities.

Community Engagement, Events & Presentations

• Plan and deliver community engagement activity including outreach events, workshops, talks, AGMs, briefings, and awareness sessions.

• Deliver regular updates and in‑person sessions to partners, stakeholders, community groups, and VCSE organisations.

• Confidently represent Citizens Advice at meetings, forums, and public events across Doncaster.

• Capture and share client, volunteer, and staff experiences to demonstrate service impact.

VCSE Network Coordination

• Lead, manage, and develop Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough’s VCSE network.

• Coordinate network activity including maintaining mailing lists, circulating updates, organising meetings and events, and sharing opportunities.

• Act as a central point of contact for VCSE partners, supporting collaboration, information‑sharing, and engagement across the borough.

Campaigns & Research Support

• Support local and national research and campaigns by gathering insight into clients’ circumstances through agreed channels.

• Contribute to campaign planning, priority awareness activity, and trustee awareness initiatives.

• Ensure campaign messages are reflected clearly and consistently across all platforms.

Collaboration & General Duties

• Work collaboratively with colleagues to ensure communications support service delivery and organisational priorities.

• Support internal communications and staff engagement initiatives.

• Attend relevant meetings, training, and sector events.

• Undertake training required for the role and carry out other appropriate duties.

Person Specification

Essential

• Experience in communications, engagement, marketing, or a strong public‑facing role.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including presentation skills and confident public speaking.

• Ability to deliver clear updates, briefings, and in‑person sessions to varied audiences.

• Strong digital skills, including social media, email newsletters, content creation, and analytics.

• Highly organised, with the ability to plan, prioritise, and manage multiple workstreams.

• Proactive, creative, and able to work independently and as part of a team.

• Friendly, approachable, and non‑judgemental, with respect for diverse communities and cultures.

• Commitment to the aims, principles, and policies of Citizens Advice, including confidentiality and data protection.

Desirable

• Experience of coordinating networks or partnerships, particularly within the VCSE sector.

• Experience of website administration (e.g. WordPress) or campaign communications.

• Ability and willingness to work across various community locations in Doncaster.

Additional Information

In accordance with Citizens Advice national policy, the successful candidate may be required to undertake a DBS check.