Victim Support is recruiting for an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) to be co-located within Central Bedfordshire Council. This is a full time role on a fixed term contract until 31st March 2027, subject to year on year funding. Hybrid working would be available for this role.
Do you want to make a difference every day? Do you want to contribute to change & improvement for those who need it?
Do you have resilience & adaptability? Can you work effectively with a focus on customer service and care?
If yes, then we'd love to hear from you…..
What we offer:
At Victim Support we believe in attracting & retaining the best people and offer a competitive rewards & benefits package including:
- Flexible working options including hybrid working
- 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays, rising to 33 days plus Bank Holidays
- An extra day off for your birthday & options to buy or sell annual leave
- Pension with 5% employer contribution
- Enhanced sick pay allowances, maternity & paternity payments
- High Street, retail, holiday, gym, entertainment & leisure discounts
- Access to our financial wellbeing hub & salary deducted finance
- Employee assistance programme & wellbeing support
- Access to EDI networks and colleague cafes
- Cycle to work scheme & season ticket loans
- Ongoing training & support with opportunities for career development & progression
About the role:
We are looking for an Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA). This is a full time role on fixed term contract. Hybrid working would be available for this role. The aim of this role is to support victims of domestic abuse who live in Central Bedfordshire. This role will be part of our other wider specialist services covering Bedfordshire.
As an IDVA you will be:
- Providing a high quality support and advocacy service to victims of domestic abuse.
- Managing a caseload; identifying and assessing risks and needs, providing a tailored crisis intervention service trough individual safety planning, advocacy, emotional and practical support.
- Working with other agencies and advocating on behalf of service users in order to help them access services to keep them safe.
- Working within a multi-agency framework consisting of partners as well as MARAC and other local partnerships to offer a coordinated response to domestic abuse.
- Promoting the service and raise awareness of domestic abuse through the delivery of training
- Supporting the Daily Domestic Abuse meeting in the IFD (Integrated Front Door), which discusses all medium/standard risk referrals that have come in over the previous 24 hours and agrees on the most appropriate source of advice and support for the family.
- Attending the BRiF meetings weekly where community partners bring concerns about family's they are working with including concerns about standard/medium domestic abuse.
- Professional point of contact for the IFD and Adult Safeguarding teams (also based at Priory House).
- Point of contact for any concerns staff have about their own relationships and dynamics of domestic abuse they need support with
You will need:
- Experience of working in support and advocacy with victims of domestic abuse is advantageous
- To be able to prioritise work and deal with competing or conflicting demands/needs and interests and promote organisation interests and values.
- To ideally hold a SafeLives IDVA accreditation, relevant degree, vocational qualification or relevant experience of delivering a service and working with domestic abuse victim's/service users in a statutory, voluntary or community work setting.
Please see attached Job Description and Person Specification for further details.
About Us:
Victim Support (VS) is an independent charity providing a range of specialist services to people who have been affected by crime across England and Wales. We work towards a world where there are fewer victims but who have stronger rights, better support and a real influence in the Criminal Justice System. Everyone at VS is driven by our Vision Ambitions and Values to play their part in making a difference for those who experience crime and traumatic events. Working for VS gives you the opportunity to play a key role in a national charity providing high quality services to victims and witnesses and being a vital force for change.
Victim Support are committed to recruiting with care and to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Background checks and Disclosed Barring Service checks may be required.
Victim Support strives to represent the diverse communities we serve and are passionate about creating an environment where all staff and volunteers feel respected and heard. Being a diverse organisation with an inclusive culture is integral to us being able to meet our aim of ensuring that anyone who is a victim of crime gets the support they need.
As part of our commitment to the Race at Work Charter we particularly welcome applicants from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. VS is also a Disability Confident Employer and we provide a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for candidates that are disabled and meet all essential criteria for a role.
If you have a disability, a learning difficulty such as dyslexia or a medical condition which you believe may affect your performance during any aspect of our selection process, we'll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to perform at your best.
How to apply:
To apply for this role please follow the link below to the Jobs page on our website, and complete the application form demonstrating how you meet the essential shortlisting criteria.
We looking forward to hearing from you.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early, if we receive enough suitable applications to take forward to interview prior to the published closing date. If you have already registered & started an application, then we will contact you to advise of the amended closing date wherever possible.
Anticipated timeframe: 28 September 2025 to 28 October 2025
Location: Dakar, Senegal
Background for project work
Senegal has been part of the dynamic in eliminating avoidable blindness in accordance with the WHO guidelines. It is in this context the National Eye Health Promotion Program was set up to make eye care available and accessible through provision of:
The preventive and curative management of blinding eye diseases by providing quality care at a cost compatible with the country's level of development.
The promotion of eye health through information and awareness among the population.
In consideration of this a strategic plan was developed commencing in 2021 and concluding in 2025. The plan aligned with the National Health and Social Development Plan (PNDSS) and the 2014-2019 Global Action Plan for Universal Eye Health. It presents the main priority actions that will serve as a reference for all eye health stakeholders.
Sightsavers in partnership with the National Eye Health Promotion Program are now looking to complete an evaluation of the quality and success of the project and whether objectives set from the outset have been met alongside the level of impact the strategies put in place have achieved.
What this project work will focus on
Sightsavers is inviting bids from evaluation consultancies or consultants to undertake a detailed evaluation of the 2021-2025 eye health strategic plan to determine the progress towards its full implementation.
Key responsibilities
The consultant should seek to achieve the following objectives
- Carry out an internal review of the implementation of the plan's activities and strategic priorities to determine their level of implementation.
- Collect other activities or initiative implemented from the eye health program, the health regional directorates and health districts.
- Conduct interviews with the program's stakeholders: the human resources department of the MSAS, the planning, research and statistics department, technical, development and financial partners, the School Medical Control Division, civil society association.
- Compile and clean the data collected.
- Evaluate the logical framework of the strategic plan and how it contributes to achieving the programme targets.
- Analyse the strategic plan budget by looking at various sources of funding and level of utilisation (mobilization, gap).
- Identify the constraints and difficulties noted in the implementation of the plan.
- Identify gaps in achieving the target focusing on the strategic priorities and in alignment with health system building blocks and propose solutions.
- Develop and share a detailed and comprehensive assessment report.
Timeline
The evaluation will run from 28 September 2025 to 28 October 2025
Consultant’s expertise
- Proven track record in policy development and strategic planning.
- Strong professional knowledge in the field of public health.
- Depth of experience in the field of eye health.
- Familiarity with WHO guides and countries strategy documents.
- Have practical experience in evaluating strategic plans.
- First class report writing skills.
- Clear ability to synthesize and analyse qualitative information.
- Previous experience conducting interviews, meetings, and workshops.
- Strong listening skills.
- Knowledge of Senegal context is an added advantage.
Payment Terms
The agreed budget will be discussed at interview.
Consultants with a proven track record in the above will be procured to undertake the project through an expression of interest process.
Full details of the project, Scope of Work, Outputs/ Deliverables and budgets can be found within the ToR.
How to express your interest:
To express your interest to undertake this assignment, please read the complete ToR, and complete our Expression of Interest (EoI) which can be found via the application link.
The EoI response should include roles and responsibilities of the consultants and number of days input, as well as a proposed workplan and indicative budget, including team members’ daily rates for the assignment and any other anticipated expenses.
Interested bidders are also requested to include an example of previous similar work.
The deadline to submit your EoI is 12 September 2025 23.3pm GMT UK.
Interviews are likely to be held week commencing 15 September 2025 onwards.
Please note due to the high volume of applications anticipated it is possible that only successful applicants will be contacted. We reserve the right to close this ad early.
Selection Criteria:
Sightsavers is committed to running a fair and transparent tender process, ensuring that all bidders are treated and assessed equally during this process. Bidder quotation responses will be evaluated against Essential Criteria, Capability Criteria, Sustainability Criteria and Commercial Criteria. These criteria have been especially created to help SCI determine which bidder is able to offer the best quality and most commercially competitive solution to meet our needs and deliver the most effective programming to our beneficiaries.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.