Engagement Officer (Environment) WCC617586

Job Details:

Salary range: £40,005 – £46,053 per annum
Work location: Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QP
Hours per week: 36
Contract type: Permanent
Closing date: 27 October 2024
Interview date: Week Commencing 4 & 11 November 2024
Contact details for an informal discussion: Grace Corn, Principal Engagement Officer via email at GCORN@WESTMINSTER.GOV.UK

About Us:

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF GRACE’S PASSION AND DEDICATION

The Environment & Communities Directorate in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where dedicated people like Grace are using their skills and passion to progress environmental action in the heart of London.

It was at university where Grace first started campaigning for improved recycling facilities, water refill stations, and other ecofriendly initiatives. When she saw the real difference people could make when they came together, she knew she wanted to dedicate her career to community action for the planet.

When she joined us as Principal Engagement Officer, Climate Emergency, she quickly established herself as a passionate advocate for community outreach, engaging various stakeholders across Westminster in the social causes, impacts and solutions to climate change, air pollution, and biodiversity loss.

Grace became a driving force behind our first Citizens’ Climate Assembly, which took place across two weekends in the summer of 2023. Fifty residents were chosen at random from across our diverse communities to come together, learn about the climate emergency, and deliberate how we overcome the barriers to becoming a net zero city by 2040. The assembly produced several recommendations which have informed the evolution of our Climate Emergency Action Plan. Due to the success of this initiative, we’re holding more assemblies to continue community involvement in local decision-making.

To see the work of the Westminster Citizens’ Climate Assembly, click here.

The Role:

As an Engagement Officer with our Environment team you can make your own powerful contribution to Westminster’s success. Driving outreach, influence and engagement in relation to the air quality, climate and ecological emergency agendas, you’ll work with your colleagues as you support the development and implementation of strategic communication and engagement activities.

You’ll focus on creating greater awareness of the team and its ambitions, working to improve the dialogue between the council and our communities, and support effective engagement by building an understanding of Westminster’s local context, diverse communities and priorities. We’ll also expect you to help deliver a range of external engagement events, raising awareness, building a deep understanding of climate action and encouraging behaviour change.

Maintaining positive partnerships with public and private sector stakeholders across the borough, and working collaboratively with partners on city-wide activities, you’ll develop innovative, effective and measurable approaches to improve engagement on climate action. And in addition to supporting internal programmes aimed at increasing staff awareness and our ability to respond to the environmental challenges we face, you’ll create an inclusive environment for everyone by demonstrating a strong commitment and personal leadership towards equality and diversity.

Please refer to the Job Description for more information.

About You:

With well developed experience of working on proactive community engagement campaigns and projects, and of engaging effectively with different stakeholder groups, you’ll have worked with external agencies and partners to organise, run and take ownership of events with diverse communities. With this in mind you should have a good appreciation of the differing needs of diverse and multicultural societies, and possess the ability to build productive working relationships with a wide range of internal and external organisations.

We’ll expect you to have a genuine passion and interest in climate change and environmental sustainability issues, and your strong organisational skills will allow you to plan and manage your time and workload effectively. Capable of influencing others and building genuine and effective relationships, we’ll expect you to be skilled at working collaboratively with a variety of different stakeholders and organisations.

It goes without saying that you’ll have excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills, and be adept at presenting information clearly and concisely across all platforms, including social media. You should also be capable of thinking and acting independently and proactively, and managing complex or competing demands.

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.   

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit  https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties  

As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.  

The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.