RFF Development WorkerHours: Half Time (18.5 hours)

Employed by: RVALine Manager: nominated RFF executive committee member

Salary £26,706 (f.t.e.)Plus 10% Pension contribution

Key responsibilities:-

  • To develop relationships between RFF and harder to reach faith groups, including majority black churches, Asian minority faith groups and those from EU and other new immigrant communities
  • To establish the capabilities, concerns and support needs of harder to reach and other minority faith groups, be an advocate for and support them in accessing facilities and building capacity to meet their constituents’ needs
  • To increase the engagement of harder to reach and other minority faith organisations and groups with other representative fora and support partnerships, enhancing their influence with strategic partners and agencies
  • To facilitate and support harder to reach and other minority faith groups working together, sharing knowledge & resources and working on projects in partnership with other faith groups
  • To work with other Building for Strength development workers in mapping new immigrant communities and groups, establishing needs and developing a training and development programme to build organisational capacity
  • To contribute to the overall aims of the project by sharing outcomes/best practice, local intelligence and engage with local, regional or national community development and capacity building network meetings as appropriate

Person Specification

Title of Post: RFF Development Worker

Salary: NJC Spinal Points

Responsible to: RFF Committee

Experience

Essential

  • 1 year’s experience of community development work, paid or voluntary.
  • 1 year’s experience of working or volunteering for a faith, voluntary or community organisation.

Desirable

  • Experience of working in partnership with different organisations
  • Experience of supporting committees concerned with the governance of organisations
  • Experience of designing, delivering or commissioning training.
  • Experience of fundraising.
  • Experience of development work with faith communities.
  • Experience of running groups or organisations

Skills and abilities

Essential

  • Confident, clear and concise communications in all forms including both written and verbal reports.
  • Community development/enabling skills
  • Good standard of IT skills and literacy to be able to produce newsletters and update the website.
  • The ability to plan projects.
  • Good administrative skills.

Desirable

  • Strong facilitating skills
  • The ability to promote good teamwork
  • The skills to enable the growth of individuals and groups
  • Marketing skills

Knowledge

Essential

  • A good understanding of the Voluntary Sector environment
  • An understanding of Faith communities.

Desirable

  • A good understanding of the geography and community of Reading
  • A good understanding of the structure and function of agencies providing public services, e.g. local government, NHS etc.

Other requirements

Essential

  • Able to work occasionally in the evening and at the weekends

(Faith Forum Committee meets in the evening – small African churches have pastors that are only available outside working hours, - Committee members have day jobs – younger people (e.g. Muslims who understand the west) have jobs.)

Legal requirements

Essential

  • Entitled to be employed in the UK
  • Declaration of unspent convictions
  • Meet all legal requirements of the Independent Safeguarding Authority ie. currently Criminal Records Bureau checks and from July 2010 the new Vetting and Barring Scheme.