Senior Children and Participation Officer

Communities & Skills

Collaborative, open, inclusive and fair - we work with and through partners to ensure Londoners can shape healthy, empowered and productive lives. Communities and Skills is led by Executive Director, Tunde Olayinka and is comprised of the following units: Civil Society & Sport, Communities & Social Policy, Group Public Health Unit, Skills and Employment and Health, Children and Young Londoners.

About the team

The Children and Young Londoners team in the Health, Children and Young Londoners Unit, are passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of young Londoners and ensuring all our young people have access to positive opportunities to fulfil their potential. We believe that all young Londoners should be able to thrive in safe and welcoming communities and have the chance to have a say and contribute to London’s future.

About the role

The Mayor is committed to supporting London’s children and young people. He continues to ensure that young people are helped at critical stages in their lives with positive activities and better access to opportunities through training, mentoring, education, and employment.

Ensuring that the voices of young Londoners are heard and embedded across the work of the Mayor is crucial. As future leaders of our city, their insight and opinions are vital in helping design solutions to some of the issues we face.

This has been a longstanding pillar of the Mayor’s work and has been facilitated by a range of youth engagement programmes across many of the GLA’s policy areas e.g. health inequalities, the environment and safety. 

Working as part of a small and busy team, you will provide policy expertise and leadership, and be an advocate for, children and young people’s engagement and participation.

The post holder will be a strategic lead for youth engagement and will convene partners from the sector across London. They will manage three youth groups that help influence policy development and delivery on the issues that impact on young people.

We’re looking for someone with demonstrable ability and experience of leading children and young people’s engagement and participation, as well as managing dynamic teams of children and young people. An enthusiasm and passion to work for the benefit of all young Londoners, particularly the most disadvantaged, is important.

This role is based at London Fire Brigade’s Head Office (Union Street SE1 0LL).

What your day will look like:

• Lead and manage three different youth groups, ensuing that they deliver young people’s participation to a high standard and gain a wide range of employability skills and experience.
• Manage a wide range of young people’s participation and engagement projects that feed into several policy areas, liaising with internal and external partners.  
• Effectively line manage a post, providing support and guidance and ensuring they deliver to a high standard.
• Work effectively with key senior stakeholders, providing expertise and advice to the GLA Group and wider partners on best practice in relation to children and young people’s participation.
• Oversee and manage relevant resources and budgets.

Skills, knowledge and experience

To be considered for the role you must meet the following essential criteria:

• Demonstrable ability and experience of leading children and young people engagement and participation, managing teams of children and young people.
• An understanding of approaches and best practice models for project development and management.
• Experience in stakeholder management at all levels.
• Being responsible and accountable for the implementation and performance management of projects in accordance with recognised good practice/procedures.
• An understanding of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, together with evidence of working successfully within this framework.
• A good knowledge of relevant policy and legislation related to education, children and young people

How to apply

If you would like to apply for the role you will need to submit the following:

• Up to date CV
• Personal statement with a maximum of 1500 words. Please ensure you address how you demonstrate the essential criteria and competencies outlined in the advert.

Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement have a maximum file size of 1.5MB each and upload your Personal Statement to the ‘Additional Documents’ section of the form, ensuring you address the technical requirements and competencies in your Personal Statement.

Word or PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images. Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement are saved with the job reference number as part of the naming convention (E.g. “CV – applicant name - 012345)

The GLA Competency Framework Guidelines further detailing each competency and the different level indicators can be found here: GLA competency framework

If you have questions about the role