The role

Working as part of a dynamic team of community organisers to train, develop and build the power within a network of organisations by developing leaders, strengthening partner organisations and our Alliance, winning on issues and changing the landscape of power in NSW. This is through the art of community organising.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Building, maintaining and growing relationships with leaders and communities (including migrant leaders) across Sydney to:
  • Organise large scale community actions on key issues with diverse communities
  • Discerning and assessing community needs, resources and policy issues related to housing,energy, temporary migration and climate as they arise
  • Collectivise power analysis and political insight.
  • Prepare community briefings on complex housing and energy public policies.
  • Moving decision-makers and elected officials in NSW on community issues.
  • Liaising with civil society organisations and government bodies to promote awareness of community issues related to housing, energy, temporary migration and climate.
  • Delivery of training on community development and organising to leaders from civil society organisations through courses and ongoing evaluation.

• Preparing submissions and resources for reports to philanthropists and grant makers to secure funding

• Oversee strategy and implementation of multi-issue campaigns and strategy within a coalition of diverse civil society organisations

• Coordinate community development with a local team of Alliance partners in a specific region/local government area of Sydney

KEY ATTRIBUTES, QUALITIES AND COMPETENCIES

• Relationship building - You are a ‘people person’ with experience building and managing multiple relationships with a lot of people across different personalities, ethnic and professional backgrounds. You are able to coach and support volunteers to do hard things, and you like listening to people’s stories and can share your own in a powerful and persuasive way. You have demonstrated cultural competency skills.
• Resilience - Organising to create systemic change for the common good can be challenging. Working with communities who have been systematically disempowered by the Australian political, housing and energy system means there will be barriers and setbacks. You can take critique in the spirit that it is given.
• Persuasiveness - You have the confidence to ‘make the ask’ of community leaders, businesses and government officials. You can prepare strong grant applications and pitches to philanthropy.
• Out of the box thinker - You are solution focused and can think laterally about strategies and tactics to achieve social change. You are a self-aware person who understands power dynamics and is capable of thinking practically about how to change the world.
• Outstanding team player - You have had experience working in small teams where your work is closely connected to others' work. You work collaboratively with leaders and colleagues and thrive on working with others, including using online collaboration tools to communicate throughout the day.
• Organised and efficient - You know how to deliver an outcome. When you say you will do something by a certain date, you can be relied on to get it done - even if it means overcoming obstacles.
• Training Facilitator - You have great public speaking and coaching skills, you have extensive experience training complex concepts to diverse audiences. You can coach on leadership development to diverse groups to activate them to take action on issues that affect them.
• Supervisor - You are confident to provide social work supervision and field education for social work placements.

KEY REQUIREMENTS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Essential:

• You have lived experience in at least one of our three key areas of campaigning, temporary migration, affordable housing or housing energy.
• You are a professional with extensive experience working with migrant communities (3 years+)
• Demonstrated experience organising within broadbase organising or coalition building across religious, union and community sector organisations
• Demonstrated understanding and experience working the policy landscape around housing, energy and climate
• Have experience with the relational community organising approach
• Experience of successful grant making and stakeholder engagement
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing campaign plans and actions designed to deliver on a campaign strategy
• Project management skills and experience within social change context
• Proven ability to develop and articulate campaign plans to drive change in complex systems
• Experience providing strategic analysis to diverse organisations including political insights
• Experience overseeing the design and manage the delivery of campaign trainings, actions or workshops
• Working knowledge of Australian political systems at all levels of Government
• Understanding of the social and cultural dynamics of the geography of Sydney

Desirable:

• Fluency in English
• Fluency in language(s) other than English spoken by communities in Sydney

• Experience in holding meetings, teaching and training
• Knowledge of electronic database management systems
• Existing relationships with leaders in Sydney’s migrant communities
• Experience as a spokesperson or working with the media
• Demonstrated ability to supervise social work students on placement

Qualifications

• An ACWA accredited qualification: ACWA accredited diploma or higher course.
• A relevant diploma or higher qualification related to community services in the following areas:

• • sociology; social, political, economic structures and function
  • social policy, human development and function including psychological, physical and social aspects
  • general and specialised welfare services and systems
  • work with individuals, families, groups and communities
• Or a minimum of 3 years experience in community development and organising.

Please note, no applications after the closing date will be considered.

A position description is attached.