Inspiring Young Voices is a SCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation) which exists to inspire and be inspired by the voices of children and young people in Highland facing challenges in their lives. We seek to ensure that these voices are raised, heard and acted upon. We will advocate for changes in policy and practice across Highland which support and promote the meaningful participation of children and young people at every level of decision making.

The role of the Participation Lead is to enable participation through engagement with children and young people, particularly those with additional support needs/ disabilities, to have their voices heard – where and when they wish, empowering them to influence policy and practice.

The role of the Participation Lead is to enable participation through engagement with children and young people, particularly those with additional support needs & disabilities, to have their voices heard and empower them to influence policy and practice.

The Participation Lead is responsible for leading the development and delivery of our participation work and projects. Including:

• Supporting the members of Inspire Highland, our youth-led collective voice for young people in Highland. Inspire Highland is a creative, dynamic project which aims to promote the rights, participation and inclusion of all young people (up to the age of 25) who are facing challenges in their lives.
• Developing and piloting a place based youth-led participation approach, working with young people with disabilities and additional support needs to develop their learning and understanding of inequality, stigma, discrimination and youth-led participation. From this shared understanding, young people will be supported to identify the barriers and enablers they face to participation and use this to develop youth-led participation projects to bring about transformational change.
• Developing and delivering a program of work supporting ‘New Young Scots’ in Highland to have their voices heard, including young asylum seekers and refugees.

To deliver these projects the Participation Lead will work with and line-manage our Youth Participation Worker.

The Participation Lead also promotes children’s rights, inclusion and participation across services, offering training, advice and/or support.

More widely, Inspiring Young Voices has played a key role in the development and drafting of the Highland Community Planning Partnership’s Integrated Children’s Service Plan (ICSP) 2023-2026. We have also been involved in the development of the Highland Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy 2024-2029.The Integrated Children’s Service Plan “recognises the necessity for greater active participation of children, young people and families in all aspects of planning and service delivery”. Additionally, the implementation of the Highland Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy supports this and outlines a statement of intent to enable “all children and young people from 0-25 years (26 year for care experienced young people) feel that they can meaningfully participate in decision making processes and influence change in their own lives and in wider society.” There is now an exciting opportunity for a new Participation Lead to support the implementation of the Integrated Children’s Service Plan and the Highland Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy through their work with Inspiring Young Voices.

Our approach to our participation work is rights-based and grounded in trauma informed practices and principles to ensure that our charity responds in ways that prevent further harm, support recovery, address inequalities and improve life chances of vulnerable young people in Highland. Our work is grounded in the principles and approaches of youth work and community development, and we adhere to the Community Learning and Development (CLD) Standards Council Code of Ethics.

We are a small charity and teamwork is essential to our effective functioning and success. It will sometimes be necessary and desirable for team members to share responsibility for a range of tasks such as communications, fundraising, monitoring, administration and reporting.

This post will require the postholder to be able to undertake some business travel across Highland.

Based in the beautiful East Neuk of Fife, the Cellardyke Trust is a small charity established to support innovative community projects. We aim to work with individuals, families, groups, organisations and companies to help strengthen the community, and we have a particular focus on arts and heritage projects.

The Trust now has an exciting opportunity for a Project Coordinator to join our team, working closely with the board of trustees. We are seeking a highly organised, self-motivated individual with a strong interest in both heritage and community, to take our Manx Beauty Project through its initial development phase.

The Manx Beauty is an historic fishing vessel, built in Cellardyke in 1937 and subsequently owned and operated from various ports across the British Isles. Now in a poor state of repair, our ambition is to rebuild the Manx Beauty and improve lives and community in the process. The priorities of the Manx Beauty Project are to create training opportunities for young people and volunteers to engage in practical boat rebuilding, restoration and recycling. Alongside students from the local high school in Anstruther, the target volunteers are those isolated through social, economic or health issues. We will create a supportive environment for certificated training opportunities. There will also be additional openings for volunteers to engage in related arts and cultural heritage projects.

We have funding in place from the National Lottery Fund Heritage Fund to begin this process and take the project through to the next stage of funding. If the additional funding is granted then the Project Coordinator will have the option to extend their contract for a further period of 4 years to manage the project, alongside the recruitment of additional positions to deliver the project.

The Project Coordinator will prepare the application for the delivery phase and work with partners to ensure that all preparations are complete. This includes developing all policies and procedures, managing budgets and resources, developing training courses with partners, carrying out risk assessments, developing links with other agencies and seeking additional funding from trusts and foundations or other funding sources. They will also help build the sustainability of the organisation.

The successful candidate will bring a proven track record of successful project management, delivering projects within budgets and timescales, with environmental sustainability at the core. We are seeking an individual with excellent people and communication skills, preferably with experience of managing volunteers. An inclusive approach with a drive to facilitate access for all to engage with heritage and the ability to motivate and inspire others to do likewise is a key value. A track record of successful partnership building and a creative and collaborative approach are essential, together with problem solving and negotiation skills.

Fundraising experience from a variety of sources is strongly preferred. Experience of Heritage Lottery projects, Youth and Community work and/or Maritime Heritage are highly desirable.