Purpose of Job

This internship will undertake front-line community work through supporting the Grassy Riggs Older People’s Drop in Café. The café work will take place in the mornings, 8.30am-1pm.

In the afternoon, the internship will focus on supporting MCA to deliver its role as a third sector interface. Key tasks will include undertaking a survey of our key stakeholders, as well as other strategic activity.

The intern will gain hands-on experience in front-line community work, and a broad range of third sector experience including stakeholder engagement. Job coaching and interview practice will be included programme of work, as well as access to free training. The internship would be ideal for anyone looking for a first role in the third sector.

You can see more about being on placement at MCA here:What's It Like to Work at MCA? - Student Placement Experience - Midlothian Community Action (MCA)

About our organisation

Midlothian Community Action (MCA) is the Third Sector Interface (TSI) for Midlothian, supporting local community organisations, volunteers, and social enterprises.www.mca.scot

The Grassy Riggs is a service for older people and their carers in Woodburn, Dalkeith. The service is based in the Woodburn Community Hub building and provides a warm, supportive environment where people over the age of 65 can come together to experience meaningful social engagement, make friends and try out new opportunities.The Grassy Riggs - Midlothian Community Action (MCA)

Where the role fits in our organisation

Our Communities and Place team consists of our Community Transport, Employability, Volunteering, Children and Families and Locality teams. This role sits within the Community Transport team, although the focus of the role is on Business Support, Employability and Volunteering – no technical knowledge of Transport or bus driving is required.

What You'll Do

The Connecting Communities Development Officer will play a critical role in creating and assuring the sustainability of Community Transport across Dumfries and Galloway over the next 4 years. There is significant value to be unlocked within this sector by the addition of development capacity through this role and we are excited about the opportunities for this new team.

A detailed knowledge of Transport or Community Transport is not needed for this role – it is a business support role, and will not involve the direct delivery of any community transport operations. There will be no driving, no logistics planning and no working directly with drivers.

Instead, this role will support Community Transport Operators (CTOs) with the evolution of their Business Plans, grant finding, volunteer recruitment and employability opportunities. You will form great relationships with the CTO Managers, making sure you add real value amongst their daily jobs.

This role would suit someone with experience of working in business support or administration for a third sector organisation and with ambitions to make an even bigger difference to the people of Dumfries and Galloway through a regional role, or a new entrant with the correct skills and approach.

The role will be line managed and supported by the Lead for Community Transport and further supported by the wider TSDG Comms and Business Support teams. We are advertising for the Lead Officer in parallel with this post, so this is an exciting opportunity to join and shape a new regional project in Dumfries and Galloway.

It is principally a 9am – 5pm, 4 day/week role, with very limited evening or weekend working anticipated. The actual work pattern would be discussed at interview but we can offer a high degree of flexibility through our flexi-time policy. A minimum 25% of time would be expected to be in the Dumfries office, 25% out with the CTOs across the region and the rest home-working or in the Dumfries office.

• Be the visible face of TSDG to the Community Transport Operators so that they feel well-supported in their delivery.
• Support CTOs in their development aspirations such as decarbonisation, fleet replacement, governance etc.
• Work with CTOs to ensure that their Business Models are better able to attract grant funding and earned income.
• Work with the TSDG Employability team and CTOs to plan and deliver effective Employability programmes through CTOs.
• Plan and deliver a programme of region-wide volunteer-recruitment to CTOs, in partnership with CTOs to ensure that it matches local need.
• Work with CTOs to gather and evaluate relevant information as per the agreed plan around the impact of their services.
• Support colleagues across TSDG to deliver on our joint outcomes and contribute to effective team working to make TSDG a great place to work.

More about you

• You will have experience of business support or administration, or equivalent Training / Qualifications – this role would suit a new entrant with the right skills and approach.
• You will be able to quickly form excellent working relationships with a wide range of partners.
• You will highlight emerging opportunities to line management, displaying good judgment and a bias for action.
• You will take responsibility for delivery of your own outcomes, and to escalate challenges or concerns in good time.
• You will be a good team player, with good verbal and written communication skills and good knowledge of current common workplace IT systems.

You can read more about our exciting new approach to Community Transport, and the Business Case for the new model, here: Community Transport Dumfries and Galloway | Supporting the Development of Community Transport

Where the role fits in our organisation

Community Health and Wellbeing Our Community Health and Wellbeing team works alongside third sector organisations, partners and communities across Dumfries and Galloway to strengthen community health, wellbeing and social care support. The team supports collaboration, sector development, community engagement, partnership working and the development of innovative approaches that help communities thrive. The team includes Lead Officers, Development Officers and Coordinators working across thematic and place-based programmes to support collaboration, build sector capacity, strengthen connections and improve outcomes for communities across the region.

What You'll Do

We are looking for a highly organised and proactive colleague who is passionate about strengthening community health and wellbeing through effective coordination and partnership working. You’ll thrive on keeping complex workstreams running smoothly, supporting collaboration, and making sure information, communication, and resources flow seamlessly across our programme.

With a solid understanding of the third sector and strong coordination skills, you will play a key role in supporting the development of DGCollectives, helping to organise activity, maintain shared work plans, and ensure that our programme delivers high-quality support to organisations across Dumfries and Galloway.

• Coordinate collaborative activity across the Community Health and Wellbeing programme, scheduling meetings, preparing agendas, recording actions, and supporting meaningful follow-up.
• Maintain contact lists, communication channels, shared resources, and documentation for programme areas and collaboratives.
• Support Development Officers with planning and coordination across multiple thematic and place based workstreams.
• Prepare, update and organise shared work plans, trackers, reports and programme documentation to support smooth programme delivery.
• Support the coordination of shared systems, workflows and programme trackers to help maintain visibility across activity and priorities.
• Assist with the organisation of events, workshops, sector engagement sessions, and collaborative activities.
• Coordinate and support the delivery of forums, events, workshops, sector engagement sessions and collaborative activity across the programme.
• Produce clear, accessible updates, summaries and briefings for internal and external stakeholders.
• Help organise and maintain programme data, insight and records to support reporting, learning and continuous improvement.
• Support the Lead Officer and offer light-touch organisational support to the Deputy CEO when required.
• Represent TSDG professionally and contribute to a positive, supportive team culture.

More about you

• You bring experience of working within or alongside the third sector, ideally within health, social care, or community wellbeing.
• You are exceptionally organised, able to manage multiple priorities, track actions, and keep workstreams aligned.
• You’re confident creating and maintaining documentation, whether that’s action notes, work plans, trackers, or briefing materials
• You have strong communication skills and can build positive relationships with partners from different sectors.
• You’re comfortable analysing information, capturing learning, and communicating it clearly and accessibly.
• You’re digitally confident, with experience using tools such as Teams, shared drives, spreadsheets, or project management platforms.
• You work well both independently and as part of a dispersed team, sharing knowledge and supporting colleagues.
• You are self-motivated, committed to improvement, and keen to contribute to a programme that strengthens the sector and the communities we serve.

Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire SCIO is a dynamic local charity and the Third Sector Interface working to make East Renfrewshire a better place to live, work and do business. From climate action awareness, volunteer programmes, capacity supports and wellbeing activities, we deliver projects that promote inclusion, sustainability and community wellbeing.

Job Role

The purpose of this role is to lead and deliver our marketing and communications activity. Working with the Communications Support Worker, management team and wider programme teams, the post holder will join us at an exciting time as we settle into our new collaborative community space at Rouken Glen Park.

The role will have a key focus on improving how we communicate our programme activities and showcase our impact and that of the wider community sector in East Renfrewshire. This includes supporting the development of a new website as well as testing and developing other methods and channels to reach a wide range of audiences, including local residents, volunteers, partners and funders.

We are therefore looking for a proactive, creative and confident communicator with excellent writing skills and strong digital and content creation skills. You will be comfortable taking the lead as well as guiding and supporting colleagues across teams to deliver effective communications, helping to build confidence and enthusiasm for marketing and communications across the organisation.

Key Tasks

Working with the Communications Support Worker, the wider Voluntary Action staff and management team, you will:

1. Increase visibility of our new venue and community space, the Community Wellbeing and Enterprise Hub in Rouken Glen Park, and promote its offer to local communities, organisations and partners.

2. Work with the management team to improve how we communicate and engage with local third sector, partners, as well as wider communities, share strategic priorities, plans and consultations, and ensure meaningful opportunities for feedback.

3. Support the development of a new website to provide engaging information, practical support and opportunities for the third sector to have a voice and influence.

4. Work with programme teams to identify and capture impact stories from across activities, collaborations and events and develop these into content across a range of formats suited to different audiences and channels.

5. Oversight of organisation’s marketing and communications activities, guiding and supporting Communications Support Worker and programme teams on communications planning and implementation.

6. Work with Communications Support Worker to ensure co-ordinated and prioritised content planning across channels to increase impact and avoid duplication.

7. Work with programme teams to gather and use audience insights to shape and test marketing and communications methods and channels, improving how we engage with key and new audiences eg, young people.

Download the full job description and person specification.