Wanted: Associate Consultants (Social Change)
By: Noreen Blanluet
Tags: Wales, Freelance, Recruitment, Consultant, Social Change

In a nutshell: We’re looking for new people to join our team of freelance associate consultants at the Co-production Network for Wales.

Closing date: 15th January 2021

Location: home-based, Wales preferred

Contact details: noreen@copronet.wales

Who we are, the official blurb: The Co-production Network for Wales is the leading organisation in Wales with specialist expertise in co-production and citizen involvement. It offers capability building across sectors through training and consultancy, in both strategic and delivery organisations. Our strength lies in our ability to combine hands-on facilitation and training skills with advisory and strategic input, and in our distributed membership of citizen and professional practitioner members across sectors: a network of doers and thinkers who inspire and empower one another, share power and work together to bring positive change to our public services and communities. Find us at https://copronet.wales .

What’s happening? We are planning ahead for an increased workload in 2021 and are looking to add capacity to the team. We’re looking to recuit several people who can offer at least 1 day’s consultancy per week on average. (We will need about 4–5 additional days’ capacity per week across our new associates.)

For us to be a good fit we need you to be:

1. An experienced facilitator

It’s not so much about which techniques are in your toolbox and how long you’ve been doing this for, so much as what your approach is like. You are:

- person centred / strengths based / relationships focused;

- trauma informed, compassionate;

- comfortable operating in complexity and thinking about systems;

- tuned into creating and holding welcoming spaces (including online);

- bringing kindness, empathy and non-judgement;

- able to balance the objectives for the session with being participant-led.

2. Organised!

You’re good at managing projects, you have attention to detail, and you can juggle different briefs and projects at once. Also, you are a good communicator: you’ll be keeping track for the client team you’re supporting, which will keep them on track.

3. Into positive social change

Understanding and experience of co-production as an approach, is a bonus. If this is new to you it’s not a deal breaker: you can learn it from the rest of the team — the important thing is that we have the same values base. If your background includes things like asset-based community development, human-centred design, or participatory approaches, we’re probably talking about roughly the same thing under a different label, and you’ll fit right in.

4. In Wales (preferred)

We are, after all, the Co-production Network for Wales, and we work across the statutory and third sectors across Wales. While we can brief you on the devolved policies and structures of national and local government, it would be better if you experience these first hand because you live here. And of course one day (maybe) we’ll be working in person again, and the logistics and costs of travel will be a factor.

5. Self-employed, and with available capacity

We have a team of associate consultants who work under the umbrella of the Co-production Network for Wales. You need to be set up so that you can invoice us, and also so that you are taking on a portfolio of projects alongside ours. We will need 1–2 days per week from you, with the potential to grow this over time.

Does this sound interesting?

Email noreen@copronet.wales, and tell us how all this resonates with you and matches your practice. Keep it simple, 1 side of A4 max in length. Also please give us an indication of your hourly &/or day rate(s).

Timescales:

Please write by close of play on Friday 15th January 2021. If we think you might be a good fit, we’ll set up a Zoom chat with two of our senior consultants (Noreen and Mike) at a mutually convenient time in w.c. 18th or 25th January.

(Please note: I will be off work from 18th December to 11th January, so don’t worry if you don’t hear back in between those dates. I’ll get back to you on my return.)