Youth Programmes Lead

Are you motivated to support young people, helping them thrive? Could you help us grow a network of future Climate Action Leaders for Morecambe Bay; younger people acting and caring for one of the most biodiverse places in the country?

If you are passionate about connecting younger people with nature and their local places and have the skills and experience to lead and inspire, we would love to hear from you.

We are looking for a self-motivated, energetic and friendly person who can work alongside the Youth Programmes Officer and, together, shape and deliver a new youth programme at our charity called Our Bay Our Future. Over the next 4 years you will engage thousands of local young people from our coastal communities and support them on a path to becoming climate action leaders for Morecambe Bay.

You will need to take an inclusive approach to working with younger people creating multiple opportunities for them to connect with nature, investigate environmental issues and deliver community-based climate action projects whilst ensuring young people grow in confidence and have new outdoor experiences.

About You:

You’ll have a love of working on collaborative community projects and a minimum of 2 years’ previous professional experience of working with younger people, particularly those experiencing challenges in their lives, through their economic or social situation or through different abilities. You'll be comfortable as the lead staff member for the project, showing initiative, pragmatism and both external and internal leadership.

You’ll know how to lead and coordinate a programme with multiple projects running concurrently, have excellent people skills, experience of line management, budgets, monitoring and evaluation, and best practice working with young people. You’ll also be comfortable mixing management and administrative tasks with hands-on delivery.

You'll have flexibility, creativity, and a willingness to adapt to the needs of the people you are working with. You must have an interest in Morecambe Bay, climate change/environmental issues and be willing to travel around the Bay area. Good organisational skills, the ability to liaise with early years and school communities (including young people, parents/carers, families, teachers or group leaders) and wider community groups and youth settings.

We want to appoint someone with knowledge of & a love & enthusiasm for the natural world, particularly coastal places, with which they can inspire and support youth learning in this field but also someone with knowledge of the challenges we face through climate change.

The projects you are leading will be delivered around Morecambe Bay, which extends from Barrow in Furness in South Cumbria, to Fleetwood in North Lancashire. Whilst we strongly encourage & incentivise the use of public transport for our staff team, it isn’t always possible due to the work we do, so the ability to drive & have access to your own car for work is important. We reimburse agreed transport costs, of course.

As the role supports younger people to act where they live, & to feel pride & passion for their area, we feel it’s important that you live here too. This also helps to minimise travelling within our large operating area and build empathy with local young people.

This is a hybrid role with a combination of home-based working (within the Morecambe Bay Area) and regular shared co-working spaces (exact locations to be confirmed to suit successful candidates). As a team, we meet regularly on-line and in person at different locations around the Bay, and at our small base at Grange over Sands. We (currently) have a lock-up where our kit is stored, in Kendal.

For a full list of all the key responsibilities, the full job description, and interview dates, please download our recruitment pack.

Our Bay Our Future is a partnership with Lancaster University (Morecambe Bay Curriculum Team), Lancaster & Morecambe College and the University of Cumbria. You must be able to work in partnership with external colleagues to achieve the best outcomes both for our charity and for the wider partnership.

These roles are funded by the National Lottery Community Fund Climate Action Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, Lancaster University, Lancaster and Morecambe College, Morecambe Bay Partnership and University of Cumbria have received £1.5million from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK, to support more than 5000 local young people to gain access to new climate action projects designed to grow the skills needed to care for Morecambe Bay and secure local ‘green jobs’.