Exciting Unique job opportunity for the right person

NWG Network is looking for a creative and experienced professional to develop a suite of tools and resources to support sports organisations to ensure that the voices of survivors of abuse can contribute to and inform strategies and implementation plans.

The post is for 22 hrs per week and the salary is £40k pro rota, 3% pension contribution, 6 weeks annual leave pro rota.

This is a 1-year contract with the potential to renew and we are open to considering a secondment position. There is an option to work from home, the office or a combination of the two.

There will be some travel involved.

Do get in touch with Sheila at sheila@nwgnetwork or call 01332 585 371 if you wish to discuss this opportunity with us.

CV’s are to be submitted to [email protected] by 8 am Tuesday 2nd May 2023

Role Criteria

• Must have previous experience working with those who have lived experience.
• Ability to engage with those with lived experience of Child Exploitation as a consultative process to include abuse, physical harm, disability and cultural diversity.
• Experience working with stakeholders
• Ability to interpret multiple voices into an effective suite of tools and resources.
• Gather learning from existing panels and engagement.
• Demonstrate strong interpersonal skills.
• Good communication and negotiating skills and ability to manage expectations.
• Excellent report writing and presentation skills.
• Have experience in the authoring and creative development of tools and resources.
• Experience in creating and managing a network.
• Demonstrate similar work in this field.
• Can demonstrate experience in developing a project plan and reporting against progress.
• Ability to effectively manage project development from inception to completion.
• Demonstrate strong organisational skills.
• Work to timescales.
• Ability to work on your own and within a team.

Job Opportunity

Introduction

NWG Network is a charitable organisation formed as a UK network of over 14,500 practitioners who disseminate information to professionals working on the issue of child exploitation (CE) and trafficking within the UK. The NWG Network covers voluntary, statutory services and private companies working in this field. We offer support, and guidance, raise the profile of CE, provide updates, deliver training, share national developments and influence the development of national and local policy informed by practice.

The overall aim of our work is to stop CE in all its forms. We do this by enhancing the capacity of front-line practitioners so that they are better equipped to know how to PREVENT and DISRUPT CE and provide the best possible RESPONSE to survivors. By being an accelerant for change in the field of CE, NWG Network seeks to make a difference in the lives of children and young people, who are at the very heart of everything we do.

Recent reviews have been published highlighting abuse and violence in sports, (for example The Whyte Review into British Gymnastics and the independent review into Child Abuse in Football).  We want to support the sport to ensure that the voices of survivors of abuse can contribute to strategies and implementation plans.  It is both powerful and vitally important that the voices of those with lived experience run throughout safeguarding in sport – survivor involvement has widely documented benefits, both to the survivors and for the programmes that support them.  Engagement with people with lived experience should be meaningful and sensitive, with practitioners feeling confident that they are applying best practices as they work with survivors.  We will develop a suite of resources that can be used by those engaging with survivors of abuse and exploitation, as indicated in Sport England and UK Sports Policy Response to the Whyte Review as Policy Point 18. https://www.sportengland.org/guidance-and-support/safeguarding/whyte-review

Background

In 2015 NWG Network was approached with a request to be a principal partner in the Voices for Truth and Dignity research. The research was conducted in 7 countries to gather personal accounts of those who had experienced sexual violence in sports. Our UK partner was Edge Hill University and we worked extensively with Professor Mike Hartill – a leading academic voice on child sexual exploitation in sports – whom we continue to have a solid working relationship with to address the issues.

The research uncovered decades of sexual harassment, violence, exploitation and abuse through sport.  The research ignited an unprecedented response in the UK through Sport England’s commitment to ensuring issues of safeguarding in sport and leisure were improved and appropriately addressed.

During the life of the research project, it became evident that support in engaging with those who had lived experience was vital before commencing the interviewing work began. A small group of lived experience individuals supported the development of a resource entitled ‘Your Voice Matters’ to disseminate across the Universities conducting interviews.  It included information to consider before engagement and how to facilitate considerate and sensitive interviewing.

The involvement of those with lived experience in the development of the resource was invaluable to the success of the research.

Following the launch of the research report, Sport England commissioned 5 individuals who had lived experience and who had contributed significantly to the research to create an advisory panel.  The Sport England Advisory Panel (SEAP) supports the development of Safeguarding initiatives in grassroots sports and to contributes to the development of their Uniting the Movement Sport England Safeguarding Strategy. Prof Mike Hartill of Edge Hill, director of the Centre for Child Protection and Safeguarding in Sport is also a member of SEAP.

Over the past 5 years, the advisory panel has consulted on a range of initiatives being developed, for example, British Cycling, Lawn Tennis Association, and Lime Culture, alongside supporting Sport England’s work regarding Governance, Safeguarding and Integrity as part of their Strategy, ‘Uniting the Movement’.

Building on the momentum gained from the launch of the SEAP, and their progress in recent years, we now have an opportunity to assist sports organisations to develop their own safeguarding strategies and implementation plans, informed by those with lived experience in a meaningful way.

Creating a suite of resources will ensure that the vast benefits of survivor involvement can be harnessed while mitigating the risks of alienating some stakeholders.

Edge Hill University

Professor Mike Hartill, Director of Edge Hill University’s Centre for Child Protection & Safeguarding in Sport (CPSS), advocates including athletes with lived experience of abuse when shaping the future of Safeguarding in Sport, Modern Slavery and Human Rights as part of a discussion on protecting athletes from abuse and the right to a remedy.

Together with colleagues, Professor Hartill recently surveyed more than 10,000 18- to 30-year-olds in six European countries with an average age of 24. His work explored their experiences of abuse in sports from peers or adults before they turned 18.

We aim to work with Professor Mike Hartill to sense-check our direction of travel, consult on content and maximise academic expertise as we develop the suite of resources.

The Project

The project will build on the expertise of the Sport England Advisory Panel (SEAP), other similar panels operating in the sports sector and engagement initiatives utilising their skills and experience.  We will approach the development of a suite of resources to support engagement with those with lived experience of abuse and exploitation as a consultative process to include those with lived experience of abuse, physical harm, disability and cultural diversity.

A project manager will be appointed to manage the initiative from beginning to end with support from the Senior Managers of NWG and the assistance of the Direct Delivery and Communications teams.

The work dovetails with the existing Safeguarding in Sport workstream, which focuses on assisting grassroots sport and leisure to improve safeguarding measures, the Safe to Play campaigns, and the Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts work we have undertaken as a system partner for Sport England.

NWG are committed to supporting the ambitions set out in Sport England’s ‘Uniting the Movement’ Strategy and improving safeguarding in sport. This work will add value as the suite of resources will ensure those with lived experience are included in a sensitive and respectful way, informed by improved practice and consistently across the sector.