Policy & Engagement Officer
Position Title: Policy and Engagement Officer (Part-Time)
Salary: £19,565 (for 25 hours/week)
Reports To: Catherine Cooke, Coordinator at Foyle Women’s Information Network
Hours: 25 hours per week, with occasional evening or weekend work as required.
Location: FWIN HQ, 12 - 14 The Diamond, Derry~Londonderry, BT48 6HW
Purpose of the Role
The Policy and Engagement Officer will lead on organising and delivering engaging events, workshops, and programmes that bring women together. These events will aim to reduce social isolation, build confidence, and promote inclusion within the community. The post-holder will also coordinate focus groups and consultations to ensure that women’s lived experiences inform local and regional policy. This includes feeding into strategic policy work through the Women’s Regional Consortium. In addition, they will manage FWIN’s membership database in line with GDPR and develop initiatives to grow and retain membership, strengthening a vibrant, supportive network of women across the North West.
Key Responsibilities
Programme and Policy Engagement
- Design and deliver inclusive events, workshops, and programmes that align with FWIN’s mission and values.
- Identify emerging issues affecting women locally and feed these into policy consultations and programme development.
- Coordinate and facilitate focus groups and consultations with women to gather lived experiences and policy input.
- Engage participants in local and regional policy discussions and civic processes through the Women’s Regional Consortium.
Operational and Administrative
- Manage logistics for programme and event delivery including room bookings, facilitator coordination, catering, and accessibility arrangements.
- Oversee project records, including attendance sheets, evaluation forms, case studies, and photographic evidence.
- Contribute to funder reporting, programme monitoring, and impact evaluation.
- Support financial tracking for events and programme budgets as required.
Partnerships and Collaboration
- Develop relationships with grassroots women’s organisations and relevant service providers.
- Work collaboratively with colleagues to share learning and support wider organisational goals.
Required Key Characteristics and Skills
- A commitment to equality, inclusion, and diversity, with a passion for women’s rights, social justice, and/or community empowerment.
- Ability to engage confidently with a wide range of women from diverse backgrounds.
- Excellent organisational and project coordination skills.
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build and maintain positive relationships.
- Confident facilitator with group work and one-to-one engagement.
- Strong attention to detail, particularly in managing records, reports, and evaluations.
- Flexible and adaptable to changing priorities.
- Respect for confidentiality, professionalism, and ethical integrity.
- Ability to work occasional evenings or weekends.
- Strong organisational and project coordination skills.
- Good working knowledge of Google Workspace (Google Docs, Sheets, Gmail etc).
- Ability to work on own initiative, and as part of a team.
- Ability to contribute to written reports or impact summaries.
- Good initiative to self-lead projects productively, and to the deadlines set out.
- Excellent timekeeping and self–management skills.
Desirable Key Characteristics and Skills
- Qualification in Policy, Community Development, Project Management, or Events.
- Proven track record engaging hard-to-reach women from disadvantaged or rural areas.
- Experience working with public, private, and voluntary sector partners.
- Experience supporting policy engagement or consultations.
- Familiarity with monitoring frameworks used by funders.
- Working knowledge of safeguarding and accessibility practices.
- Understanding of issues facing women in Northern Ireland.
Essential Experience and Knowledge
- Experience in the Women’s Sector: Previous experience working in roles that address women’s issues, gender equality, or related fields.
- Community or Voluntary Sector Work: Minimum 3 years’ experience working in the community, women’s, and/or voluntary sector.
- Event Organising and Delivery: Experience organising and delivering community workshops, events, and facilitators.
- Facilitation and Consultation: Experience facilitating focus groups, listening sessions, or public consultations.
- Policy Awareness: Understanding of key issues affecting women in Northern Ireland, including intersectional challenges.
- Logistical Coordination: Experience handling logistics like room bookings, facilitator schedules, and catering.
- Monitoring and Reporting: Competence in capturing outcomes, producing evaluations, and reporting to funders.
- Budgeting: Basic financial skills to support tracking and managing project/event costs of funded events.
Employee Benefits
- Flexible working hours (25 hours per week).
- Annual leave plus public holidays (pro–rata).
- Access to training and professional development opportunities.
- Supportive team culture and regular reflective practice.
- Participation in national and regional networks working to advance women’s equality.
- Opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the lives of women in the community.
Pay: £19,565.00 per year
Work Location: In person
