Men's Groups Coordinator - Healthy Cities Illawarra

HEALTHY CITIES ILLAWARRA
BUILDING HEALTHY MEN
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Position:
Responsible to:
Location:
Hours:
Employment type:
Men’s Groups Coordinator - Men’s Shed
General Manager – Healthy Cities Illawarra
Wollongong - Coniston
Variable – maximum 8 hours per week (48 weeks per year)
(Note: The paid hours for this position may increase, depending on availability of
funding)
Casual
Background:
Healthy Cities Illawarra was set up in 1986. It adopts an approach to promoting health and
well being developed by the World Health Organisation. This approach recognises that
health is about wellbeing and is more than simply the absence of disease. It is possible to
improve health and wellbeing of the community by encouraging participation, by harnessing
the resources of the community and by introducing policies, creating settings and promoting
environments that contribute to good health.
Men’s Sheds have appeared across Australia because they provide an environment in which
men can mix, talk, relax, be active, develop skills and make a contribution to their community
by making items of use. This improves men’s health and wellbeing and reduces risk of
isolation, depression and loneliness and results in useful items being made for the
community.
Unlike most other Men’s Sheds, to date the Healthy Cities Illawarra Men’s Shed at Coniston
has targeted men who have special needs. This includes: men who are from diverse cultural
backgrounds who may lack fluency in English; men who are refugees; or men who were
previously homeless but who now live independently. The shed is also investigating setting
up groups for men who are vision impaired and for men who are in nursing homes as well as
encouraging the participation of men who simply want to come along to a local facility and to
provide opportunities for integration of men from special needs groups with other men and
their local community.
The Men’s Shed works with other organisations in the community to recruit men to the shed
and engages volunteers and paid facilitators to facilitate groups, to assist with language
skills, to ensure that the men know how to use machinery and materials safely, to develop
projects and designs, to order materials and equipment, to identify and coordinate social
activities appropriate to the men and to assist with referrals to other services, agencies or
programs, if required and to assist with projects and maintenance of the shed .
To date the Men’s Shed has been funded by grants, including seeding funds for specific
groups. However to ensure the ongoing viability of the program the shed will need other
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sources of funding such as sponsorships, fundraising and the involvement of local service
organisations.
The role:
Ideally the Men’s Group Coordinator will be someone who has the skills to achieve the
following outcomes:
Support, develop and expand the Healthy Cities Illawarra healthy men strategy and
Men’s Shed program;
Manage the budget, premises, assets, materials, facilitators and programs
Secure the financial sustainability of the Men’s Shed Programs.
Establish relationships with service providers, service organisations and local
businesses that will assist with referrals, fundraising and sponsorship.
Make the Men’s Shed a welcoming, supportive and enjoyable place for men to be!
In order to do this, below is a list that indicates the breadth of duties you may be called upon
to do:
maintain existing programs and identify new opportunities for the Men’s Shed / Men’s
health program
identify / implement strategies to secure financial sustainability of the Men’s Shed
including investigating sponsorship and fundraising opportunities, preparing and
submitting grant applications, liaising with businesses, government bodies and
service organisations
oversee the effective and safe operation of the Shed
develop an environment and strategies to encourage social networking by men
identify activities for Men’s Shed participants and for integration of men with special
needs into mainstream programs and activities
coordinate and support volunteers and paid Shed facilitators, including conduct of
staff meetings, identify training needs
liaise with community groups to identify projects that can be undertaken by the men
at the Shed.
develop and distribute marketing information on Shed products
further develop occupational health and safety processes
develop and manage effective asset control and materials purchasing processes
administrative tasks associated with the operation of the Men’s Shed including
answering enquiries, keeping files, minutes of meeting
maintain statistics on participation in Men’s Shed
develop and manage Men’s Shed budget
complete reporting and accountability requirement to funding bodies
liaise with government and non-government agencies to address men’s health needs
and set up referral arrangements for services, training, employment voluntary work
as may be appropriate to the specific needs of some Men’s Shed participants
be responsible for managing Shed premises including liaison with owners, dealing
with leasing matters, repairs and upgrade of facilities and equipment etc
cooperate with research and evaluation activities
promote of the Men’s Shed, its programs and achievements including media items,
articles and presentations at conferences, to funding bodies, community and
business organisations.
Selection Criteria
You will have:
Comfort and confidence in dealing with men and people from a variety of
backgrounds in diverse social settings including the ability to build and maintain
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elationships with funding organisations, business sponsors, community service
providers, community groups, local service groups as well as to supervise staff and
volunteers and to relate comfortably with men at the Shed;
Enthusiasm and the ability to develop the potential of the Men’s Shed;
Demonstrated skills in coordination, management and budget control;
The ability to seek and secure funding and sponsorships;
The ability to prepare funding applications and reports.
An understanding of risk management and the ability to implement and monitor
occupational health and safety measures.
Computing skills.
.
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