Community Research Intern

If you are interested in applying to the People and Work Unit for this post, please read the

following document carefully and then email (by November 13th),

james.hall@peopleandworkunit.org.uk and copy your email to sarah.lloyd-

jones@peopleandwork.org.uk. Your letter should outline why you feel that you would be a

good person for the work, and provide any background information you feel may help us to

understand what you have to offer as an intern. Please also attach your CV.

Introduction

The People and Work Unit has been short-listed to receive a funding award from the Rank

Foundation for an intern to work with us for one year. If we can find the right candidate we

(as an organization) will be interviewed alongside that candidate by Rank’s Time to Shine co-

ordinator on December 9th . There is a 50% chance of success. The award will cover a full-

time wage of £14,527.

In the following sections, we outline the context for the internship – the role of the People

and Work Unit and the ways in which we hope internship would benefit the Unit and the

intern.

The People and Work Unit

The People and Work Unit is an independent charity and a company limited by guarantee that

was set up nearly thirty years ago in the wake of a study looking at how communities

changed as the steel industry in South Wales contracted. The vision of the Trustees then has

shaped our work ever since - that people, families and communities are healthier, happier and

more empowered when they are in work. They identified that because the labour market is

constantly changing, people, and the structures that support them to access that work, need to

keep changing too. The Unit is founded on the principle that education and learning is the

primary tool for enabling people to adapt and respond to these changes.

The People and Work Unit operates in two core ways. It undertakes commissioned research

and evaluation work for the public and third sectors, focusing on education, learning and the

individual’s or community’s capacity to benefit from these. The Unit also raises funds,

primarily from charitable foundations, to undertake action-research based project work. This

approach works with people to explore issues that affect them, using reflective practices to

review the work being done and learn from it, and embedding that learning into the work as

we go along. For further information on the People and Work Unit go to

www.peopleandworkunit.org.uk.

Over the last few years our experience of project work, and requests for support from a range

of community organisations, has led us increasingly to work with community based groups

and organisations to explore what can be done to build their capacity and resilience and

reduce their over-reliance and, in some cases, dependency upon the state. The internship

would help us develop this evolution of work. It would build our capacity to both help

community based organisations and understand what support they need. This, in turn, would

enable us to work with county voluntary councils and other support organisations to help

build the capacity of this vital sector.

The community and voluntary sectors in Wales

The Unit is strongly aware of an over reliance in the community and voluntary sectors in

Wales on the public sector, not just for funding but for shaping what work is done and with

whom. We are currently undertaking a small research exercise to identify the barriers to

community and voluntary sector independence in Wales. This internship would also help us

to take this work forward.

The voluntary sector is usually funded to address the most intransigent social, educational

and economic problems in Wales, including inequalities, poverty, chronic and debilitating

health issues, anti-social behaviour and the breakdown of community cohesion. However,

despite being tasked with tackling these underlying problems in Welsh society, the sector has

very little access to analyses of what works, with whom and when, or evidence based

guidance on how to make a difference. In addition, voluntary organisations often approach

the work they do having agreed to work to pre-set targets (numbers of people doing basic

skills course etc.), which limit the scope for trying new approaches. Over the last year we

have had five organisations approach us to ask for help with research, evaluation or ideas for

tackling underlying problems, such as patterns of family disengagement with school. The

experience has demonstrated to us that there is a need for support for groups and

organisations working in some of the poorest communities in Wales to help them:

identify practice in other areas or settings that they could learn from;

access financial support beyond the public sector (e.g. from charitable trusts);

evaluate their work.

This is the key area where we want the intern to work with us. We want an intern to help

build our capacity, helping us to develop and then disseminate a feasible approach to

supporting community organisations to use information and evaluation more effectively in

their work.

Our project workers and our partners learned from our previous intern’s work how valuable it

was to have someone who could feed statistics and analysis of information, drawn from

sources such as Census, the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation, the National Pupil

Database for Wales and the Department for Work and Pensions, in an understandable and

tailored way, into planning processes. Our own project staff, and those of our partners

reported better understanding of the needs of their communities, valuing having richer

information about the scale and nature of problems they identified from anecdotal evidence

and personal experience, and of the progress they were making in tackling often very

complex problems. This enhanced both the effectiveness and credibility of their work.

The plan would be for the Intern to work with five community groups over one year. These

would be groups that have already approached us or that have shown an interest in our work.

With support from our project manager, James Hall, the Intern would discuss with the groups

what they were doing, the context they were working in and identify what they were trying to

achieve, and then identify with these groups their information needs. The intern would then,

with support from the People and Work Unit’s research team, respond as the group needs and

wants. This could include seeking out the information they need to plan or develop their

work, or showing them how to do so themselves; providing training on how to capture the

changes they are making, or adding temporary capacity by doing some direct evaluation

work; and brokering and building their links with ‘experts’ in their field including academics

and people working in other areas of the UK.

In addition, the Intern will be given the opportunity of working on one or two high profile

research or evaluation studies being run by the People and Work Unit, enabling them to

experience work at an all-Wales policy level.

The intern will gain from this work by:

honing applied research skills that match information to identified need;

gaining a broad insight into the work of community organisations and good contacts

across a range of these;

making contacts across academic and voluntary sector agencies that work with

community organisations across the UK; and

an enhanced CV that will include work on prestigious Welsh Government contracts.

The internship will start in January 2014 for one year.

Job Description

Salary - £14,527

Hours – 37.5 per week

Holidays – 25 plus Bank holidays

Reports to – Projects Manager

Job Description

Social/educational research intern operating as a member of a small research team.

Job Purpose:

To undertake a research and evaluation programme as described in the ‘Time to Shine’

project outline. Specifically, to work with five community groups or organisations to identify

how research and evaluation could support and develop their work; explore the role of action-

research with each; provide research and evaluation help to meet that need; and review the

impact of this work.

General

To ensure that the Unit is represented in a positive manner to the general public and to

all other agencies, public bodies and the media.

To work to a programme agreed with your line manager and the funder including

meeting reporting requirements

To undertake any training identified and agreed by your line manager

To undertake tasks as identified by the Unit’s Head of Research

To represent the People and Work Unit on working groups, planning groups and

committees where appropriate.

Other

To undertake any additional duties that may be required by the Board

Person Specification: Research Intern

Essential

A commitment to the processes and ethics of action-research and/or evaluation

Experience of qualitative and/or quantitative research methods

An understanding of, and empathy with, the socio-economic problems facing Welsh

communities. Ideally the candidate will have experience of working or volunteering in

community settings.

The ability to communicate clearly and effectively in writing and orally to a wide range

of audiences

A high level of self-management skills, including time management

IT literate

Qualified at least to degree level

Desirable

An interest in pursuing a post-graduate qualification

Ability to work through the medium of the Welsh language

Understanding/experience of the Welsh policy context in education, lifelong learning

and/or society

Ability to drive and access to a car (mileage allowance of 40p a mile will be paid)