Forster Park - Project coordinator

Project Coordinator – Making Parks Better for Everyone Friends of Forster Memorial Park (FoFMP) Contract type: Fixed term self employed freelancer or consultant.

Duration: end March 2027 Location: Forster Memorial Park, Lewisham Budget: £6000 Application Deadline: 9th January

1. Background – Friends of Forster Memorial Park Friends of Forster Memorial Park (FoFMP) is a group of local volunteers, established in 2022 who are working to improve the facilities for all in Forster Memorial Park. We raise funds to improve facilities in the park, organise a range of community events, and advocate for park users to ensure their voices are heard by key stakeholders. We are currently transitioning to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

2. Background to the Project Making Parks Better for Everyone is a youth-focused initiative designed to make Forster Memorial Park a safer, more inclusive space for young people—especially girls, young women, and those with disabilities. The project responds to evidence showing declining park use among older children and young people, particularly girls and young women who feel unsafe and excluded. In a consultation with park users FoFMP found that young people do not feel the park is currently an inclusive space. This despite the well documented benefits for young people’s physical and mental health from spending time in green spaces, as well as the wider benefits for the side community in the form of fostering environmental stewardship and strengthening community cohesion.

FoFMP has secured initial funding for this work through Lewisham Council’s Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) Borough-wide fund. The aim of this work is to provide a programme of tailored activities to bring young people in to the park, in particular those groups currently less likely to do so such as girls, young women, and those with disabilities.

This tailored programme will aim to bring young people back into the park through five areas of activity, with inclusivity a cross-cutting themes:  Youth engagement: Run co-design workshops where young people share ideas to make the park safer and more inclusive, especially for girls, young women, and those with SEND.

 Getting active in the park: Organize inclusive sports and activity sessions with local partners, tailored for harder-to-reach groups like girls, young women, and young people with disabilities.  Reconnecting with nature: Deliver nature-based activities through partners to help young people engage with the park and learn about the environment in an inclusive way.  Getting creative: Provide art and creative sessions in green spaces, including collaborations with local theatre groups.  Celebrating young people: Host a summer youth festival featuring inclusive activities that showcase and engage all groups, including girls, young women, and those with disabilities.

Further details on each of these themes can be found in Appendix A. The project aligns with Lewisham’s Cleaner and Greener priority and its Play Strategy 2023–2028, aiming to create exciting, accessible environments for all children and young people.

3. Key Deliverables The Project Coordinator will be responsible for coordinating the delivery of activities across the 5 themes over the 14-month period within the agreed budget. This will include developing the programme of events in consultation with the FOFMP, an existing girls' design group, and other key stakeholders. The programme should cover the areas outlined above and should target diverse groups including girls, young women, disabled young people, and those from marginalised backgrounds. Ensuring activities are tailored to enable full participation across all groups will be a priority.

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Working with relevant partners to deliver an inclusive and accessible programme of events which focus on bringing groups currently excluded into the park, such as girls and young women and those with disabilities. This will involve working with FoFMP to identify and commission delivery partners, working with them to design activities that are tailored to the relevant group, and ensuring that they are delivered in a safe and inclusive way. This will include contract management for all delivery partners.

Undertaking all marketing of the project to ensure that as many as young people as possible in the local area are engaged as possible. This will include managing the social media profile of the project.

Putting in place the required monitoring systems to capture relevant data on those attending the events, as well as information on their success to feed into future planning.

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Managing the budget for the project, with the support of the FOFMP project lead and treasurer.

Leading the delivery of the youth festival event in Summer 2026.

Designing and coordinating the printing/ online sharing and distribution of publicity materials Project and volunteer management and leadership on the day for key activities.

Throughout the delivery of the programme the project coordinator will be supported by the FOFMP group. They will provide information about local stakeholders, groups and information on what we know about what works well based on previous activities run in the park.

While we are looking for a freelance project manager, we may consider applications from a Charity or Community Interest Company with expertise in this area and an interest in delivering some of the direct activities.

4. Budget The secured budget for this project is £20,300. This will be used to cover: • • • •

Project management fees of £6,000 Marketing and communication materials/activities Facilitation costs for each of the activities Additional costs associated with the youth event.

This budget is confirmed up to the end of March 2027. There may be opportunities to increase and/or extend this by securing additional funds. Bids for additional funding will be led by FoFMP but the Project Coordinator may be asked to input as required,

5. Person Specification We are seeking a dynamic, organised and community-minded individual with: •

Proven experience in project coordination, preferably in youth or community settings.

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Proven experience in designing and delivering inclusive and accessible activities, with experience of working with girls and young women and those with disabilities desirable but not essential.

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Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

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Experience working with diverse groups, including young people with protected characteristics.

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Ability to manage budgets, timelines, and reporting requirements.

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A commitment to inclusivity, accessibility, and environmental stewardship.

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Knowledge of safeguarding, GDPR, and equality policies.

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Knowledge of South East Lewisham is desirable but not essential.

6. Application Process To apply, please submit a proposal including: •

A cover letter outlining your experience and approach

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A CV

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Two references

Confirmation that you have Professional and Public Liability Insurance and a Disclosure and Barring Service Check (the successful candidate will need to evidence this).Proposals should be sent to Friends of Forster Memorial Park at foforstermemorialpark@gmail.com by 9th January. Shortlisted candidates may be invited for an informal interview.

Appendix A Project Details This tailored programme will aim to bring young people back into the park through five areas of activity, with inclusivity a cross-cutting theme: •

Youth engagement: Co-design workshops for young people to share what they want to see in the park to make it a more inclusive and safe space. Using ageappropriate and tailored consultation approaches with groups, these sessions will bring them together with key local stakeholders and decision makers to provide them with a platform through which their voices can be heard. Sessions should be tailored to meet the needs of different groups, including those priority groups such as young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and girls.

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Getting active in the park: Active sessions with local partners, such as basketball, cricket, football and running clubs to provide young people the opportunity to come and try activities in a safe and inclusive way. This will include sessions aimed specifically at harder to reach groups and/or those who are less likely to access these activities due to social, physical or cultural barriers. For example, this may include a girls’ football team or girls only playing time, and activities tailored to meet the needs of young people with disabilities.

It will also include non-traditional activities which young people engage in, such as roller-skating.

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Reconnecting with nature: Nature activities, run through our long-standing partner, Secret Adventurers Club. These sessions provide young people with an opportunity to engage with the park in new ways, as well as learning about their natural environment. Nature sessions with teenagers were trialled as part of a previous project in 2023 with success – we will look to build on this engagement through this programme if activity. Again, sessions will be designed and delivered in a way which focuses on ensuring inclusivity to those groups normally excluded, such as girls, young women and young people with disabilities.

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Getting creative: Art based sessions run with partners will provide young people with an opportunity to be creative in green space. This includes working with local theatre groups where possible.

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Celebrating young people: Organising a youth festival event in the park in the summer, working with local youth groups to ensure that the event appeals to all young people and offers a range of inclusive activities. It should engage with, and showcase all groups of young people, with consideration of what will need to be done to ensure it is accessible to girls and young women and people with disabilities.