Community development officer

What a community development officer does falls into three parts. The first is finding out what is actually wrong: researching and assessing the problems and needs of the community through surveys, public meetings and the data the local authority already holds. The second is planning — drawing up an implementation strategy, costing it against budgetary principles, and planning the people, money and premises it will take. The third is getting it done: liaising with local authorities and the services whose agreement is needed, delivering public presentations to committees and to residents, and reporting openly on what was decided and why, so that nobody hears about a plan after it has been settled.

Much of the role is relationships. The officer builds community relations with residents' groups, schools, charities and local employers, and represents what they raise to the local government department that holds the budget.

The skills that count are listening and summarising what was heard, resource planning, reading a budget, public speaking, and writing plainly for people who do not work in local government. The post is also titled social development officer, local development officer or community enterprise development officer, with much the same core work. Experience usually comes from working with residents or inside local administration before the planning side is taken on.