Call for Peer Learning Facilitator to work with leaders of Charities and Social Enterprises

The Association is looking to appoint a peer learning facilitator, on a trial basis, to support the development of some of its SME members.

Context:

The Enterprise Development Programme is a five-year programme, funded by Access – The Foundation for Social Investment and managed by a coalition of partners. It aims to help charities and social enterprises in England to become more financially resilient by developing new enterprise models, or by growing existing ones.

The programme offers grants to support organisations to undertake feasibility and development-based activities, whilst it offers access to learning opportunities via the School of Social Entrepreneurs. It focuses on specific sectors and works with membership organisations dedicated to them. The Association of Mental Health Providers leads and manages the Mental Health strand of the programme and it is that strand which is the subject of this opportunity.

The Mental Health strand of the programme began in Jan 2020 and has admitted 26 organisations into the cohort through 2 in-takes. There will be a further two intakes across 2021, hoping to take the total of organisations reached up to 60. The strand of the programme will end in September 2021.

The organisations:

To give further context, organisations on the programme are charities or social enterprises, who:

• Have a stated mission to support individuals suffering from mental health issues or illnesses
• Have an annual turnover of £50k – £1M
• Are based in England
• Have a commitment to diversifying income through trading activities, either;
  • Commitment from senior management and the Board to pilot / test a coherent trading idea
  • Can evidence current trading activities, which require support / development, or

The opportunity:

Peer networking, support and learning is a key theme of activity we want to promote throughout the programme to help sustain and amplify the effects of other programme elements of support (e.g. increased capacity, external consultancy etc). Therefore, we are looking to appoint an external facilitator to provide a programme of sessions which facilitate and encourage:

• A diverse sounding board: an outside-in perspective of a peer’s enterprise and leadership.
• A strong sense of accountability: peers become familiar with one another’s enterprise and hold each other accountable for efforts and goals each one is working towards.
• A supportive circle: peers get support and motivation to combat the emotional drain of the challenges and pressures that are faced with

We are looking to appoint a facilitator on a trial basis, for 6 months (from March 1^st – August 30^th). We hope to extend this relationship beyond an initial 6-month trial to the remainder of the programme (to September 2022).

Profile of facilitator:

In consideration of the aims of the programme and types of organisations involved we are looking for facilitator(s) with the following expertise / experience:

• Delivery experience of peer learning group facilitation for leaders of organisations (ideally leaders of SMEs and/or those from the VCSE sector)
• Strong understanding of social enterprise-based business models (via direct experience running an organisation and/or as a consultant to VCSEs)
• Understanding of the Health and Social Care sector (ideally both from a public and private sector perspective)
• Experience of one-to-one or group business coaching (ideally supporting leaders of SMEs and/or those from the VCSE sector)

If this sounds interesting and you would like find out more / register your interest in bidding for the piece of work please get in touch with Greg Woolley, Enterprise Development Manager (greg@amhp.org.uk) for further details of the plans, budget and next steps.