Administrative
Age Friendly Ireland Regional Programme Manager - South East Region
€58,252 - €75,728 per annum (EL 03/24)

Annual Salary
Kildare
Permanent

Job Summary

The Position

Meath County Council leads the National Shared Service Programme for Age Friendly Ireland. Meath County Council on behalf of Kildare County Council is currently recruiting a Regional Age Friendly Programme Manager for the South East Region who will be employed and based with Kildare County Council.
Meath County Council invites applications from suitably qualified persons who wish to be considered for inclusion on a panel from which permanent & fixed-term contract vacancies for the position of Age Friendly Regional Programme Manager for South East Region shall be drawn.

Age Friendly Programme Details

Ireland’s Age Friendly Programme is coordinated by Age Friendly Ireland, an appointed shared service function of local government hosted by Meath County Council. The national Age Friendly Programme office brings together, supports and provides technical guidance to the 31 local authority led, multi-agency Age Friendly Programmes. At city and county level, the programme is implemented through cooperation and partnership of older people with government agencies and service providers working side by side. Under the leadership of the local authority Chief Executives and senior managers, governance is anchored in the 31 multi-agency Age Friendly Alliances, supported by diversely representative Older People’s Councils engaged as co-design partners. The local Age Friendly Alliances provide the collaborative framework to involve senior leaders from key stakeholders such as the Local Authority, Health Service Executive, An Garda Síochána, Chambers of Commerce, community sector, third-level institutions, and others, who have sufficient influence and resources to develop and deliver ambitious and collaborative Age Friendly Programmes.
The Programme for Government (2000) outlines a vision of an Age Friendly Ireland. The ageing agenda is also clearly referenced in recent government policies including Housing for All, Housing Options for our Ageing Population, and Sláinte Care, as well as in planning, economic, local and community development policies.

Background | Summary of Post

The recruitment campaign will recruit a Regional Age Friendly Programme Manager for the East will be employed and based in Kildare County Council , and will work directly for the National Age Friendly Ireland Shared Service in Meath County Council. The Age Friendly Ireland shared service will directly manage the posts.
The role of Age Friendly Regional Programme Manager is to help support the delivery of the four strategic objectives of the National Age Friendly Ireland shared service. They will support the management of the local Age Friendly Programmes in six counties within the South East region – Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford & Wicklow local authority areas. The workload will include one to one support for local Age Friendly Programme Managers in each of these five local authority areas, strengthening local programme structures (Age Friendly Alliances, Older People’s Councils, Interdepartmental Teams), monitoring of programme KPIs, scaling up good practice, reporting, and representing the shared service national office in the region, as well as a thematic lead area. This post will necessitate an appropriate level of seniority and autonomy so as to be in a position to pro-actively deliver on the regional level requirements of the Age Friendly Programme and report directly to the national shared service office.
The Age Friendly Regional Programme Manager will report on performance directly to the National Programme Manager in Age Friendly Ireland. The Regional Programme Manager will support the Chief Officer in Age Friendly Ireland who has overall responsibility for the leadership and strategic direction of the National Age Friendly Ireland shared service. The Age Friendly Regional Programme Manager will play a key role in ensuring the successful delivery of the work in line with their duties and responsibilities.
The Age Friendly Regional Programme Manager will require significant experience of Age Friendly programming and policy with an excellent understanding of the eight domains of the World Health Organization’s global Age Friendly Cities and Communities Programme. He/she will be part of a vibrant and demanding team. He/she will be self-motivated, innovative and dynamic with strong interpersonal and communication skills and initiative and a demonstrable track record of change management and delivering results.
The Age Friendly Regional Programme Manager will be required to develop a strong working relationship with the local Age Friendly Programme Managers in their region supporting the implementation of the local Age Friendly Programme and achievement of local KPIs.
The South East Regional Age Friendly Programme Manager will be employed and based in Kildare County Council.


The role of the Regional Programme Manager is allocated between supporting local Age Friendly Programmes in their region to ensure that all programmes are performing at optimal levels and meeting KPIs, reporting to the shared service, leading on thematic areas of work and representing the shared service on national fora to progress objectives and initiatives.
Responsibilities /Duties:
Responsibilities of the post are aligned to the four strategic objectives of the Age Friendly Ireland Shared Service as follows:
Strategic Objective 1: Strengthening and Embedding Local Programmes

• Support the National Programme Manager in the development and implementation of a national strategy and work plan for the programme by supporting a regional structure.
• Work as part of the shared service team to support the development of the programme nationally in collaboration with other Age Friendly Regional Programme Managers and the National Programme Manager
• Support a team-based framework of Age Friendly Programme Managers across the local government sector with a specific focus on supporting adjoining county/city Age Friendly programmes within a specified region.
• Facilitate the development and implementation of a local strategies and infrastructure to support the participating county and city-based programme managers and other stakeholders.
• Advise the local Programme Manager, in the specific region, in building effective alliances and constructive working relationships with local government, HSE and other programme stakeholders to support and build capacity for the implementation of the programme.
• Support the local Programme Manager in the specific region, in a coordinated approach to the development (and where relevant the implementation) of the participating local Age Friendly Alliances, Older People’s Councils and Age-friendly strategies and action plans.
• Build relationships with the local authority Age Friendly Housing Technical Advisors in the region.
• Support the establishment of Interdepartmental Teams within each local authority in the region as part of their core programme structure.
• Delivery of Age Friendly training modules as required (such as Age Friendly Business, Age Friendly Communications, Age Friendly Libraries)
• Utilise Age Friendly Ireland’s technical resources and implement guidance documents within the region.

Strategic Objective 2: Scaling Up and Replicating Best Practice

• Lead in the development and roll-out of national guidelines to facilitate and support local city and county programme leaders in the delivery of high-quality evidence-based initiatives and the strengthening and embedding of the programme across all local authority areas.
• Manage the effective delivery of specific initiatives that need to be further extended or replicated across all participating age friendly programme areas
• Support regional opportunities for local programmes to work jointly on programmes across a number of age friendly programme areas particularly in the context of health initiatives, transportation, planning and other initiatives
• Support for the collection of data on housing with regard to Age Friendly Housing provision, rightsizing, and the overall implementation of the ‘Housing for All’ policy
• Support for the delivery and scaling up of the Healthy Age Friendly Homes beyond its pilot phase.
• Take the lead role in co-ordinating the Implementation a limited number of specific projects / pilot initiatives under individual local Age Friendly Strategies

Strategic Objective 3: Measurement, Monitoring and Sharing Learning

• Collect data at local and regional level to inform overall Key Performance Programme Indicators based on the gathering of available evidence.
• Support continuous improvement in the quality and long-term operation and management of the Age Friendly Programme through the design and development of appropriate reporting templates and operational materials to further ensure effective implementation and mainstreaming.
• Support the development of systems and processes to ensure appropriate data is available to inform effective decision making and drive continuous quality improvement.
• Work with the Research Unit in the shared service to co-ordinate the research and dissemination of effective practices and initiatives adopted across the network of 31 local programmes.
• Attend and contribute to team meetings in the national shared service office to monitor progress and effective implementation and input to the overall delivery of the Age Friendly Ireland shared service.
• Identify potential challenges and barriers to progress and communicate same through the National Programme Manager.
• Advise and support local Age Friendly Programme Managers on the development of local annual reports, and assist with strategy preparation and monitoring.
• Support the National Operations, Finance & Communications Manager with communication of programme objectives and outputs and assist with National and Regional communication campaigns

Strategic Objective 4: National Policy

• Represent the National Age Friendly Ireland shared service, at regional level, by attending local Age Friendly Alliance meetings in the neighbouring local authority programme areas in the specific region providing a catalyst to the National Shared Service and updating the local Alliances on key strategic developments at national level particularly in the context of national policy.
• Support the work of a small number of relevant expert working groups at national level when requested.
• Support the Chief Officer at regional level by providing a network and support structure to produce deliverables in partnership with our national stakeholder organisations (for example, Government Departments, HSE, Integrated Care Programme for Older People, NGO sector, An Garda Siochana, business community and others)
• Support the objectives of the Programme for Government 2020 ‘Our Shared Future’ particularly with regard to health care and housing provision for the ageing population

And any other duties as required.