Project Specialist; Young Voices

Overview

This role will lead and deliver two projects, the Net Zero Carbon (NZC) Young Adult Voices Project, and the General Synod Young Voices project, across which it will engage with a wide variety of young people.

The Net Zero Carbon Young Adult Voices project recognises that action to tackle climate change, as part of the wider environmental crisis, is important for young people, and responds to the fact that the NZC programme is not currently strategically engaging with these groups.

This Project Will Involve

• gathering the voices of young adults (18-30) to enable them to influence the direction of the programme and the Church’s wider Environment Programme, ensuring their voice is heard at all levels of the Programme, and informs decision-making.
• communicating what the NZC programme is doing, to raise awareness amongst young people of the CofE’s commitment to being a NZC church with these audiences, and to enable pathways for them to become involved in decarbonisation and other environmental projects at the local level.
• work with diocesan colleagues to enable the voices of young people to exercise leadership influence on NZC at a Diocesan level, as appropriate.

Important to the success of this role will be engaging with departments and stakeholders across the Church of England, to ensure this work sits within the broader context of the priority to be a church which is younger and more diverse.

As this is a new project and a new role, the postholder will help to shape the role. The initial focus will be to develop a NZC Young Adult Voices Strategy and Plan for sign-off by the NZC Programme Board, and then to work through delivery of this. This will need to consider the theology, mission and action that will engage and connect with young people - particularly exploring how we root this work in the spirituality and theology that is relevant for a younger audience.

The General Synod Young Voices project follows two motions passed at General Synod (in July 2024 and February 2025) committing General Synod to listening and responding to the voices of children, young people and young adults in every subsequent session. This project involves gathering the voices through schools, churches and Dioceses and enabling children and young people to speak and present each session at General Synod.

In addition, it involves working with a group of young adults drawn from every diocese to run a programme of faith and leadership development that enables them to speak into General Synod at a national level, and exercise leadership influence at a Diocesan level as appropriate.

This is a fixed-term role until December 2028, with potential to extend, dependent on 29-31 Triennium Funding.

Leading the General Synod Young Voices project

• Developing robust processes and strategies for gathering the voices of children, young people and young adults
• Overseeing the engagement of children, young people and young adults at forthcoming General Synod sessions, supporting them to contribute regularly and effectively in a range of agenda items
• Raising up the voice of Children and Young People from all under-represented groups, making a significant contribution to the Church of England’s vision to become more diverse.
• Working with the Head of Younger Leaders, Executive Director of Education and the General Synod Business Committee to ensure that engagement is well planned and implemented
• Create mechanisms for young adults from across every Diocese, to contribute to and experience General Synod
• Equipping, supporting and enabling co-opted young adult members of General Synod
• Edit video and audio content for effective dissemination through wider networks

Leading the NZC Young Adult Voices Project

• Develop and deliver NZC Young Adult Voices Strategy and Plan which includes:
• Developing robust processes and strategies for gathering the voices of young adults and making sure they are heard internally within the Church and also in the public square.
• Overseeing the engagement of young adults with NZC Programme board meetings, supporting them to contribute regularly and effectively in a range of agenda items.
• Raising up the voice of young…