Healthy County Co-ordinator

Applications

Applications will only be accepted through SDCC’s e-Recruitment system before midnight on Thursday, 19th March 2026.

The Role

The Healthy Cities & Counties Programme is a Department of Health funded initiative located within local government with a concerted focus on life-long wellbeing, prevention of illness; enabling wellbeing environments and the reduction of health inequities.

More specifically, the programme highlights the important role and responsibility that local government has in enhancing community wellbeing outcomes.

The Healthy County Coordinator role will support the delivery of the emerging outcomes framework for Healthy Ireland, and the WHO European Healthy Cities Network (Phase VIII) objectives at local and regional levels.

The roles prioritise actions to improve the wider determinants of health through local government’s statutory and developmental responsibilities, with a strong emphasis on empowering communities, research and innovation, intersectoral collaboration, data management and evidence-informed decision-making.

The Coordinator is the primary point of contact and liaison with other sections in relation to all operational matters for the Healthy Ireland Programme for which they are responsible and other assigned duties/functions.

The post holder will work under the direction and control of the Senior Executive Officer or analogous grade or other officer designated by the Chief Executive or Director of Services as appropriate.

The Coordinator is responsible for management of the day-to-day operations of the relevant programme and is a contributor to the strategic and policy making decisions of the local authority. They will be expected to contribute to the development and implementation of policies and strategies and to work closely with the elected Councillors and senior managers in delivering services to the highest standard.

The post holder may represent the Local Authority on committees and at meetings, including for example:

• Local Area Committee meetings

• Strategy Policy Committee meetings

• Local Community Development Committee meetings

They may be asked to report on progress in their respective section or department.

The post holder will be expected to support the operations of:

• the elected Council

• the Strategic Policy Committees

• Local Area Committees

• other Council structures

The Healthy County Coordinator is an Administrative Officer grade post and the successful candidate will initially be assigned responsibility for the delivery of the Healthy South Dublin Programme.

At any stage the Healthy Ireland Coordinator may be reassigned to a comparable grade post (Administrative Officer) within the local authority.

The office is wholetime, permanent and pensionable. A panel will be formed to fill permanent and temporary vacancies.

Persons employed will be required to work in any location within the South Dublin administrative area.

Salary / Wages

€60,611 - €62,095 - €63,826 - €65,563 - €67,300 - €68,852 €70,442 - €71,982 - €73,518 - €76,149 (1st LS1) – €78,795 (2nd LSI)

Hours of Work

The successful candidates’ normal hours of work will be 35 hours per week.

SDCC reserves the right to alter your hours of work from time to time.

Annual Leave

Annual leave entitlement for this position is 30 days.

QualificationsCharacter

Candidates will be of good character.

Health

Each candidate must be in a state of health such as would indicate a reasonable prospect of ability to render regular and efficient service.

Essential Education, Training and Experience

Each candidate must, on the latest date for receipt of completed application forms:

1. Education

A third-level degree (NFQ Level 8 or higher) in a relevant field such as:

• community/sports development

• youth work

• social sciences

• public health

• social policy

• public administration

• planning

• or related discipline

2. Experience

A minimum of 2 years’ relevant experience in any of the following:

• Local government, public sector, or similar roles involving strategic planning, project coordination, or community engagement.

• Work with disadvantaged communities or target populations to address social exclusion or inequality.

• Cross-sectoral coordination or partnership development.

• Policy development, research, or evaluation related to the determinants of health.

• Operating effectively within political, community and policy-making environments, demonstrating ability to work across boundaries of role, sector and geography.

• Project management and delivery, budgeting and performance-monitoring experience.

Candidates must hold a clean, current Class B Driving Licence and will be required to have access to his/her own car.

Desirable Education, Training and Experience

Knowledge and understanding of Sláintecare Reform, Healthy Ireland Outcomes Framework.

Experience of building, managing and nurturing partnerships and relationships across a wide range of key stakeholders.

An understanding and/or experience of local government structures and political environment.

Facilitation and group-work skills.

Understanding of those who experience health inequalities.

Experience of report writing, strategic planning and funding application processes.

Effective communication skills.

Excellent IT and administration skills, including MS Word, Excel and Power Point.

Experience in managing budgets and finances and experience with processing payments.

An understanding and/or experience in gathering qualitative and quantitative data, analysis, research and evaluation to policy and practice.

Appreciation of use of social media and varied communication platforms.

Understanding of multi-level governance and/or experience of working across local, regional, national and European contexts.

Key Competencies / Skills

• Strategic Management and change

• Delivering results

• Performance through People

• Personal effectiveness

• Local government knowledge and understanding

Candidates are requested to give an example of a situation which highlights the behaviour, skills and attitude that underpin effective performance in these areas and which demonstrates their suitability to meet the challenges of this role.

Candidates should ensure the example used clearly demonstrates their ability in this area and that the scale and scope of the example given is appropriate to the post and level of the post.

Duties

The Healthy County Co-ordinator will perform such duties as may be assigned from time to time which will involve the facilitation, implementation and promotion of the policies and objectives of SDCC for the advancement of the Healthy Cities & Counties Programme.

The Healthy County Co-ordinator will report to the Senior Executive Officer, Community or any other officer as designated by the Chief Executive.

Such duties include:

Work intensively with communities of interest and place to co-design, develop, and implement locally tailored wellbeing initiatives.

Apply principles of empowerment, participation, social justice, and equality in all aspects of planning and delivery.

Work with relevant Healthy Ireland partners to ensure integrated and improved delivery of health and wellbeing initiatives and support programmes across the City/County Council.

Use and gather relevant local datasets to target communities experiencing the greatest health inequities and build evidence case for resource allocation or intervention.

Develop a 5 year Healthy Cities & Counties Work Programme based on local need and priorities established from innovative and participatory community engagement and needs assessment exercises with Annual Action Plans comprising of Healthy Ireland Fund or similar funding to action local priorities.

Participate in Regional Healthy Ireland Coordinator Cluster and National Network fora.

Map, align and leverage local authority activities that influence the wider determinants of health and include within relevant Healthy Ireland data gathering exercises.

Advise elected members and senior executives on relevant policies and programmes related to health and wellbeing and deliver relevant upskilling/enabling opportunities.

Facilitate Local Authority wide or Regional Health and Wellbeing Networks and support the development of local wellbeing forums and wellbeing leadership initiatives within communities.

Work confidently and sensitively with elected representatives, senior executives, and cross-sectoral leaders to address determinants of health activity within the local authority.

Act as a catalyst and connector across directorates and sections (for example planning, transport, housing, environment, community) to align activity with health and wellbeing objectives.

Champion whole-system, place-based, preventative approaches to health and wellbeing, working across local authority directorates and with external partners to create enabling environments that foster wellbeing for all.

Explore resource mechanisms across all Government Departments and at EU level to address local community priorities.

Leverage research, data, innovation, and WHO/EU collaboration to encourage local government leadership in improving health and wellbeing outcomes.

Develop or contribute to funding bids where appropriate in conjunction with communities to resource local priority initiatives.

Capacity to influence, align, and coordinate across internal directorates and external stakeholders and demonstrate partnership management and stakeholder engagement skills.

Use local data, research, and evidence to shape decisions and measure outcomes.

Represent the Local Authority in regional and national networks and participate in international platforms such as the WHO European Healthy Cities Network.

Drive whole-of-local-government, whole-of-community and whole-of-place approaches to wellbeing, focusing on the social, economic, environmental and cultural determinants of health.

Plan, implement, oversee, and report on funding assigned to the post in line with agreed priorities.

Any other duties that may be assigned to the post to promote lifelong health and wellbeing in the community.

These duties are indicative rather than exhaustive and are carried out under general guidance.