Jessica Woodhouse, Policy and Project Officer

Norwich City Council

My Role:

My role is a Policy and Project Officer in the council’s Transformation Team. The team has been focused on two strategic programmes – securing a unitary council for Norwich for the future, and more recently managing the corporate improvement and efficiency programme. This has involved developing, consulting on and implementing a wide range of savings and improvement projects across the council. The role is extremely diverse and involves developing an understanding of the financial, legal and political aspects of local government. The skills needed for the role are quite varied, including research, analysis, communication, flexibility, project and change management. The role has provided me with a great opportunity to learn about all of the services the council provides and their impact on the residents of the city.

The Challenge, Why did you apply?

I applied for the competition because I enjoy being challenged, and believed this would help me to continue to develop the skills that are needed to be effective in local government today and in the future. We often have to develop innovative solutions in my team at Norwich City Council, and this is something I thought I could bring to the local government challenge. I would also like to share what I learn from the experience with colleagues in my own authority.

What would you do with the £10,000 scholarship if you won?

If I won the scholarship prize I would like to use it to develop a research and knowledge base that could help share best practice, ideas and learning between local government professionals across the world. This would enable any of us working in our own authorities to easily answer questions like “how do they do this in other countries?” and “what are the different ways of doing this that have been tried before?” I believe international exchange of this nature will become more important in today’s increasingly global society.