Oldham Systems Change team

What is your role?

Systems Change and Engagement Manager

I oversee our borough-wide networks that bring together VCFSE organisations - and sometimes public sector colleagues - to share ideas, learning and collaborate together.  I also work on projects that are looking at different ways of hearing the voices of residents and seeking to shift the way systems, like health and funding, work to better serve our members and communities.

What drew you towards working with Action Together?

I think Action Together is in a good position to help make change happen, by connecting together our members - all the amazing VCFSE groups in Oldham - and working with the public sector to bring the voices and experiences of communities into decision making. I believe that collaboration has more long-term benefits than silo working and the Action Together values - believing it's possible and strengthening others - fit well with my own values.

What excites you most about your role?

When a group of people who are passionate about Oldham communities are sat together working through real and difficult problems and come up with an idea, approach or activity that we all believe can make a positive change. It can take a lot to make ideas a reality, and things don't always work, but I'm excited when I have hope, time and the trust to give things a try.

What are your hopes for Oldham?

Oldham has so many amazing, committed and hard working people doing their upmost in their communities. I hope that their work will be really and truly valued, invested in and supported by the 'system' and that people's voices will be heard when local decisions are being made.

Get in touch

To get in touch with Julie, email julie.goreham@actiontogether.org.uk

What is your role?

Oldham Positive Action Network Coordinator (part of the Systems Change team)

I coordinate OPAN – an Oldham based network supported by a UK movement known as ‘Local Motion’. OPAN empowers people with lived experience of systemic injustice and poverty to come together with VCFSE organisations and the public sector to be part of taking positive action in the areas they are most passionate about. We share stories, disrupt systems and inspire others to get involved using evolving methods - often through test and learns. We work with Co-productive and Participatory methods to find new ways of doing things. Workstreams we are building on include Housing, Financial Inclusion and Employability.

What drew you towards working with Action Together?

Action Together is embedded in the community and has a genuine heart to understand what matters most to people on the ground. I love the value that Action Together places on valuing lived experience, empowering people who have firsthand experiences to help shape and influence real systems change. I first worked in the Social Prescribing team (for 4 years) and then moved into the Systems Change team. Action Together is always moving forward in response to emerging needs in the community and never stays still, I love that – it inspires me to do the same in my professional and personal life.

What excites you most about your role?

The opportunity to empower residents to be a part of the change they want to see excites me the most in this work. I have enjoyed practicing with coproduction methods to really get to the root of the things people say matter most to them and the areas where they want to see positive action. To keep the authentic voice of lived experience at the heart of all we are doing is deeply important to me. Enabling people to feel heard, valued and listened to is what drew me to this role; seeing those same people empowered with renewed confidence to inspire change is a huge privilege.

What are your hopes for Oldham?

For Oldham to be celebrated for its diversity and welcoming atmosphere; we get to live and work in a vibrant multicultural area – what a wonderful opportunity to learn and evolve as a community of people from across the globe coming together. For us to deeply value the difficult, complex and challenging experiences that many people have walked through and to celebrate their resilience, strength and resolve. For local people, public sector orgs and VCFSE orgs to grow and develop their skills and talents in collaboration, recognizing the individual contributions they bring to strengthening our community when we all come together. 

Get in touch

To get in touch with Laura, email laura.norris@actiontogether.org.uk

What is my role?

I am the LocalMotion Programme Manager

What drew me to work at Action Together?

If you want to be involved in social and economic change, helping people and helping Oldham. Then what better place than Action Together to do this. The team have years of experience, a great reputation and all the local connections. Most importantly this organisation is here for the long term, and you can tell they care. 

What excites me most about this role?

This role is all about building a coalition and trying new things with the goal of tackling the root causes of poverty through building an economy for everyone. Quite wordy, but it sounded worth doing, 

My hopes for Oldham are?

I see too many boarded up, but magnificent buildings. I'd like to see them all used whether in community or private ownership. 

Get in touch

To get in touch with John, email john.atherton@actiontogether.org.uk

What is your role?

I am the Partnerships and Collaboration Coordinator at Action Together, my role focuses on bringing organisations, networks, and communities together to strengthen collaboration and support more joined-up ways of working across the voluntary and community sector.

What drew you towards working with Action Together?

I was drawn to Action Together because of its strong commitment to community-led change, equity, and systems thinking. The organisation’s values and its focus on long-term, place-based impact really resonated with me, particularly the way it centres relationships, lived experience, and collective learning.

What excites you most about your role?

What excites me most about my role is the opportunity to work across boundaries connecting people, ideas, and resources and to help create the conditions for meaningful systems change. I’m passionate about supporting the voluntary sector to influence wider systems, amplify community voices, and build partnerships that lead to lasting change.

What are your hopes for Oldham?

My hope for Oldham is to see a borough where communities feel empowered, connected, and supported, and where collaboration across sectors leads to fairer outcomes and stronger, more resilient neighbourhoods shaped by the people who live there.

Get in touch

To get in touch with Judith, email judith.nyanjowa@actiontogether.org.uk