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.

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. 

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.

What is your role? 
I am the Community Engagement and Insight Officer

What drew you towards working with Action Together? 
I knew about Action Together because I have been volunteering and working in the sector in GM for a few years now. I believe Action Together occupies an important role in the sector, enabling and empowering communities to thrive and do their best work. I also know people who have worked for Action Together before, and it sounded like a good place to work.

What excites you most about your role? 
Co-production, community empowerment, and embedding lived experience into decision-making have always been central to my work and this role allows me to build on and implement this experience.

What are your hopes for Oldham? 
Oldham has a great history which can still be seen in the buildings and landscape, but has suffered from decades of systemic underinvestment, both social and financial. My hope is that the rebalancing of power and influence away from London continues in earnest, and that the system in Oldham manages to take advantage of this to enable the town to meet its potential and to improve the health, wellbeing, and general quality of life of its communities.