Bahar’s current role at Hertfordshire County Council, as a Senior Contract Officer involves:

• Working with multi-disciplinary internal teams and managing external project management teams for the development of nursery, primary and secondary schools, responding to service providers projected expansion needs; in this case of the Children’s Services department.
• Contributing to Business cases for all construction related matters. Total school’s programme construction fund managed circa £95m over 3 years.
• Acting as Property Sponsor of National Framework ‘Partnerships for Schools’ funded Academy developments in Watford. Current 2 schemes totalling to £54m over 2 years.
• Recently receiving ‘You Are a Star’ trophy from the County Board for exceptional work on an Academy development project. Bahar also been selected for the 'Talent Pool' and attending Hertfordshire Leadership Academy which involves dedicated time for personal development.
  

She already is reading a part-time MSc at University of Oxford, Said Business School: Major Programme Management; due to graduate in September 2012.

Her reason for applying to the Local Government Challenge is pursue aspirations for a fulfilling career in public sector.

I am part of the Kent Graduate Programme and working on secondment in the Kent Safeguarding Children Board (KSCB) as a Project Officer. This role is linked with delivering improvements within the KSCB and for its partners through the Children’s Service Improvement Plan. Before this role I have worked in the areas of transformation, public health and resource management at Kent County Council (KCC). The most notable experience to date being asked to project manage the £1 million East Kent Fit for Work Pilot that looked at helping people return to work after a period of illness. Outside of work I play for Maidstone Rugby Club and have recently run a half-marathon for charity.

Prior to joining KCC I studied an MA in History at the University of Leicester and worked in a full-time project management internship in space science. It was whilst learning about space technology, and working alongside Leicester City Council, that I realised the many different roles which local government plays in our everyday lives.

In this current economic climate it can be very easy to lose sight of innovation and simply focus on just delivering a service. I view the Local Government Challenge as a chance to share new ideas, seek alternative solutions to the problems posed by shrinking budgets and fundamentally question the way the public sector delivers services to customers.

Sometimes I think I just like taking the difficult option. In reality I love to develop, to learn from others and stretch myself - hence my application to the LG Challenge. I see the challenge as a great opportunity to develop my skills in analysing situations, problem solving, thinking on my feet and team work. The chance to tackle real local authority issues will broaden my knowledge of the sector and is sure to further spark my interest in the public sector.

I have worked in Local Government for 5 years in a variety of roles. Each of these has been in a business support capacity and all have had a commitment to deliver improvement. I am currently a Learning and Organisational Development Partner, at Northampton Borough Council, although at the point of writing this biog I have been in this role only 2 days! This role is all about leading and supporting the council through change, drawing ideas from others and encouraging innovation. In my previous role I worked as a Performance Officer supporting service areas in business planning, delivering service area reviews and monitoring performance - enabling Northampton Borough Council to move forward in its improvement journey.

In my own time, I am a trustee of local charity, a committed member of a pub quiz team, run in a local jogging group and love to travel both in the UK and abroad.

As Corporate Communications Manager for Cornwall Council, my role is to work across all communications areas but with special responsibility for internal communications and social and digital media. I work closely with my colleagues in policy, intelligence, performance and localism as well as the Chief Executive and senior management team, I’m always looking for the inside scoop and seek to use innovative ways to get our message across and gain feedback so that we can improve.

Having a keen interest in better engagement, genuine two way communications and brilliant public relations, I also lead on our social and digital media programme, managing the team that communicate through channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo and YouTube and owning our social media policy. Cornwall Council’s webcasting function has taken off hugely in the past year, with chat functionality being added to allow real time engagement with the public during meetings, and media partners embedding the feed onto their web pages.

I entered the LG Challenge because it is a great opportunity to share knowledge with other councils at a time that is challenging for all of us. It’s a chance to work within a team of equally ambitious individuals, all doing different work in different places. So win or not, a huge amount of learning is possible, and I hope to come away with fresh ideas and perspectives to bring to Cornwall – as well as of course showing what Cornwall can do for others.

I enjoy working in local government. The variety and closeness of our interaction with the public is unique and makes it both a really interesting place to work and creates the potential to produce positive and innovative outcomes for local people.

I currently work as a Corporate Policy Officer for Stockport Council. My role involves providing policy support and direction to directorates particularly on areas of Equalities (for which I am the corporate lead), Localism and policy development. I have also recently been given the remit of corporate policy support on Housing, Planning and Transport.

My time at Stockport Council and my previous authority Tameside Council, has seen me get involved in a wide range of projects such as: developing a partnership volunteering strategy; supporting the HR team during Equal Pay implementation; project manage a community governance review (including the coordination of a large scale consultation programme); collating and presenting quarterly performance reports to senior managers; develop more than one Council Plan, and; liaising with the Audit Commission during CAA.

My ambition is to be a leader in local government and this is driven by my passion for the sector and for creating real improvements in services. I applied for the Local Government Challenge as it really appealed to these ambitions and my desire to challenge and stretch myself. I want to expand my experience and develop new skills and approaches to overcoming emerging and current issues within Local Government.

In my current role as Principal Strategy Officer at the London Borough of Southwark I provide strategic input into statutory and preventative Children's Services. At present priorities include ensuring we are prepared to showcase the positive work we do in our forthcoming inspections, responding to Professor Munro's review and ensuring we are continuing to meet local need while responding to statutory duties in a time of increasing austerity. The challenges we face is great, however there are real opportunity to positively transform how we deliver public services, and it is this which currently most excites me about my job.

As a driven and dedicated member of the public sector workforce I have applied for LG Challenge as I feel it offers an opportunity to showcase and develop the skills I have learnt in my career to date. I am excited for the process and looking forward to moving out of my comfort zone as well as learning from a range of different environments and people who I will meet. I am passionate about people and passionate about places and dedicated to ensuring the most vulnerable in society can live happy and fulfilling lives. To do this I aspire to becoming a dynamic and effective public sector leader who ensures local services are delivered in the most effective and efficient way possible and truly meet the needs of local communities. I feel this challenge will provide me with an experience and opportunity to move closer to achieving my aspirations.

Lorna Gibbons is Senior Economic Development officer at the Borough of Poole. Her remit covers all aspects of Economic Development.

Prior to joining the Borough of Poole, Lorna worked at the South West Observatory on a Regional Efficiency and Improvement Partnership project which encouraged consistent and comparable economic assessment data and method across the South West region; encourage more collaborative working to save costs; help address local authority capacity and skills constraints in economic assessment; share best practice and enable joint commissioning. In addition Lorna identified opportunities for further areas of work including commissioning a mapping tool for functional economic areas.

She also worked for the South West of England Regional Development Agency as an Evidence Advisor, for Yorkshire Forward as a Research Analyst and within Bedfordshire and Luton on an East of England Development Agency funded project to help increase economic participation.

Lorna has a BSc in Sociology, MSc in Social Research and Graduate Diploma in Law/Common Professional Examination.

I applied to take part in this competition as I believe it is a good opportunity to put Local government in the spotlight. I would like to assure the private sector that the public sector has a lot to offer. On a more personal note it would be a great opportunity to meet other Local Authority employees and to gain a wider understanding of the challenges faced by local government and communities going forward. My final reason for entering the competition is because I want to win.

In my current role as Partnership Development Officer for Rochdale Metropolitan Council, I support the management of the Local Public Service Board (LPSB). The Board is made up of chief executives from the key public partners operating in Rochdale. My role is to ensure the Council and its partners on the LPSB, maintain strong working relationships and find joint solutions to the significant challenges facing Rochdale Borough.

The Board recently agreed a new strategy, which sets out the vision and priorities for the borough. I monitor performance against the strategy and identify areas for improvements. I also support the delivery of a number of key multi-agency projects that have been agreed by the Board. One of these includes looking at more efficient ways of working with complex families.

I am also responsible for strengthening links between key partnerships such as safer communities, children’s trust and health and well-being boards so that strategies and work programmes are streamlined, duplication is avoided and multi-agency working is embedded across all agencies.

I applied to the Local Government Challenge to further develop my skills. I want to gain practical insight into the challenges facing councils across the country and contribute towards identifying solutions to these challenges. It’s an opportunity to develop my self further, allowing me to identify my own strengths and test my abilities in high pressure situations. I also hope the experience I gain can be applied back into my own workplace, so that it benefits Rochdale Council and its citizens.

I have worked in local Government for 11 years and currently work in an Estate Renewal Project Officer Role. My main duty is to facilitate estate renewal and regeneration schemes on Northampton Borough Council housing properties and estates. This role requires a variety of skills due the communication and performance management of projects. I am heavily involved with the community, councillors and estate stakeholders on projects resulting in sustainable outcomes for all. Due to the involvement of local people on steering groups often training is required on legal process like procurement to help them fully understand the level of decision-making, which is delivered by estate renewal officers. We successfully took a resident steering group through a procurement process, including writing the tender and interviewing the successful bidders, leading to eighteen homes being built.

I applied for the competition to gain valuable experience in performance management, both for my council organisation and myself to benefit from. I am excited by the recent changes and updates in Local Government and would like to see how different councils are reacting to the current demands they are facing in light of reduced resources. The challenges appeal to me as I recently completed a Leadership qualification and feel I have a lot to offer in the competition process.

I joined Croydon Council in October 2009 as an efficiency officer working on the RELEASE & DELIVER efficiency programme. I was responsible for assessing project performance against the benefits identified in the business case and making recommendations to directors where the funding could be better used.

Following a recent restructure I was successful in applying for a data analyst role in our newly established Strategic Intelligence Unit. I have been analysing data for 2 months now and am really enjoying the challenge. In this short time I have learnt so much about the profile of our communities in relation to deprivation, population and demographics and how our strategies and policies aim to have a positive impact thereby improving the quality of life for the most vulnerable.

I have applied for the LGA challenge as -

• I like a challenge and want to improve my leadership skills
• I am excited about the possibility of working with like minded, keen and enthusiastic public sector employees
• I want to be the best I can be for me, and my Local Authority

If I won the competition I would use the funding to analyse and improve the way councils communicate with our customers, ensuring we are doing what the customers want, and by default, informing them of the restricted environment we have to deliver services in.

If any funds remain I would attempt a computer science and statistics degree improving personal outputs to my Local Authority