Communications volunteer intern volunteer roles

This is a prestigious voluntary opportunity to play a key role in the governance of Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site (WHS) and contribute to protecting the WHS for current and future generations.

Could you be the first independent Chair of the Expert & Stakeholder Group? This is a new role in the WHS Partnership, supporting the group of 30 local and national partners to carry out its role effectively. Working closely with the independent Chair of the Executive Board, the Expert and Stakeholder Group Chair will facilitate effective discussion and encourage a broad range of participation. 

Applications are sought from candidates with experience of successfully chairing sensitive committees and ensuring effective organisational governance. 

• Voluntary position with travel expenses.

• 3-year term, potentially renewable by the appointing body for a second term.

• Time commitment of up to 2-3 days per month including chairing 3 Expert & Stakeholder Group meetings, and attending 3 Executive Board meetings, per annum.

betterSoil

betterSoil is a sustainable start-up and a movement that is passionately committed to the health of our earth's soil.

We are currently losing around 10 million hectares of fertile soil worldwide. That's about 14 million football pitches. However, good soils are the source of more than 90% of our food. At the same time, the world's population will grow to 10 billion people by 2050. Food will therefore become scarce, especially high-quality food, as this depends on the quality of the soil. The effects of climate change are worsening the situation of soils because droughts and extreme rainfall are becoming more severe and more frequent. Current farming methods lead to high CO2 emissions, diseased soils produce low-quality food and biodiversity is rapidly declining, as around half of biodiversity lives in the soil.

Since 2020, betterSoil has been involved at European level, e.g. with an event with the EU Parliament and prominent supporters such as Prof. Dr Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Dr Franz Fischler (Former EU Commissioner for Agriculture) and Dr Peter Johnston (European Policy Centre) in a national and international context to improve soil quality for climate resilience and climate protection as well as the promotion of biodiversity and sustainable food production. Our way of working goes far beyond soil consulting. We combine local, indigenous knowledge with the latest science and offer practice-orientated betterSoil recipes for farmers. We also offer individual consultations for companies and organisations of all kinds. In this way, we create a comprehensive awareness of soil health that helps to position oneself more sustainably and thus achieve business goals. 

Newsletter & Blog Content Manager

Your Role As Newsletter & Blog Content Manager, you’ll shape how betterSoil communicates with its community and partners. Your work will help us reach more people, strengthen our impact, and showcase how soil can change the world.

Key tasks: • Write and edit engaging blog posts on soil, climate, and sustainable agriculture. • Create and manage our monthly newsletter (Mailchimp or similar). • Translate project updates, research, and events into accessible stories. • Coordinate a content calendar aligned with campaigns and events. • Coordination with the social media team • Assist with press releases or media outreach.

What We’re Looking For • Strong writing and communication skills. • Passion for sustainability, agriculture, or climate action (no need to be a soil expert, but a basic understanding of the topic and a genuine interest in learning more are essential. • Experience with newsletters, blogging, or content management • Creativity, reliability, and the ability to work independently in a remote team.

What You’ll Gain • Be part of an international, mission-driven team reimagining soil as the foundation of a sustainable future. • Build a portfolio of published content on climate and agriculture. • Learn about soil, regenerative agriculture, and sustainability strategies. • Contribute flexibly from anywhere in the world . • Make a tangible difference in a growing social impact initiative. • Get recognized for your impact – we’ll provide a written confirmation of your volunteer work in climate action.

Commitment: Flexible, part-time volunteer (approx. 6 hrs/week ). Duration: Minimum 1 year (longer preferred with potential for future paid collaboration as the organization grows). Compensation: Volunteer (impact-driven role).

Minimum Hours per Week

4-6 hours per week

Duration

6+ months

Position Overview

We are excited to offer an excellent opportunity for an entry level development professional who is interested in gaining skills in operations and administration areas, to join SEED Madagascar (SEED) as our Operations and Administration Officer. 

SEED Madagascar is a UK charity dedicated to creating long-term, sustainable change in partnership with communities in the southeast of Madagascar. We integrate high-quality community health, WASH, education, rural livelihoods and conservation programmes, while contributing to international best practices through research and publications.

This role is an office-based role within a team of national and international staff with occasional support in the field to our Conservation Research Team. This post is at the heart of our mission, and the diversity of activities undertaken will provide  wide-ranging experience for an early career development professional who can effectively and efficiently deal with a comprehensive range of tasks related to the complex world of overseas development.

This position is ideal for someone who is passionate about providing a wide range of support to SEED’s team including providing high quality administrative support across the policies and procedures, managing the recruitment of international staff, leading on onboarding for incoming staff and our marketing and support of our short-term conservation programme volunteers.

Title: Operational Support Intern - change of title and responsibilities to Operational Support Junior Officer subject to passing 3-month probationary review.

Location: Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

Commitment: 12 months; Monday to Friday (35 hours a week)

Salary: Voluntary for 12 months, with stipend of 800,000 MGA per month towards accommodation and a contribution of £650 towards insurance

Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Provide pre-departure logistical support and advice with visas, hotels, flights, accommodation, medication etc to new international staff and short-term conservation volunteers

2. Lead on supporting international staff during their initial time with SEED including arrival, orientation, social inclusion, cultural understanding, housing and integration into the SEED team 

3. Provide pastoral care, working with line managers to ensure that new and existing international staff and volunteers’ wellbeing is supported 

4. Support the Conservation team in Sainte Luce on providing orientations and pastoral care of volunteers when required

5. Support the Communications team with advertising the volunteer programme and helping volunteers to increase their fundraising efforts

6. Support on creating, editing and writing website content and resources to ensure organisational and project information is up-to-date

7. Support on the recruitment of international staff, including the advertisement of vacancies

8. Assist in the preparation of reports for internal and external audiences including Annual Reports and Malagasy Ministry reports

9. Work with the Director of Operations and Programmes, and the International Operations Manager in developing, updating and implementing organisational databases, systems, policies and procedures across the NGO

10. Oversee the training schedule for international staff and work alongside national and international staff to increase their skills and capacity, providing mentoring or training where appropriate

11. Work alongside the IT Officer to provide basic IT and equipment management support 

12. Support with the writing of minutes and note taking across the organisation

13. Support project teams where required to develop systems to manage donor compliance, or support with financial or administrative reporting requirements

14. Ensure all of SEED’s policies and procedures are evident throughout the work of the department, including those for safeguarding, whistleblowing and anti-corruption, and undertake continual training to ensure these are always promoted

15. Assist with administration tasks and any other tasks required by the International Operations Manager or Director of Programmes and Operations in line with the tasks of the post

Required Skills & Experience/Person Specification 

• Hold an undergraduate degree in or relating to Business or Development or be able to demonstrate a passion for this area

• Be able to work independently and be proactively

• Have good all round computing skills and experience in Microsoft Office 

• Have previous experience working to deadlines and have ability to successfully manage their time

• Communicate clearly and engagingly in written English across a range of media forms

• Communicate verbally to encompass the range of cultures you will be working with

• To have a good level of written English and be able to proofread documents to a high standard

• To have a curious mind and a patient, problem solving attitude

• Ideally have previous experience living, working or travelling in a developing country, though is not essential

• Be fluent in English. A working knowledge of French is desirable but not essential

• Be capable and comfortable adapting to life in a least developed country with sometimes basic living conditions

• Be comfortable with campsite conditions whilst supporting the team in the field for days at a time

• Be able to work and socialise within a small group of people and to be respectful and take personal responsibility for maintaining a good reputation for the NGO in the community

• Be able to adjust to life in another culture and a foreign language and be able to always work with cultural sensitivity

• Demonstrate the ability, social skills and confidence to give clear guidance and support to other members of the team in respect of the philosophy and procedures of SEED to protect both their safety and the reputation of the NGO.