Role: Communities Coordinator
Hours: 37.5 per week Monday to Friday
Contract: Permanent
Salary: £25,000-£33,000
Holiday: 25 days per year plus Bank Holidays
Based: Home Based with travel to London and across the UK
Probationary Period: 3 months
Reports to: Head of Campaigns
Benefits: An additional 3 days holiday between Christmas and New Year / Flexitime policy / 5% pension contribution
We are River Action
We are a small and agile campaigning organisation on a mission to rescue Britain’s rivers from a toxic cocktail of agricultural, sewage and industrial pollution. We support community action, galvanise and mobilise public opinion, influence government policy, and call out destructive industrial practices to incentivise changes that end pollution.
We are building a talented team of positive disrupters and community mobilisers to deliver our strategy to urgently protect and restore our rivers for the benefit of community and wildlife.
Britain’s rivers are our life support system and they are dying. We need urgent action to bring them back to life.
Who we are looking for:
We are looking for highly engaged people who share our passion for rivers, wildlife and people who bring a creative, collaborative and investigative approach to campaigning. For this role we are looking for a confident and resilient community organiser who can build strong relationships to support communities to create change locally.
What you’ll be doing:
The Communities Coordinator will support community groups to campaign for clean rivers at a local level. By facilitating grass roots action you’ll be galvanising a strong and powerful network of community activists that have the power to create change both locally and nationally. You’ll be responsible for taking River Action’s national campaign strategy to a local level. You’ll work closely with the Campaigns Manager and the wider team to develop a Community Toolkit (including advice for activists, and guidance and services for communications, fundraising, legal support and citizen science projects) to support communities as well as provide strategic support to empower community activists to campaign for clean rivers. You’ll work closely with the Campaigns Manager and wider team to amplify the stories of those taking action at a local level and connect campaign groups to the wider national agenda. You’ll be working collaboratively with the River Action team to devise, develop and deliver our strategy ensuring our programme of community engagement is equitable, diverse and inclusive. You’ll be working closely with other organisations to ensure our community support compliments the work of others and meets the needs of community groups we work with.
Main Duties
-
Contribute to the development and implementation of River Action’s campaign strategy.
-
Develop River Action’s Community Toolkit as a package of support for local campaign groups.
-
Identify community groups within river catchments areas River Action is working and build positive and impactful relationships..
-
Organise site visits to develop good relationships and in-depth understanding of local issues impacting river health.
-
Convene and align local stakeholders around river catchment and regional campaigns.
-
Facilitate local community groups’ campaigns and provide support in line with our toolkit’s support package.
-
Facilitate the creation of community group citizen science projects, integrated within a national system for gathering and sharing evidence of pollution.
-
Organise community crowdfunding for citizen science and communications.
-
Plan and host webinars, training sessions and online and in person events.
-
Develop good working relationships with regulators including Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and Scottish Environment and Protection Agency.
-
Support the CEO and Campaigns Manager to identify and deliver legal challenges at a local level.
-
Maintain and develop partnerships and working relationships with other key groups and stakeholders working in similar areas of work to River Action.
-
Identify opportunities to engage, empower and expand River Action’s network of supporters.
-
Support the Communications Coordinator to create inspiring and engaging digital media content and news stories, including taking photographs and videos and conducting interviews.
-
Support the Campaigns Manager and Communication Coordinator in responding to the reactive news agenda.
-
Contribute to the Monitoring and Evaluation system for demonstrating impact of River Action’s community engagement work, reporting against KPIs.
-
Contribute to fundraising efforts particularly crowdfunding and drafting of funding proposals to support Campaigns and Fundraising Teams and the charity’s mission.
-
Work as a motivated and collaborative team player within a fast-paced team.
-
Carry out any other duties as are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the post as requested by your line manager or any other member of the River Action team.
Other Duties & Responsibilities
-
Adopt a positive approach to personal and professional development; engaging in one to one meetings and relevant training.
-
Be aware of, and act on, relevant health and safety responsibilities as an employee of River Action and adhere to these wherever you are working.
-
To maintain confidentiality in all areas of work at River Action.
-
UK travel will be required. Training & operational activities may require overnight stays away from home, in which case standard River Action procedures apply.
-
Demonstrate a strong commitment to creating an inclusive, equal and diverse workplace.
-
Work collaboratively with colleagues across River Action to collectively deliver our ethos and mission.
What you’ll bring
The position will suit an energetic, collaborative, resilient community organiser with a passion for aligning and mobilising communities to drive environmental change. The ideal person will be an excellent communicator, a natural convener, well-organised, and thrive within a dynamic and fast-paced environment. The person will have a passion to protect and renew our waterways and hold those responsible for environmental destruction to account.
-
Experience in working with and supporting community groups.
-
Experience in developing guidance documents and toolkits.
-
Expertise in convening and galvanising people around a common cause, using a diplomatic and sympathetic approach combined with urgency.
-
A head for organisation and excellent time management working in a calm and logical way.
-
An understanding of the issues that are impacting our rivers.
-
The ability to establish and maintain effective contacts and relationships with senior and influential external individuals and bodies.
-
The ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with a wide range of people both verbally and in writing including the media, community groups, other NGO representatives, supporters and followers on social media.
-
Great IT literacy.
-
Ability to work independently and take initiative to solve problems.
-
Ability to work flexible hours as necessary.
-
Ability to travel to remote locations not necessarily well-served by public transport.
-
A good team player with a willingness to muck in as and where required.
-
Ability to think clearly even when working under pressure.
-
A passion for River Action’s mission and vision.
Diversity and Inclusion
Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies show that women and people of colour are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single criteria. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace. So if you like the look of this role but your past experience does not align perfectly with everything in the job description, we would still like to hear from you. You may be just the right person for this or other roles.
How to apply
To apply, please submit your CV, a cover letter explaining how your skills and experience meet the requirements of the role and a written submission as described below to jobs at riveractionuk dot com. Only applications including all three documents will be accepted.
Written Submission:
This year, River Action will be developing its Communities Toolkit aimed at local campaign groups and activists seeking to develop their own local campaigns to rescue their rivers locally. As part of your application, we would like you to put together a one page document outlining a plan for the toolkit, mapping out the main structure and content of the toolkit and how you would deliver it to communities. We will particularly be looking at your style of communication and creative skills. Should you be successful in being invited to interview, you may be asked to present this idea.
Closing Date: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until 23:00 Friday 24 May. Screening calls and first-round interviews may be conducted with short-listed candidates before the application deadline. The deadline may be closed early if the right candidate is found.
Interview Date: Interviews expected to be held from 24 May via video conference.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Engagement Officer
Home based
Salary: £27,000 per annum
Four-year fixed term contract
35 hours per week
Reporting to an Engagement Team Manager you will recruit volunteers by promoting Re-engage’s services.
develop effective relationships with new and existing referrers such as social prescribers and community link workers.
identify and cultivate new, innovative referral pathways to connect with a broader demographic of seniors experiencing social isolation and loneliness.
support the wider Re-engage team in the delivery of our grant funded projects.
This role has a national UK remit and as and where the need arises.
Engagement Officer tasks and requirements:
- Growing and developing our network of referral partners, including social prescribers and link workers, ensuring that Re-engage's work is promoted to people aged 75+ who are experiencing social isolation and loneliness.
- Utilise Re-engage's CRM (OPUS) to inform evidence-based, data-driven decision-making to develop effective engagement plans.
- Working closely with the service delivery team ensuring that the right people are recruited and engaged into the right roles, in the right place, and at the right times.
- Collaborating with the communications team to support the widest possible publicity for the charity’s needs through media and social media opportunities, local press, radio, TV, and online forums.
- Liaising closely with the fundraising team delivering against recruitment targets linked to grants and supporting them with persuasive proposals and grant applications, using acquired national knowledge and collecting case studies.
- Identifying speaking and presenting opportunities ensuring that Re-engage's work is promoted to referrers.
- Joint accountability, with colleagues, for growing the engagement of older people and the recruitment of volunteers into Re-engage's portfolio of services.
- Carrying out any other reasonable tasks assigned to you by your line manager.
- We put the safeguarding of our older people, volunteers, and colleagues at the heart of everything we do and as such, this role will be subject to an enhanced criminal record check.
Knowledge, skills, and attributes
Essential
- Excellent people skills with a proven ability to network and collaborate with professionals, partners, older people, volunteers, and colleagues.
- Digital first approach with strong ability and enthusiasm about using technology to its full advantage to engage and recruit older people and volunteers and make data informed decisions.
- Experience of working with a wide range of stakeholders from the statutory, commercial, and voluntary sectors to deliver results.
- Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
- Organised and methodical approach to work with strong administrative skills.
- Self-motivated, able to work remotely at pace to deadlines with minimal supervision and meet KPIs.
- A clear understanding of safeguarding systems and processes and of confidentiality and the implications of GDPR when working with volunteers and older people.
Desirable
- Experience working in a target-driven environment in community engagement or sales
- Understanding of the volunteer journey, including recruitment and engagement.
- Full driving license and own car preferred as this post may require national travel and the occasional overnight stay.
About us
We are positive about old age and committed to reducing loneliness so that older people can have social lives and friendship groups however old they are. We inspire and enable meaningful connections and shared experiences within communities across the UK for people over 75 facing loneliness or social isolation.
We are proud of our values - positive, innovative, transparent, evidence-based, and accountable - and of our ethos of bringing generations together. These guide our day-to-day work, alongside our commitment to harnessing technology.
Joining our team means making a tangible impact on the lives of older people while enjoying a supportive and inclusive work environment. Although we operate remotely, we encourage teamwork and wellbeing through many and varied interest groups and virtual networking and social activities. We also offer periodic opportunities for regional groups of staff to meet face to face to discuss and feedback on specific operations issues.
How we recruit
Diversity and inclusion are important to us. We want our team of staff to be representative of all sections of society, and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best.
We use the recruitment platform hireful. The application process includes an inbuilt anonymisation feature which removes identifiable personal data from your CV. We also add competency questions to the process which asses your approach to real issues that you would face in this role. Each response is anonymised and reviewed separately by each hiring team member before the total scores are averaged to create a leaderboard of candidates. Using hireful allows us to reduce unconscious bias and subjectivity, and candidates experience a more skills-based recruitment process which helps us to hire the best talent for our roles.
The closing date is 5pm on Monday 13 May 2024, however, you should note that we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications. Therefore, if you’re interested in this role and in working for Re-engage, we would encourage you to apply ASAP. Interviews will be held w/c 27 May via Teams.
Benefits: Annual leave: 26 days plus bank holidays Remote working Flexible working Health: Bupa cash plan Pension Enhanced family friendly policies
REF-213725