Policy and Advocacy Manager

Alexandra Rose Charity’s policy and advocacy work should provide a route to achieving our mission and to solving the societal issues that we diagnose.  

In terms of objectives, that translates to:

• Building political engagement with and support for (financial or otherwise) the ARC model, as a means of reducing health inequalities
• Creating and supporting campaigns that move us towards our wider mission of everyone having access to healthy and affordable food in their communities

We’re looking for an experienced Policy and Advocacy Manager with the ability to deliver on our ambitious plans for influencing policy at a local and national level. Our work is already widely respected and there is growing awareness amongst local and national policy makers, think tanks, funders and campaigners of the efficacy of our approach.

Working closely with the Chief Executive thePolicy and Advocacy Manager will lead our plans for influencing national policy developments with an eye on the opportunities provided by an approaching election. At the local level, the post will work with colleagues in the Operations Team to enhance our reputation amongst key project stakeholders and identify opportunities to influence policy making and funding. This will include engagement with councils, regional Mayor’s and Public Health teams. 

Key Responsibilities

• Leading the development of strategic advocacy and public affairs priorities and planning the organisation’s programme of public affairs activities.
• Building and maintaining relationships with a network of MPs, Peers, MSPs, political advisors, committee clerks, parliamentary staff and civil servants in Westminster and across the devolved administrations.
• Supporting the Operations Team to identify key relationships needed for successful local advocacy and public affairs work in the areas we currently work in with the aim of further embedding projects in the local landscape
• Conducting political stakeholder mapping – nationally, regionally and locally.
• Keeping abreast of Parliamentary activity and Government announcements, local authority and Mayoral developments to identify potential engagement opportunities.
• Developing letters, evidence submissions and briefing papers for policy audiences, and ensuring that these reach relevant stakeholders.
• Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the Charity’s advocacy & public affairs activities and using this information to refine our approach.

Job Title:                     Policy and Advocacy Manager

Reports to:                 Chief Executive

Direct Reports:           None

Location:                     London and the South East, Home working, with a requirement to regularly attend external meetings and events (mainly London but on occasions elsewhere in the UK)

Salary:                         £38,000

Hours:                         Full time but will consider requests for part time (4 days per week)

Alexandra Rose Charity (ARC) is the organisation that makes it easier for people to access fresh fruit & vegetables in their local community. Since 2014 ARC has pioneered the use of financial incentives to improve access to healthy food and combat food poverty through the Rose Vouchers for Fruit & Veg Project. The project has grown from two small pilots in London with 45 families to support over 3,500 families weekly in eight areas across the UK – five London Boroughs, Barnsley, Liverpool and Glasgow. 

Currently, the charity works with 62 children’s centres and community organisations, 58 market traders and independent retailers, and one fruit and veg mobile bus. This year we will redeem close to one million pounds worth of Rose Vouchers engaging thousands of families to engage with key local services while supporting the vibrancy and sustainability of local healthy food economies.

In Summer 2022 we diversified our offer by launching the UK’s first large scale pilots of Fruit & Vegetables on Prescription in partnership with community health organisations in Lambeth and Tower Hamlets. The development of this work was inspired by similar approaches that have multiplied in the United States over the past ten years but have more recently found favour in the UK where they were recommended as a key intervention in the National Food Strategy published by Henry Dimbleby in 2021. 

As an organisation we are currently in year four of a five-year strategy. The strategy stated our ambitions to build on the ten year history of our work to advocate for access to healthy food for all through an improved food system. This advocacy work has developed over the last three years and was given extra impetus first, by the emergence of the Covid19 pandemic, and more recently, by the cost of living crisis. 

In 2022 we received funding from Impact on Urban Health to develop our approach to advocacy further. This role will drive forward our advocacy strategy that was developed as a result of this support.