Full-Time Policy/Research Jobs

                                                         IMPACT COORDINATOR SOUGHT
                                         FOR RESTORATION PROJECT ON REMOTE ISLAND

We are a large-scale, dynamic, and forward-thinking restoration and hospitality project in the Northwest Highlands with strong philanthropic and community commitments. The heart of our operation is on a remote and beautiful 800-acre island, where we are delivering stunning, sympathetic builds and authentic guest experiences in an area of outstanding scenery.

We run a monitoring programme to capture our social and environmental impact and effectiveness across a range of indicators and are looking for an enthusiastic, creative person to help with this work and become our Impact Coordinator. Our chief areas of charitable engagement include Education, Rural and Community Regeneration, Arts, Culture, Heritage and Science, Environmental Protection and Improvement, and Health and Wellbeing.

The purpose of this role will be the accurate measurement of the effectiveness and social value of the projects we deliver for our owning Charitable Trust. Our Impact Coordinator will work with our internal and external impact team to measure the social value of past, present and future projects, with strategic guidance and support from our leadership team, external advisers, and Trustees.

                                                                                      Storytelling
This role will suit a graduate with degrees, or equivalent experience, in the Social Sciences, Sustainable Development, Management or related fields. This is an opportunity for an ambitious candidate to jump straight into a well-supported role on a big project and produce well-presented, evidence-based stories about the project’s impact using numbers, text, and multimedia for a variety of different audiences.

                                                                                 Data
We gather social value data and KPIs, and have a burgeoning collection of testimonials, feedback, and imagery. We need someone to help build and maintain our qualitative and quantitative data library. This will very much be a “doing” role, involving time spent with spreadsheets and reports, as well as time spent with the team helping them with the same. We are collating the story of the project to date for a key report in Q1 2025.

                                                                                  Community
Our team is diverse, driven, and comes from across the country and further afield. We have our own growing island community of staff and guests, while also being embedded in mainland life in nearby crofting townships and villages. There are opportunities for working with different teams, sailing heritage boats, hosting guests, educating school pupils, and supporting projects on the mainland.

We are looking for a capable, self-motivated individual with excellent communication skills who will thrive on a challenging project. We anticipate out-of-the-box thinking and self-presentation from the get-go. Training and development will be offered to the right candidate. The salary range for this role will be £25-£35kpa depending on experience. We will be happy to discuss flexible shift patterns and shared accommodation with the right candidate.

The closing date for applications will be the 2nd of May 2024. Teams interviews will take place on the 7th and 8th of May. Preferred candidates will be invited to visit the island on the 16th and 17th of May.

The Campaign Coordinator will deliver a campaign strategy immediately before and after the General Election. You will lead local community teams who want to end the need for food banks, to get local Prospective Parliamentary Candidates to commit to prioritising the problem of people going without essentials if they are elected, and to acknowledge that that must involve a strengthened social security system.

This Cambridge City Foodbank (CCFb) role is funded by Trussell Trust as part of their General Election strategy, and you will be part of a network of Campaign Coordinators around the UK doing this work.

Responsibilities of Campaign Coordinator:

To build trusted relationships within CCFb and other food banks before, during and after the UK General Election. You will work with food banks across the Cambridgeshire & Peterboorough Combined Authority to build a team and coordinate campaign activity.

To create and support campaigns teams of community volunteers. You will have 1-2-1s with food bank staff, volunteers, partner organisations and stakeholders in each community to build support bases and get people to take part in campaign actions.

To lead community outreach including door-knocking sessions. You will door knock with your community campaign team to drum up support for the campaign, provide members of the public literature on food bank use in their local community, and invite people to their local hustings.

To support local campaigns teams to engage with Prospective Parliamentary Candidates, including organising local hustings. You will ensure that your community campaign teams: attend national Trussell Trust webinars, receive national guidance on how to approach Prospective Parliamentary Candidates, understand the Trussell Trust legal General Election guidance, understand the logistics of organising a hustings, ensure that the hustings is as accessible as possible and ensure that the voices of people with lived experience are heard through the hustings.

To deliver the local campaigning strategy working with CCFb and other food bank staff, volunteers, visitors and social supermarket members. You will set objectives for the campaign, monitor progress and evaluate impact.

To work with the Organising and Local Mobilisation strategy of CCFb and engage with the training and support on offer, including work with other Campaign Coordinators in the Trussell Trust network  
 

Person Specification

       Experience and knowledge:

• Experience of campaigning or organising to achieve a change.
• Experience working alongside people with lived experience of poverty.
• Experience facilitating groups and organising engaging group activities.
• Experience influencing local decision makers.
• Knowledge of the UK political system.
• Knowledge of anti-poverty organisations across the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.
• Good project management skills, and the ability to manage and motivate volunteers.
• Willingness to travel across the Combined Authority area as required. 

       Behaviours and competencies:

• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build relationships and gain trust of people with lived experience of poverty and using food banks.
• Confident in communicating and, able to seek and balance a range of views and stakeholders, influencing where required.
• Politically minded, with an understanding of charities’ obligations to be political independent.
• Be committed to the vision, respect the ethos and uphold the values of Cambridge City Foodbank and Trussell Trust.

About Cambridge City Foodbank

Our vision is a UK without the need for Foodbanks. We meet the need for emergency and affordable food, and tackle the causes of poverty, by harnessing the power of the community.

We value dignity, justice, compassion, community and impact, in all that we do. We serve local people regardless of background, inspired by our Christian ethos and values.

As part of our commitment to inclusion, diversity and equity actively encourage applications from under-represented groups such as returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break, people who are LGBT+, from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions and those with a lived experience of poverty as well as any other under-represented group in our workforce. We are committed to ensuring the safety and protection of our employees from all forms of harm.

In 2023: our amazing team of 200 volunteers assisted by a small staff team, provided 16,000 3-day emergency food parcels to people across Cambridge (36% were children) and distributed 170,000 Kilos of food.

WHAT IS START NETWORK?

Our purpose is to be a catalyst for system-level change that improves the efficiency, effectiveness and ethics of humanitarian action. We do this by working as a network to develop, test & spread new ways of collaborating and resourcing locally-led crisis response and anticipation.

Our current membership is made up of nearly 100 local, national and international NGOs based all around the world. We also support 10 national and regional hubs made up of civil society organisations and NGOs as our vehicle for devolving power, resources and accountability.

OUR SOLUTIONS

DECENTRAISLING & LOCALLY-LED ACTION: Shifting power and resources and decentralising decision-making to locally led networks and organisations.

EARLY & RAPID FINANCING: Building a global financing system that reduces risk, anticipates, and acts ahead of predictable crises.

COMMUNITY-LED INNOVATION: Incentivising innovative, locally led, and contextual solutions and learning from them together with people affected by crises.

For more information about Start Network and what we do, please visit our website. 

OUR VALUES

WE PUT PEOPLE FIRST: Communities come first in our decision-making and programming.

WE ARE BRAVE: We have great ambition and are willing to explore new things and take risks to achieve it

WE OPERATE COLLECTIVELY: We leverage the value of working as a network, sharing risk and resources, and learning together.

WE ARE INCLUSIVE: We see the value in diverse perspectives and work to remove the barriers that prevent voices from being heard.

WE ARE OPEN: We work transparently and with integrity, building mutual trust in all levels of our work, from governance to programming.

WE ARE ETHICAL: We behave and operate based on key principles of anti-racism, non-discrimination, and anti-colonialism. This is a work in progress.

JOB PURPOSE

The role will support the research activities of Start Network and its programmes and initiatives.

Working within the Evidence & Learning team, the Research Officer will conduct research, interpret data and communicate findings across of a range of programmes and initiatives which support evidencing the impact and learning of Start Network activities. These could involve supporting in the design and administration of data collection projects; as well as cleaning, processing, and analysing primary data and literature and desk reviews. The successful applicant will require basic research skills and additional skills will be learned on the job through guidance provided by the other members of the Evidence & Learning team.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Research

• Lead and support with undertaking research, including desk reviews, conducting landscape analyses and literature reviews using a range of materials and sources, including online platforms.

• Support with the design and implementation of data collection tools for primary data (e.g., surveys, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews) and secondary data collection.

• Work with both qualitative and quantitative data, including interview transcription, data cleaning, processing, and analysis.

• Support key teams with research and analysis for their programme and initiative areas.

• Work with a range of staff across key initiatives to formulate and test research ideas.

• Assist with managing and supporting external consultants

• Support with Presenting Research Findings

• Develop, and co-develop, technical reports, PowerPoint presentations, and other written pieces for a range of audiences and platforms, both internally and externally.

• Create relevant graphics and visualisations to present qualitative and quantitative information.

• Present, and work alongside others to present, information to a range of key stakeholders including donors, Start Network member organisations and academics in formal and informal settings.

Information Management

• Work alongside others in the team to establish and maintain libraries of relevant information related to stakeholders and partners.

• Create tools related to information management (e.g., informed consent forms) and in obtaining consent and permissions for various research projects and products from member representatives and other key stakeholders.

START NETWORK CULTURE

• To carry out the responsibilities of the role in line with the Start Network Code of Conduct and with a commitment to safeguarding adults and children

• A commitment to the Start Network vision, principles, values, and approach

• The Start Network team is an agile group of individuals who use their experience and skills across the network, so flexibility to work in and with different teams and functions is a part of our culture.

PERSON PROFILE

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL

• Experience in research skills including literature reviews and data analysis.

• Working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint necessary, experience with standard data analysis, graphics, and presentation tools and packages preferred

• Familiar with best practices and practical application of both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis

• Some experience in questionnaire and survey design and basic statistics

• Strong communication skills, including being able to communicate ideas clearly across a range of mediums and professionally to a range of stakeholders.

• Strong interpersonal skills, being able to work across the Start Network team, with members, consultants, and other stakeholders.

• Strong attention to detail

• Good organisational skills, being able to handle and manage multiple projects and datasets while working to deadlines.

• Degree in a quantitative or social science field

DESIRABLE

• Experience in social research (desirable).

• Experience using Salesforce (desirable).

• Relevant language skills, particularly in French and/or Spanish (desirable).…

KEY COMPETENCIES

Communication:

• Promote different ways to engage different audiences, working with others on how to maximise impact.

• Build trust by doing what you say you will do and admitting when you don’t know something or when you have made a mistake.

Strategic Thinking:

• Actively seeking to understand how your role fits into the work of the team and network by asking questions and working on cross-team initiatives.

• Able to plan and deliver flexibly to take account of changing internal and/or external factors by reprioritising and asking for help.

Collaboration:

• Actively promote collaboration by spotting and breaking down barriers to siloed working, connecting colleagues, teams and initiatives

• Build networks internally and externally by showing curiosity and learning from others.

Leadership of self and others:

• Understand own strengths and shadows and how these interrelated with others through review and reflection.

• Open and responsive to feedback

• Seek to understand and act upon own areas for growth, reflecting and learning from things that have not gone so well by showing vulnerability and openness to change

Ability to adapt and learn:

• Seek to learn lessons and apply the learning to future work by actively asking questions, being honest, curious, and brave to abandon things that are not working.

• Able to reprioritise and shift focus in response to changing needs of the organisation or network by being aware of how your role sits in the system.

• Balance the need to follow systems and processes with the courage, identifying when systems and processes do not align with the mission, suggesting alternatives

Getting things done the Start Network way:

• Overcome obstacles by taking initiatives to identify issues, seeking help to address them and escalating appropriately.

Imagine being told that you, or someone you love, is losing their sight.

In that moment, two profound questions demand urgent answers:

• Can this be stopped?
• How will I live my life?

At Fight for Sight / Vision Foundation, we pursue positive answers to both questions. We do this by funding the brilliant minds and bright ideas that put change in sight.

Our researchers are at the forefront of eye research, making breakthroughs and discoveries that will prevent and treat eye disease. The partnerships we build and initiatives we support are changing life for blind and vision impaired people: from tackling loneliness to supporting people who have survived domestic abuse.

We have a clear ambition, led by our CEO, Keith Valentine, who has valuable lived experience of vision loss. We’ve secured well-respected and highly engaged ambassadors and patrons, from Sir John Major to Marsha De Cordova MP.

This is an exciting time to join us, as we activate our new brand and five-year strategy.

If you share our mission and have the skills, experience and drive to contribute to our dynamic team, we’d love to hear from you.

Role Description

This new role of Programme Officer (Social Change) will play an integral part in ensuring our grant making has the best possible impact. Working with the Programme Manager (Social Change) and the wider Impact Team, you will be the first point of contact for potential grant applicants and deliver effective processes that ensure that anyone who applies to us for funding has a positive experience, whether they are successful or not. You will lead on all aspects of administering our Social Change grant calls and provide the rest of the team with the information needed to support robust and transparent decision-making. You will also be involved in events for our applicants and will work with colleagues to continually refine and improve our grant making processes.

Responsible to

Programme Manager (Social Change)

Direct reports

None

Working hours and contract

This is a permanent full-time role, 35 hours a week.

Salary

£26k

Location

Aldgate E1 and hybrid working. Minimum two days in the office and external meetings and events as required.

Start date

As soon as possible

Role Responsibilities:

Administering grant processes:

· Working with the Programme Manager (Social Change) to update application and guidance forms for each funding round

· Work closely with colleagues to set up the grant call in our online grant management system.

· Provide guidance to potential applicants and respond to their queries, e.g. about eligibility.

· Work with colleagues who run the research funding programme to ensure that opportunities for efficiencies and shared processes are maximised

· Process grant applications, ensuring that we adhere to the highest standards of grant making

· Assist with the preparation of papers to support our decision-making processes, including supporting our Social Change Grants Assessment Panel (SGAP) by ensuring they have all relevant information and that the meetings run smoothly.

· Following final decision, ensure that terms and conditions and award letters are sent to successful applicants and ensure a smooth transition of projects to the Programme Manager (Social Change) who will manage the active projects.

Event support and attendance

· Assist with the organisation and delivery of in person and online meetings and events, e.g. a feedback session for unsuccessful applicants.

· Assist with the organisation of visits relating to the social change funding programme, e.g. helping put together briefing documents, supporting with arrangements and highlighting opportunities for stories and impact with communications colleagues.

Team support:

· Provide support to the wider Impact team where required, e.g. working with the finance team on the processing of invoices.

· Assisting the team in keeping accurate and up to date records, including on the online grants management system and ensure that all relevant records are readily and easily available

Person specification:

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential 

· Health or social sciences degree or with experience of working in grant making or similar

· Experience of working in an office/ administrative environment, ideally as part of a hybrid team

· Proficient in the use of standard IT packages including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Desirable

· Experience of working in a research or grant making organisation.

· Experience of working with committees, ideally with a health, research or charitable giving remit.

· Experience using online grant management systems.

Personal characteristics and behaviours:

· Understanding of and commitment to the change needed to improve life for blind and vision impaired people in the UK

· good attention to detail and focus on quality.

· Ability to understand and analyse information presented in funding applications and reports, summarise this and identify the most pertinent points.

· Ability to work flexibly and effectively as part of a small team and actively collaborate with colleagues in other teams.

· clear communicator, both orally and in writing, with an ability to respond to a wide range of enquiries, e.g. from community organisations

· Ability to effectively prioritise and time manage a varied workload.

· Proficient in the use of standard IT packages including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Flexibility

· The role description is a general outline of duties and responsibilities and may be amended as the newly merged charity develops. The post holder may be required to undertake other duties as may be reasonably required from time to time.

Reporting to: Senior Programme Officer.

Contract Type: Full time, permanent (part-time candidates will be considered, minimum four days per week, flexible working hours can be accommodated).

Location: Hybrid, minimum two days per week in London office (applicants must already be eligible to work in the UK).

Salary: £29,000 (plus benefits) FTE.

Accessibility and Inclusion: Accommodation in the role and interview process will be made for candidates with accessibility needs, and we operate a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for those with a disability or from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) background; please see below for details.

Start Date: June 2024. Closing date for applications: 23:59 BST 28/04/2024.

About this role

This role is an opportunity to participate in the global movement to protect the natural world; meeting and supporting incredible communities and organisations driving change to secure a sustainable future. You will be supporting our partners and carrying out grant administration in the Amphibian and Congo Basin Programmes, for which proficiency in both French and English is essential.

The role will be a fundamental part of Synchronicity Earth’s Programmes team (currently a team of seven people), working to help develop and grow the support we provide to our partners (grantees) across our programmes. Please note that first-stage interviews for this role will be conducted in both French and English.

Specific responsibilities will include the following:

• Manage some grantee partner relationships, including building trust and openness, identifying capacity needs, administrating grants, monitoring progress and fulfilling reporting requirements.
• Provide administrative support across the Programmes Team with grant management e.g. preparing of grant paperwork, reviewing partner reports and checklists (proposals), monitoring pipelines.
• Undertake research in focal areas for the Programmes Team, such as identifying intervention points and opportunities to make a difference in conservation.
• Contribute to communication products, including donor reports and applications, to support Synchronicity Earth’s fundraising and philanthropic goals.
• Produce and contribute to board papers and discussions.
• Update and undertake due diligence.
• Manage and maintain partner database, including data entry, preparing reports and basic analysis.
• Contribute to the development of Synchronicity Earth’s processes and systems around partner management and due diligence.

For the right candidate, there will be opportunities to increase your experience, responsibilities, and potential career development as the organisation grows. We also have several cross-cutting Working Groups in which we welcome engagement from new staff, these currently include Reimagining Philanthropy, Youth, and EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). 

About us

Synchronicity Earth is a UK-based, global environmental charity which funds work that aims to make our planet a better place to live for all its inhabitants.

We are a medium-sized charity which supports partners working to protect less well-known species and ecosystems around the world that receive less attention but face the greatest threats. We do this through our Conservation Programmes, which identify, fund, and support organisations with a focus on: Amphibians, Asian Species, Congo Basin, Biocultural Diversity, Freshwater, and Ocean. We also support work across two other areas: the More than Carbon initiative, a portfolio of climate and biodiversity projects targeted at corporate donors; and the Synchronicity Portfolio, which aims to foster systemic change to promote a greater focus on biodiversity conservation within different sectors. Our partners are mostly organisations embedded within their local communities, and we often support work which also considers social impacts such as women’s health and empowerment, engagement with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and sustainable livelihoods (e.g., small-scale fisheries) in addition to wildlife conservation.

Skills and experience required

Essential

• Proficient written and spoken English equivalent to C1 or C2 level.
• Proficient written and spoken French equivalent to C1 or C2 level.
• Bachelor’s degree or three or more years’ work experience in a relevant area. This could be lived experience, volunteering, or work experience related to sectors such as biodiversity conservation, social justice, environmental protection, community organizing, or engagement with political and social movements.
• Demonstrable interest in ecology, endangered species and biodiversity conservation, social justice, or community organising.
• Proven ability to produce high-quality written materials.
• Computer literacy.

Desirable

• Experience in Africa (especially lived experience in West or Central Africa).
• Some understanding of community- and rights-based approaches.
• Willingness to undertake occasional travel both within the UK and overseas.
• Desire to work across a range of conservation issues and to undertake a diverse role.

Your development: skills and experience from this role

The following list is meant to provide guidance for your application while also demonstrating the type of skills and experience you will develop as part of this role. If there is anything here which you have currently had no experience in, but would like to develop, then this would be a great role for you – please see the following section. Please let us know in your application if any of these particularly appeal to you, or you have some experience already.

Key skills and training: research and analysis, fundraising, project and programme management, grant administration.

• Gain experience in communicating technical or complex projects or ideas to a non-expert audience (i.e., explaining complex projects or scientific research).
• Learn about Synchronicity Earth’s value-driven approach to supporting biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
• Gain experience in managing partner relationships, building trusting and open relationships.
• Gain experience in grant administration from early scoping, to grant payment, to reporting.
• Gain experience working collaboratively and across multiple work-flows to ensure partners receive the support they require on time and to a high standard.
• Learn how to collect and analyse data, particularly in relation to conservation impact.
• Gain experience in undertaking research in focal areas for the Programmes Team, including the possibility of your research informing and guiding the development of new funds and programmes.
• Gain experience in fundraising, supporting the Programmes and Philanthropy Teams to meet their fundraising goals.
• Develop your public speaking skills and work towards opportunities to represent the organisation at external events.
• Grow your ability to identify themes & trends among grantee partners’ efforts, to see and bridge gaps, and to connect dots.
• Gain experience using different systems and tools i.e., Salesforce, Asana, and Tableau.

Our workplace values and culture

We pride ourselves on having an open and inclusive culture. Our team supports each other and encourages new ideas and creativity to help us develop new projects and reach new audiences with our work. We aim to apply the same dedication to a flourishing diversity of people and wildlife on our planet through our programmes to our working environment and strive to make this environment open and inclusive for everyone. We recognise that the environment sector in the UK is close to the bottom in terms of the diversity of its employees, and we are actively committed to doing what we can to change this.

Employment details

Reporting, location, and work hours

This position is a permanent full-time position that is based in the Synchronicity Earth offices in Central London, with the option for hybrid office/home working if the successful applicant wishes with 2 days a week in the office (laptop would be provided for home working). The successful candidate must be already eligible to work in the UK.

Annual leave

25 days per year for a full-time position (in addition to public holidays), adjusted for part-time. We also run an employer-supported volunteering programme, where employees may take additional time-off (2 days per annum) to volunteer for community organisations and other charities (in accordance with our policy).

Benefits

Synchronicity Earth offers staff a range of benefits including, but not limited to, a minimum 6% pension contribution, travel loan assistance, and a health care benefit. More details can be found in the careers section of our website and in the supporting documents.

Accessibility

We welcome applications from people with disabilities and are always looking for how we can make our workplace more accessible. Our office has step-free access with an off-street entrance and lift; we can offer adaptive workstations, chairs, or desks; and can provide flexible working hours or condensed workweeks to accommodate medical appointments or help employees manage fatigue. Candidates with disabilities are eligible for our Guaranteed Interview Scheme, and we encourage you to let us know if there are any adjustments we can make for you or information you need during the application process.

Application & Recruitment Process

Inclusion is a priority throughout our workplace culture and is embedded in our recruitment process (and we are actively still seeking to improve it through employee and candidate suggestions). For example, the first stage of recruitment will be anonymised to mitigate against unconscious bias. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds for this role, particularly non-graduates, and are happy to discuss flexible working arrangements. Please let us know at any stage during the recruitment process if you have any accessibility requirements we can accommodate for you, and which pronouns you would like to be referred to by. If you are new to the sector, we have some helpful resources on our website to help support your application to this role and others.

How to apply:

1. Please complete our candidate survey ​found in the supporting documents.
2. Please send a cover letter (one side of A4) outlining any relevant skills and experience you have for this role, why it interests you, and any particular skills you would like to develop in this role, with your CV (no longer than two sides of A4).

Applications should be sent via Charity Jobs.

Closing date for applications: 28/04/2024.

Review process: The application process will have three stages. Following anonymized review of applications, first-stage candidates (including qualifying GIS candidates) will either be invited to a short zoom call (about 20 minutes) or asked to complete a short assessment. Up to six applicants will then be invited to a second-stage interview in person at our London offices with three members of our team. From these applicants, up to three people will be invited to a third-stage interview with our Head of Conservation Programmes and Senior Programme Officer. There will also be an opportunity for third-stage candidates to meet two members of Synchronicity Earth staff informally to get to know the team and what it is like to work for Synchronicity Earth.

The first-stage interview/assessment will aim to establish your proficiency in both English and French, and to understand your background and motivation for applying to this role. The second-stage interview will aim to understand your prior experience, your values, and what transferable skills you bring to the role. The third-stage interview will seek to understand how you work, whether this role and our organization are the right fit for you, and what development opportunities would be of most value to you.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme: We recognise that people from Black, Asian, and Minority-Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds and people with disabilities are under-represented in our sector, and that there are often additional barriers present for people from these groups when applying for roles in the charity sector and beyond. We aim to apply the same dedication to a flourishing diversity of people and wildlife on our planet through our programmes to our working environment and strive to make this environment open and inclusive for everyone.

As part of our commitment to attract and retain talented individuals from under-represented groups to the conservation and environment sector, if you have a disability or are from a BAME background, opt in to the Guaranteed Interview Scheme in our candidate survey, and demonstrate in your application that you meet the essential criteria for a role, you'll be guaranteed a first-stage assessment. In most cases, this will be a 20-minute interview held via Zoom, however, in the case of an extraordinary number of applicants, the first-stage candidates (including GIS) will receive a short assessment. The results of this assessment will be used to select candidates for the second-stage interview.

Expected first-stage interview dates: 08/05/2024 – 10/05/2024

Expected second-stage interview dates: 13/05/2024 – 17/05/2024

Expected third-stage interview dates: 20/05/2024

Please note that interview dates may change depending on volume of applications received.

The Food bank Campaign Coordinator is responsible for delivering Trussell Trust’s influencing and mobilising work, in their target area, during the General Election. You will do this by building strong relationships with other food banks in your Parliamentary constituency areas of Rhondda and Ogmore, Bridgend and Vale of Glamorgan.  Campaign Coordinators implement Trussell Trust’s national General Election strategy, by using organising techniques to put pressure on PPC’s in each Parliamentary constituency.

You will build and lead local community teams who support ending the need for foodbanks, securing commitments from your PPC’s to ‘prioritise the problem of people going without essentials if re/elected, acknowledging the role social security needs to play in tackling it.’

This role is funded by the Trussell Trust as part of their General Election strategy, and you will be part of a network of Campaign Coordinators around the UK doing this work. You will be the link between your food bank(s) and the Mobilisation team at Trussell Trust, as we build a movement to end the need for food banks.

Responsibilities of Campaign Coordinator:

· To build trusted relationships with food banks during (pre and post) UK General Election. You will hold 1:1 conversations with each food bank in your allocated area and ensure there is clear communication between the food banks.
 

· To support teams of community volunteers. You will have 1:1s with: food bank staff, volunteers, interested individuals, partner organisations and stakeholders in each community to develop community bases for your campaign work.

· To lead effective door-knocking teams in your community.  You will door knock with your community campaign team to drum up support for the campaign, provide members of the public literature on Food bank use in their local community, and invite people to their local hustings.
 

· To help each of your community campaign teams organise a local husting.  You will ensure that your community campaign teams: attend national Trussell Trust webinars, receive national guidance on how to approach PPC’s, understand the Trussell Trust legal GE guidance, understand the logistics of organising a hustings, ensure that the husting is accessible as possible and ensure that the voices of people with lived experience are heard through the hustings.
 

· To develop good relationships with local press and media outlets. You will work alongside national Trussell Truststaff to find key press and media contacts in your assigned area, ensuring your community campaign teams get coverage for their hard work.
 

· To deliver the local campaigning strategy working with food bank staff, volunteers and clients. 
 

· To work with the Organising and Local Mobilisation team in Trussell Trust and engage with the training and support on offer, including work with other Campaign Coordinators in the Trussell Trust network. 
 

Person Specification

Desirable technical skills and knowledge:

● Experience of campaigning or organising to achieve a change.

● Experience working alongside people with lived experience of poverty

● Experience facilitating groups and organising engaging group activities

● Experience managing and working with volunteers.

● Experience of community outreach in the local area.

● Good project management skills, able to balance a range of priorities.

● UK driving licence and access to vehicle

Behaviours and competencies:

● Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build relationships and gain trust of people with lived experience of poverty and using food banks

● Confident in communicating and, able to seek and balance a range of views and stakeholders, influencing where required.

● Demonstrate a commitment to the values of the Trussell Trust /local food bank.

Key Stakeholders

● Your local food banks, including the project manager, volunteers, and people they support.

● Local elected representatives

● Local stakeholders and partners (charities, churches, and other relevant community groups)

● Local organisations working to support people in poverty

● The Trussell Trust Area Team, who support your food banks in their day-to-day work.

● Trussell Trust’sSenior Manager for Organising and Local Mobilisation

● The wider TT Organising and Local Mobilisation (OLM) Team who will deliver training and relational support.

● Trussell Trust’s Head of Organising and Local Mobilising

● Trussell Trust’s Activations team

● Trussell Trust’s church engagement team

● Joseph Rowntree Foundation staff

● Trussell Trust Policy, Research and Impact department

Our Values

The Trussell Trust is a charity that works to end the need for food banks. It is founded on and shaped by Christian principles.

Our values of dignity, justice, compassion and community, are central to all that we do and therefore supports our aim to be an organisation where the diversity of all employees is valued.  We welcome people of all faiths and none and those that are committed to these values.

We recognise that we have under-represented groups within our workforce. As part of our commitment to diversity and equality of opportunity we are actively encouraging applications from under-represented groups such as returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break, people who are LGBT+, from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions and those with a lived experience of poverty as well as any other under-represented group in our workforce. We are committed to ensuring the safety and protection of our employees from all forms of harm.

Please forward your covering letter outlining your experience which is relevant to the job description and CV 

Joint Public Issues Team Internships 2024-2025

X2 Internships: 12 month fixed-term contracts beginning September 2023, for Christians aged 21-30.

-  Joint Public Issues Team Intern (Communications Support)

- Joint Public Issues Team Intern (Constituency Action Network Support)

Exciting Internship Opportunities with the Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT)

Are you passionate about driving meaningful change in the world? Do you want to explore the intersection of faith, policy, and politics? The Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) is recruiting to two internship positions: one focused on Communications and the other on supporting local churches to build relationships with their MPs.

You would be working as part of a small ecumenical team on a diverse range of tasks and initiatives including communications, policy, campaigning and supporter engagement, contributing to the public advocacy and political engagement work of the Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches.

About JPIT

JPIT is a partnership between the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church, and the Church of Scotland is an associate partner. Its purpose is to help the Churches to work together for peace and justice through listening, learning, praying, speaking and acting on public policy issues. It is a team which brings together around ten staff from across the denominations. In recent years it has focused on issues around poverty, the economy, refugees and migration, the environment, peace and conflict, and politics.

The Internships

These internships provide opportunities to develop skills in campaigning, communications, research, and policy within a dynamic team environment. There will be opportunities for professional and personal learning and development to equip the intern for employment after their time on the internship. Whilst we are looking for some evidence of certain skills and experience, candidates will have the opportunity to develop the relevant skills during their time in the role.

The roles are based in the Methodist Connexional Team.

These are full-time, paid posts for 12 months. They are aimed at young Christians who may have recently graduated, and are starting their career in an area such as politics, campaigning, policy or church engagement.

Our Culture, Values and Benefits

Thank you for considering joining our inclusive and welcoming team that strives for excellence and values employee wellbeing.

We value and support all those who join our team through a positive work-life balance augmented by generous annual leave (plus an extra 3 days over Christmas/New Year), TOIL, flexi-leave and an on-site Wellbeing Adviser service. We offer a generous occupational pension scheme, where the Methodist Church will pay double the employee contribution up to a maximum of 16% employer contribution.

The Methodist Church is an inclusive and supportive employer. We are actively committed to encouraging applications from people of all backgrounds. We welcome applications from people of Black, Asian and other Minority Ethnic groups. We also welcome applications from people living with disabilities.

If you require reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process, please contact us. Contact details are on our website. 

For more information about JPIT, visit www. jpit. uk. Join us in our mission to create a more just and peaceful world.

ABOUT US
The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity.  We want to see a world where trees and woods thrive for people and nature. The Trust engages and inspires people to make their difference tackling the nature and climate crisis helping protect, restore and create our vital woods and trees.  

THE ROLE
The Contracts Manager will join our Operations team to represent the Woodland Trust locally, supporting a diverse portfolio of sites within North England, in line with the Trust’s standards and ensuring the safety of our colleagues, visitors, contractors and volunteers. It shall be the Contracts Manager’s responsibility to support Site Managers’ in the preparation and delivery of grant applications, operational contracts and projects including silvicultural operations. 

The Contracts Manager will initiate, develop and project manage new innovative projects within and across the woodlands, working with external partner and a cross-departmental team of foresters, people engagement specialists, communications specialists and funders.

They will identify opportunities to streamline services, develop our contractor base and maximise the income and grant aid potential of work programmes. They are responsible for ensuring that all necessary agreements, mitigations and consents are in place in preparation for the delivery of contracts and in accordance with all Woodland Trust Health and Safety policies and procedures.

This is a 2-year fixed term contract until end of April 2026. A company car will be provided with this role.

THE CANDIDATE
With previous experience in land-based management in the forestry, woodland management, or nature conservation sector, you’ll have experience in writing and reviewing site management plans, budget and contract management, and Health and Safety management.

You’ll have experience in the writing and delivery grant schemes across woodland creation and for specifying, instructing, and supervising woodland management operations. You’ll be experienced in planning, monitoring, and delivering multi-disciplinary projects to time and to budget and in engaging with contractors and suppliers on pricing, implementation, and delivery.

You must have a proactive ‘can-do’ attitude, excellent communication skills, be commercially aware and able to build effective partnerships internally and externally.  You’ll have experience engaging with external stakeholders, communities and volunteers with a collaborative approach. A working knowledge of the operational, ie Forest Works Management of woodlands would be desirable.

A full driving licence is a must have, along with the ability to undertake travel across a wide area, sometimes to remote locations. Occasional overnight stays will be required and you will be expected to live in the region and within easy reach of key sites in North England.

Our Organisational Nature enables us to better understand what it means to be part of the Woodland Trust, empowering us to make an impact, every day. We want you to be able to role model our values; ‘Grow Together’, ‘Focus’, ‘Explore’ and ‘Make it Count’ to ensure each of us plays our part in helping to protect, restore and create our woods and trees.

WHAT TO EXPECT BY JOINING A TEAM AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE
There’s no other organisation like the Woodland Trust. Joining the team you will be making your contribution to tackling the nature and climate crisis. In return, we recognise and value our people. You'll have our full support, training and opportunities for professional development, along with a contributory pension, life assurance, good holiday allowance and the opportunity to work flexibly from home. 

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY & INCLUSION 
At the Woodland Trust, we want to reflect and represent the full richness of diversity in the UK. Fewer of our employees are Black, Asian or minority ethnic; disabled; from lower socio-economic backgrounds or under 25; so we are particularly keen to receive your application if you are from one or more of these groups. We can also discuss anything you may need to achieve your full potential at any stage of the process. We assess your application solely on your demonstrated suitability for the job. Nothing else.

To ensure anonymised recruitment, if you have uploaded your CV, shortlisting panels do not see your CV until shortlisting has been completed. Before submitting your application, please ensure you have completed the supporting information section with details of experiences that clearly evidence as many aspects of the job description as possible.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications. If you are interested, we'd encourage you to submit your application as early as possible.

ABOUT US
The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. We want to see a world where trees and woods thrive for people and nature. The Trust engages and inspires people to make their difference tackling the nature and climate crises helping protect, restore and create our vital woods and trees.

THE ROLE
The Lead Policy Advocate – Planning will focus on influencing and shaping planning policies to protect woods and trees from development and promote biodiversity and public access. They will lead efforts to develop and implement evidence-based policies and influence strategies, coordinating with colleagues and partners to align these policies with the latest conservation research.  

The role involves collaboration with stakeholders across the UK to ensure widespread understanding and support. 

This is a hybrid working role, where you’ll work part of your time at home and part of the time working from one of our regional offices, with regular UK travel. Our Hybrid Working Policy is flexible, and the frequency of time spent in your contracted office will vary across teams and job roles. 

THE CANDIDATE
The ideal candidate has a proven background in policy advocacy, particularly in areas relevant to environmental and conservation goals. You will be a skilled communicator and negotiator, adept at engaging diverse audiences and stakeholders, with robust project management skills, and the ability to adapt to changes and seize opportunities.  

The role demands effective leadership to drive cross-organisational teams in executing dynamic strategies and a vision to integrate planning policy with broader environmental and conservation objectives.  

Applicants should demonstrate an understanding of UK devolution's impact on policy, and the importance of public campaigns in policy advocacy. Familiarity with UK, EU, and global institutions related to environmental policy and expertise in planning policy, supported by an RTPI, CIEEM qualification, or equivalent experience, is required. 

Our Organisational Nature enables us to better understand what it means to be part of the Woodland Trust, empowering us to make an impact, every day. We want you to be able to role model our values; ‘Grow Together’, ‘Focus’, ‘Explore’ and ‘Make it Count’ to ensure each of us plays our part in helping to protect, restore and create our woods and trees. 

WHAT TO EXPECT BY JOINING A TEAM AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE
There’s no other organisation like the Woodland Trust. Joining the team you will be making your contribution to tackling the nature and climate crises. In return, we recognise and value our people. You'll have our full support, training and opportunities for professional development, along with a contributory pension, life assurance, good holiday allowance and the opportunity to work flexibly from home.  

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY & INCLUSION  
At the Woodland Trust, we want to reflect and represent the full richness of diversity in the UK. Fewer of our employees are Black, Asian or minority ethnic; disabled; from lower socio-economic backgrounds?or under 25;?so we are particularly keen to receive your application if you are from one or more of these groups. We can also discuss?anything you may need to achieve your full potential at any stage of the process. We assess your application solely on your demonstrated suitability for the job. Nothing else. 

To ensure anonymised recruitment, if you have uploaded your CV, shortlisting panels?do not?see your CV until shortlisting has been completed. Before submitting your application, please ensure you have completed the supporting information section with details of experiences that clearly evidence as many aspects of the job description as possible. 

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications. If you are interested, we'd encourage you to submit your application as early as possible.