Political organizer jobs in london, greater london
The People’s Empowerment Alliance for Custom House (PEACH) is dedicated to empowering its members and improving local conditions through collective action. Through building collective resident power in Newham, PEACH has secured huge wins, including 60% rent reductions for 250 temporary tenant households and a £300k rent arrears amnesty.
With over 300 members and 12 years of experience, we are poised to expand our impact and establish a lasting Community Union, sharing our wealth of knowledge with communities all over the UK.
Our Community Organiser plays a crucial role in contributing to our ongoing Permanent, Safe Homes Now campaign, which aims to set a precedent for housing reform nationwide. Our mission is to drive meaningful change and empower communities facing social injustice across the UK.
As part of our team, you'll contribute to expanding and strengthening PEACH's membership and influence. This involves planning and executing strategic campaigns collaboratively, which aim to address key issues our members face. You'll also oversee project delivery, monitor progress and report on outcomes, and communicate successes and best practices. In this collaborative environment, you'll work with team members to shape PEACH's organising strategy, foster organisational growth, and support decision-making on future directions.
The Ideal individual will have prior community organising experience (paid or voluntary), with a deep understanding and experience of collective action's transformative potential. You will have a solid understanding of the political landscape with an underlying community organising mentality. You will be comfortable knocking on doors and moving people to act within their capacity, whilst presenting an empathetic and understanding nature.
Job Description: :
● To support the Custom House and Canning Town community to grow and develop, working with them to build their sense of belonging, community pride and spirit.
● To listen to local people, to support them to develop power to act together for the common good and help them act on the local issues that are important to them.
● Contribute to developing PEACH's collective power as a Community Union in collaboration with members, Steering Group, Trustees/Directors, and fellow staff members. Oversee the execution of this strategy.
● Cultivate a thriving organising culture at PEACH by training members and staff in community organising methods, continually learning and reflecting on organising practices, and refining the PEACH organising model, including creating training materials.
● Build strong, transformative relationships with new and existing PEACH members through door-knocking and relational 1 to 1’s.
● Identify community leaders, nurture members' leadership skills, and foster strong teams. Challenge and support members/teams to acquire new skills, take on new tasks and take ownership of the organisation and its projects/campaigns.
● Identify organising issues with members, develop effective campaign strategies, and support members in taking collective action and in building community cohesion.
● Lead negotiation strategies with key stakeholders.
● Organise and facilitate engaging, accessible meetings, training sessions, and events with members and the PEACH staff team, as well as meeting turnout targets.
● Cultivate productive relationships with relevant stakeholders such as workers of other organisations, journalists, councillors, council officers, and researchers.
● Stay informed about the policy framework and power landscape relevant to the campaigns /organisation and translate key information into accessible resources.
● Read reports, council documents, and press articles
● Manage and develop agreed projects within budget, ensuring progress and goals are met through effective administration, planning, and management.
● Monitor and evaluate PEACH's work, tracking organising activity and successes, integrating learnings into practices, and ensuring well-distributed resources.
● Maintain clear and concise records relating to the role.
● Scope and develop new projects that address members’ interests and community issues, working collaboratively with staff and members.
● Support fundraising efforts by contributing to funding applications and funder reports as required.
● Support strategic decision-making by providing reports about projects and key issues, both written and verbal, to PEACH’s directors, Steering Group, and Office Manager.
● Collaborate within the staff team to foster a supportive, productive, and sustainable work culture. Offer constructive feedback, share ideas, distribute workload according to capacities, maintain healthy work boundaries and be accountable.
Person Specification:
Releavnt expereince:
● GCSE English and Maths, or equivalent
● Further education: A- levels/ BTEC level 3 or equivalent
● A successful track record of working or volunteering for organisations that have charitable aims or complete community work
● A successful track record of using community organising or trade union organising methods to win (paid or unpaid)
Skills:
● Strong communication and listening skills with the ability to engage and build positive relationships with people from a wide range of backgrounds.
● Understanding of Community Organising as a method for bringing about change
● Ability to conduct honest and constructive working relationships, operating with integrity
● Workable knowledge of the Political Landscape
● Ability to inspire and motivate people to participate and act
● Strong work ethic with the ability to work effectively autonomously
● Knowledge of issues likely to affect the communities living in Custom House, Newham and/or London
● Ability to navigate conflict and facilitate difficult conversations in a generative, transformative way
Personal Attributes:
● Proactive and self-motivated with efficient workload management.
● Team player, willing to collaborate and contribute to the community vision.
● Self-awareness, sound judgement in decision-making, ability to seek advice and involve others as needed and receive feedback constructively.
● Passion for social justice and the values of PEACH
● An empathetic nature with the ability to understand complex and deeply rooted issues.
● A willingness to work flexibly during busy periods.
● Ability to work evenings/weekends.
Purpose of the role
At NEON we believe that organising is crucial if we’re to build the power we need to win a new economy and deepen cross-community solidarity at a time of political polarisation. A central part of our new strategy - and this role - is to support movement organisations and organisers to build their capacity to do what we call Transformative Organising - where we transform the conditions we live in, transform ourselves and transform who has power in society. We use a combination of trainings, 1-2-1 mentoring and strategic partnerships with movement organisations to give organisers the tools, skills and confidence they need to build a base with those at the sharp end of the crisis, develop politically conscious leaders, and plan strategic & escalating campaigns that win. You’ll work with our Head of Organising and colleagues in the Movement Building Hub to scale up this offer over the coming years, with a particular focus on the housing, climate and migration movements, as well as supporting movements to tackle a rising far-right.
What you will be doing
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Deliver organising trainings to social movement organisers and campaigners, using content from our Transformative Organising programme and working closely with our Head of Organising and NEON trainers. These will be a mix of shorter workshops and multi-day trainings, blending in-person and online delivery, and you will be supported to experiment with different delivery models to meet movement needs.
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Work in partnership with organisers, organisations and coalitions to build their organising capacity over the long-term, through ongoing mentoring and hands-on support and training.
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Conduct extensive 1-2-1s with movement organisers, to strengthen relationships, explore opportunities for collaboration and understand movement needs.
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Support the development of a network of UK-based organisers, and create spaces for collective learning and ensure NEON’s organising offer meets the needs of organisers on the ground.
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Work with the Head of Organising to periodically review and update NEON’s Transformative Organising content, staying responsive to movement needs and incorporating the latest organising practices and tools.
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Organise public events on organising topics, including webinars and workshops, bringing together organisers from across social movements
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Contribute to the Movement Building Hub’s wider work, including the organising components of our Worker-led Transition programme and our work to build the strategic capacity of movement leaders and organisations. This role will also contribute to cross-organisational work in NEON’s key focus areas (migration, housing, climate, and tackling the rise of the far-right), as well as projects to support the development of NEON’s internal culture.
Who you are
This isn’t a tick box exercise and we don’t expect you to meet all of the criteria - it’s more to give both us and you an overall sense of the role, and how the skills and experience you have might map onto it.
We’re looking for someone with a:
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Proven track record of using organising tools and approaches to plan and deliver successful campaigns, with at least 3-5 years of experience. This might include doing base-building, conducting outreach, mapping, organising mass meetings and actions, or integrating political education into campaign planning
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Ability to deliver a strategic and escalating organising plan in a fast moving and politically complex environment
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Experience of delivering trainings, including to those at the sharp end of injustice, with a passion for being and developing as a trainer
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Understanding of UK social movements, their strengths and weaknesses, and opportunities for NEON to provide support
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Good communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly and sensitively, and work effectively with a range of movement organisations and individuals, including those directly impacted by injustice and oppression
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Excellent planning skills to ensure projects are designed delivered to a high standard
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Ability to work independently and flexibly in a dynamic organisation
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Willingness to occasionally work unsociable hours (always repaid with TOIL)
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Proven understanding of anti-oppression work and commitment to tackling all institutional forms of oppression, bigotry and exclusion
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An affinity with NEON’s aims, objectives and organisational values of solidarity, generosity and respect.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
About Reprieve
Reprieve works with the most disenfranchised people in society. Our aim is simple: to consign the death penalty and abuses carried out in the name of “counter-terrorism” or “national security” to history, drawing public and political attention to these past harms with a view to preventing them from occurring again.
In our view, you can best judge a society by how it treats prisoners, criminal defendants, and the far-flung targets of an ever-changing counter-terror policy. To us, the rule of law means little if we selectively apply it to people we agree with. It is for all of us. Liberty is always eroded at the margins.
Reprieve’s staff is made up of courageous and committed human rights defenders. Founded in 1999, we provide free legal and investigative support to people facing the death penalty and those victimised by states’ abusive counter-terror policies – rendition, torture, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial killing.
We fight our clients’ cases in courts around the world; investigate their mistreatment; and advocate on their behalf, encouraging public and political debate of human rights issues.
Reprieve’s main office is in Aldgate, London, UK. Reprieve also supports full-time Fellows, who work as lawyers, investigators and campaigners in the countries in which we work. We work closely with a number of partner organisations in jurisdictions all over the world, who provide access to clients, expertise, knowledge and guidance on specific issues or regions. We work in cooperation with relevant government officials, individual lawyers and human rights defenders, as well as individual, corporate and foundation funders to further the cause of our shared goals.
Reprieve works in close partnership with its independent sibling organisation Reprieve US. This collaboration is mutually beneficial to both Reprieve and Reprieve US as it enables each organisation to work more effectively and take advantage of the strategic locations to increase the impact of our work.
Reprieve is an equal opportunity employer and we particularly welcome applicants from Black and minority ethnic communities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and those with disabilities. Reprieve is committed to fighting racism and advancing racial justice, both in our work and within Reprieve.
About the Role
The Lead Lawyer - Africa Death Penalty Team is responsible for coordinating Reprieve’s litigation and advocacy in Sub-Saharan Africa. At the moment, the team works on death penalty casework and abolition advocacy in Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya.
Our casework includes work on appeals to the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal in the context of historic denials of a right to appeal and related contextual challenges; large-scale projects, such as the Kenya resentencing project, wherein we support stakeholders to ensure 5,000+ people are able to access a chance at reducing their sentence from death via a new sentence hearing, as well as supporting on individual strategic resentencing cases; and long-term regional projects, such as our strategic litigation before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which challenges the mandatory death penalty, torture, and other associated violations of the African Charter. This is an opportunity to join a team that has developed groundbreaking work with great success in getting people off death row, making significant contribution to legal reforms and towards abolition.
You will share our commitment to fighting against racism and advancing racial justice, and understand our responsibility to do our work in a way that does not compound racist structures.
For full details, please download the job description.
Length and Salary
This is a full-time role, on a one-year fixed term contract, with the possibility to extend, subject to funding. The annual salary is £52,088 per annum, less any required deductions for income tax and national insurance.
This role is based in Reprieve’s London office. Reprieve operates a hybrid working model and we require staff to work two days per week from the London office and the rest of the week from home. Applicants must have the current right to work in the UK, which will be checked prior to interview.
Your presence is important during core office hours, whether remotely or in the office. You will also be available outside of office hours in the event of an emergency, for example case developments that require urgent action. This is a role that may require travel and work outside of core office hours from time to time.
Reprieve is proud to have an open and transparent pay structure, governed by a 2:1 pay ratio between the highest-paid member of staff and the lowest-paid member of staff. We are a flexible employer and offer a range of nonfinancial benefits to employees. We welcome applications from a range of backgrounds.
Full details and how to apply
Please review the job description and person specification for full details.To apply, please submit the application form at the web address provided. Please note that CVs and cover letters cannot be accepted for this role.
The deadline for applications is 23:58 BST on 8 June 2025. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK currently and for the duration of the contract.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Are you our first Deputy Director?
- Are you passionate about the voices of people with lived experience in campaigns and communications around the asylum and immigration system?
- Are you a diplomat and leader, able to influence and collaborate with a network and partners?
- Do you enjoy being part of a small, dynamic team working with movement leaders, turning your hand to different challenges?
- Can you further build a campaign coalition to equip it to win deep change in the way the UK treats refugees?
About us
The Asylum Reform Initiative (ARI) is an alliance of nine leading national organisations collaborating to secure deep change towards a fair, compassionate and well-managed UK approach to refugees. Central to its strategy has been incubating, launching and backing the broader, public-facing Together With Refugees campaign coalition, now with over 600 national and local member groups from across the refugee sector and beyond. The ARI team provides a dynamic hub that supports Together With Refugees, coordinating the development and delivery of the coalition’s campaign strategy.
About the role
This is a new role. Working closely with the rest of the ARI team, One Strong Voice, and the newly formed Together With Refugees Steering Group, it will play a key part in shaping and delivering the ambitious next phase of the Together With Refugees strategy. The Deputy Director will lead on movement building, strengthening the coalition, and developing the reach, activation levels and effectiveness of the coalition’s grassroots campaign organising to secure changes in policy and practice. At the heart of this is the engagement and leadership of activists with lived experience as refugees, and of member groups that are led by and for refugees – so advancing the goal of a transition to leadership by people with lived experience across the coalition. Key to this work will be building the capacity, effectiveness and impact of the One Strong Voice network to support lived experience campaigners, organisations and leaders at all levels. The Deputy Director will also contribute to wider leadership of the team’s work including fundraising, support for – and accountability to – coalition leadership structures, and effective delivery of the team’s work programme.
About you
The Deputy Director will be a natural collaborator and relationship builder, able to work with diplomacy to drive forward our ambitious strategic aims. You will need ambition, energy and an ability to work at both strategic and more detailed levels. This could be the right opportunity for a range of potential candidates. You could be someone who has led and managed in other issues-based settings, in the asylum and refugee sector, or more broadly. Whatever your background, if you think you have the skills and experience to contribute to our team and take Together With Refugees forward then we’d like to hear from you.
Our commitment to and our strategic aims means that, we warmly invite and encourage applications from people with lived experience of the asylum system, or of forced migration more generally.
How to apply
First, download the candidate information pack; you will also need the application form and the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form (these are all downloads under "Application resources" below). Send the two completed forms with your CV to the email address in the pack.