Educational programmes officer volunteer roles in Belfast
How's your job search on our site?
We are looking for dynamic, experienced and values aligned trustees to join our Global and Ghana Boards at this exciting stage of EduSpots’ development.
Background
EduSpots is an innovative, dynamic, and community-orientated UK and Ghanaian registered charity which connects, trains, and equips grassroots voluntary educators (named ‘Catalysts’) to drive community-led change through education spaces named ‘Spots’. Our vision is of a world in which communities unite to create the futures they want to see, through education.
Since 2016, through collaborating with over 400 local voluntary community educators and actors – named ‘Catalysts’ – who take a central leadership role in the development of the network, we have supported 50 communities in creating and running community-led and owned education spaces named ‘Spots’’. Together, we are developing a model for a community-led education space with accompanying network engagement that could have global relevance. Read our model of change document here.
Our Ghana-based team creates collaborative learning opportunities through three leadership programmes for Catalysts which are increasingly facilitated by the EduSpots app: the Ignite, Catalyse and Inspire Mentoring Programmes. These enable the Catalysts to lead EduKidz (early years education), DigLit (digital literacy), EcoSTEM (STEM and environmental education) and Ignite Equity (gender equity) clubs for learners typically aged 3-16, alongside locally designed education projects, reaching over 10,000 learners of all ages annually. Read our 2023 Annual Report here and our recent independent evaluation here.
We are in an exciting period of our development, having more than doubled our income, programme breadth and reach in the last two years, with a recent independent evaluation by Expectation State offering further evidence in support of our model’s outcomes. We have been recently selected for two accelerator programmes, who are supporting us as we consider the scaling potential of our model. In the period, we are aiming to double our network reach, bringing an additional 50 Spots into the network.
We won the Tes International Award in 2018 and the Big Give Supporters’ Choice Award in 2022, and we were recently selected as a winner of the 2025 Their World Scale-Up Innovation Prize Winner. Our CEO/Founder was a 2021 Global Finalist in the UNESCO-backed $1 million Global Teacher Prize and is a 2025 UNESCO Youth for Peace Young Leader
We are excited by our future.
About this voluntary role
Time: Approximately 4-8 hours per month
Location: Remote
Role type: Voluntary
Trustees are responsible for the overall governance and compliance of the charity with UK and Ghanaian law and Charity Commission guidance. Working alongside staff and advisory group members, they should maintain oversight of global strategy delivery, funding, finances and risk management. Most trustees also have a particular focus on one area of work, with a particular need for the following specialisms:
-
Fundraising and partnerships (Ghana or global)
-
Finance and operations (Ghana-based)
-
Law and compliance (Ghana and Global)
-
Communications, marketing, PR and advocacy (Ghana and Global)
-
Leadership programmes and education (Ghana and Global)
-
Monitoring, evaluation and learning (Ghana and Global)
-
Organisational development and business planning in a scale-up context (Ghana and Global)
EduSpots seeks trustees and Directors who can understand and represent our work, including those who have experience living or working in Ghana, or who have links to wider West Africa.
Trustees are expected to join online board meetings four times a year, with an aim to make one of these an in-person meeting.
Trustees should be hands-on team players with a genuine passion for educational equity and community-driven models of development.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
-
Ensuring the board fulfils its duties and responsibilities for the effective governance of the Charity, including but not limited to operating within its charitable objectives, reviewing and responding to major risks and opportunities and ensuring strong systems are in place to ensure financial accountability.
-
Taking ownership for one thematic area of work, and providing high level guidance and advice to the staff team on that topic.
-
Attending quarterly Board meetings, reading documents in advance and actively participating in discussions.
-
Actively promoting the organisation’s work through their networks and positively representing the organisation at all times.
-
Supporting the CEO and key senior staff through informed questioning and oversight to ensure the organisation’s legal responsibilities and strategic objectives are achieved.
Desired Skills / Experience
Knowledge & Experience
-
Experience of charity governance.
-
Experience in leading the strategy of an organisation.
-
Ability to support and inspire a fast-paced, ambitious team.
-
Experience of working in an education-focused charity or business, ideally within an African context.
Personal Qualities & Skills
-
A genuine passion for our educational model, and community-driven development.
- strong listener, with an ability to understand the context and model first, before offering input.
-
A team player, aligned with our collaborative model of organisational development.
-
Exceptional interpersonal skills, with the ability to create positive working relationships and motivate staff, volunteers, and a range of stakeholders at all levels in a cross-cultural environment.
-
Ability to foster a culture of respect, honesty and commitment to our values and organisational aims.
Registered Charity 
0
Thank you!
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Are you passionate about using your skills and expertise to help support and develop a UK-wide relationships and sex education charity?
Sexpression:UK provides high quality, comprehensive relationships and sex education workshops to young people between the ages of 11-18 in schools and youth groups. We operate across the UK through our unique network of affiliated branches and volunteers based at universities and students’ unions in 15 towns and cities.
You will have strong empathy with our mission to educate and empower young people to make individual, informed decisions about their bodies and their health. You will be committed to using your expertise to contribute to the future development of the charity and ensuring high quality governance of the organisation.
We are looking for a motivated individual with demonstrable experience in leadership or governance to join our board as Chair of Trustees.This is an exciting time to join our charity with the opportunity to contribute to a unique youth-led charity playing a leading role in some of today’s biggest issues.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Want to learn more about what councils are doing to combat the climate and ecological crises? Want to help communities to get their council to take Climate Action seriously? Interested in gaining experience of local policy, initiatives and best practice?
Climate Emergency UK’s free, online, 4-week Local Climate Training Programme is the place to start!
Councils have the power and influence over around 30% of emissions in their local area. Therefore, they are uniquely placed to make a real impact on emissions within their area. Following the success of the second Council Climate Action Scorecards last year, Climate Emergency UK is looking to create the third edition of the Action Scorecards. We know that councils are listening to the Scorecards results and taking more effective action. The average score in the 2025 Action Scorecards increased by 7 percent points. Now, we’re looking for volunteers to help us create the 2027 Action Scorecards, tracking the progress that has been made, and scoring all UK councils on their climate action.
Our workshops, alongside the practical experience of assessing local climate action, are designed to help you develop your knowledge, skills and experience around local climate policy and action.
Your assessments will help create the 2027 Council Climate Action Scorecards - helping your community and other people around the UK understand how well councils are tackling the climate crisis, the progress that has been made, who’s doing well and what is possible. During the programme you will be part of a cohort of people (maximum 50) who share your passion for environmental justice and local action.
The Training Programme will help you understand:
- The powers local authorities have to tackle the climate crisis.
- The actions local authorities are taking to tackle the climate crisis.
- What good council climate action looks like.
We will also have workshops from educational, policy and campaigning experts to give you a strong foundation in local climate action. Last year this included speakers from the Climate Change Committee, Lancaster City Council and Friends of the Earth. Those on the training programme will be able to manage their time but must be able to make the mandatory dates, listed below. Both cohorts will be 4 weeks and have the exact same programme of events. While these will be part of the training it will be up to you to make the session, although some of these sessions will be recorded. A full schedule will be sent out 1 week before the training starts.
The Programme Dates:
We are running two cohorts of the training programme:
The First Cohort will run from: 7th April until 12th May 2026.
You will need to be free for the following mandatory dates:
- Scorecards Volunteer Inductions:
You will need to attend one induction session on either Tuesday 7th April 2026 or Thursday 9th April 2026 from 5:30 to 6:30pm. - Scorecards Scoring Training:
You will only need to attend only one of the training sessions but please keep both of the evenings free until you are allocated a Scorecards section, which will determine which session you need to attend: either Tuesday 14th April 2026 or Thursday 16th April 2026 from 5:30 to 7pm. - Policy Programme Course sessions will run on:
Tuesday 28th April from 4.30-6pm - Introduction to councils
Thursday 30th April from 4.30-6pm - Guest Speaker
Tuesday 5th May from 4.30-6pm - Climate Powers and Policies part 1
Thursday 7th May from 4.30-6pm - Climate Powers and Policies part 2 - Final Policy Programme Session & Certificate Ceremony
12th May 2026 from 4.30-6pm - Securing change at the local level
Who is this Programme for?
In order to apply you must be:
- Aged over 18
- Able to commit to approx. 15-20 hours a week for four weeks
- Based anywhere in the UK
- Have reliable internet access and access to a computer
- You do not need to have previous environmental related experience or a relevant degree.
Note: We will not accept current Councillors or Officers. Parish/Town councillors or staff are welcome to apply.
Other than that, anyone can apply to be on this programme. We are particularly looking for people who:
- Are passionate about tackling climate change and sustainability
- Have an interest in supporting climate action in their local communities
- Are interested in a career in environmental policy or advocacy (or just enjoy this as a hobby!)
- Able to use Google Docs and SLACK, although you will receive training in both.
Each cohort will be limited to 50 places and we expect to fill the programme. Your acceptance onto the programme will be confirmed once you have attended the Induction
If you are not able to commit to the training programme but would still like to be involved in scoring local authority climate action then please visit our page on becoming a Volunteer Assessor.
How to apply
We are running two volunteer cohorts. The Local Climate Policy Programme is available to both cohorts. If you are a new volunteer we recommend joining Cohort 1.
Thank you!
Purpose of the role
In this important role, you will be responsible for assessing the eligibility of applicants for our grants and services, in adherence with Variety’s structured grant management approach (guided interviews, weighted scoring and panel review) to maximise impact for disabled and disadvantaged children and young people.
You will be required to handle grant applications and supporting information with the utmost confidentiality, following organisational policies to ensure the privacy and security of all sensitive and personal information.
Using our defined eligibility criteria and assessment tools, you will evaluate applications and conduct fair and consistent assessments, making award recommendations to support the decision-making process. You will bring an independent voice, playing a key role in ensuring that decisions are made fairly, equitably and transparently and will be required to support your recommendations with evidence of sound analysis and reasoning.
Key Responsibilities
• Review applications and supporting evidence prepared by the case management team.
• Clarify points with applicants when required (within agreed boundaries).
• Conduct structured, remote assessments (by telephone/video call) to understand need, urgency and likely impact on the child, their family life and communities.
• Establish the baseline for monitoring and evaluation by articulating the impact of the intervention.
• Where applicable, use the weighted assessment tool (base on the eligibility criteria and the Theory of Change) consistently and document clear, impartial rationales to prioritise need.
• Prepare concise, written recommendations aligned to policy, criteria and evidence.
• Attend quarterly Assessor Network meetings, which are a forum for sharing good practice, peer support, news sharing, undertaking essential training and reward and recognition.
Optional, Additional Responsibilities
• Where applicable, support the Impact Monitoring and Evaluation team to undertake post-award follow-up interviews to measure the impact made over time.
• Where applicable and available, represent Variety at events, presentations of awards and through online content.
Adherence to Policy and Quality
• Act as a beacon of good practice in fair grant assessment.
• Uphold safeguarding, confidentiality, GDPR, equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and anti‑bias standards throughout the assessment process.
• Escalate concerns (quality, safeguarding, unusual risk, conflicts of interest) in line with policy.
• Follow process controls and segregation of roles, supporting a robust, auditable trail.
• Participate in induction, refresher training, and calibration sessions to ensure consistency and continuous improvement.
• Adhere to Variety’s Code of Conduct.
Time Commitment
• Assessments: the time commitment for these varies and is flexible but we expect you will be spending 4 – 8 hours per month on these, dependent on demand and pool of assessors.
• Assessor Network: hybrid meetings that will last 1.5 – 2 hours and will be held quarterly.
• Training: short modular induction plus periodic refreshers usually rolled into Assessor Network meetings.
Support & Supervision
• Induction & training: policy, criteria, assessment skills, impact tools, safeguarding, data protection.
• Ongoing support through Programme Manager, Programmes Support Officer and Head of Programmes.
• Expenses: out‑of‑pocket expenses will be reimbursed in line with Variety’s Expenses Policy.
Impact Measures (Volunteer‑Appropriate)
• Timely completion of assigned assessments; adherence to guidance and safeguarding.
• Quality of written rationales; consistency of weighted scoring.
• Constructive contribution to committee discussion and calibration.
• Positive feedback from applicants (tone/respect) gathered via staff.
• Case study preparation
Person Specification
We welcome people from many walks of life. If you’re feel that you are the right person for this role but are unsure whether you “tick every box,” please still consider applying; training and support are provided.
What you’ll bring (essential)
• Fair assessment mindset: you can weigh information against clear criteria and explain your reasoning.
• Analysis skills: comfortable reviewing forms/evidence and using a simple scoring tool. Able to summarise and analyse complex information to extract relevant data, paying attention to detail.
• Communication: great written and spoken English (we have templates to help).
• Lived experience or insight: personal, professional or volunteer experience that helps you understand the challenges faced by disabled or disadvantaged children and young people (or you can demonstrate thoughtful knowledge of these issues).
• Friendly and approachable: comfortable conducting sensitive conversations by telephone/video call with empathy and professionalism.
• Reliability and care: you follow guidance, meet agreed timeframes where you can, and ask for help if something isn’t clear.
• Values & conduct: commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion; willing to complete safeguarding training and a DBS check.
Helpful extras (nice to have, but not essential)
• Comfortable using basic digital tools (email, online forms, video calls) – we can show you the rest.
• Experience in any of the following is desirable:
o Grant-making
o Community/children’s services
o Health/education/SEND
o Occupational Therapy
o Social care
o Structured interviewing
o Teaching
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Please read the attached Trustee Information Pack for more detail
As a Trustee, you will play a crucial role in the governance and strategic oversight of the charity, ensuring that we operate effectively, achieve our mission, and comply with all legal and regulatory requirements. Trustees are collectively responsible for safeguarding the charity’s assets, ensuring they are used exclusively to further our objectives, and overseeing the charity’s financial health, including budgets, financial controls, and reporting. Acting with integrity and in the charity’s best interests is at the heart of the role.
The Treasurer oversees the financial affairs of the charity and ensures that they are conducted legally, transparently, and in line with the charity’s governing document. Working closely with the Chair, Managing Director, Trustees, and any staff or volunteers, the Treasurer helps safeguard the charity’s financial sustainability.
We welcome candidates from professional backgrounds who share our commitment to supporting those affected by Body Dysmorphic Disorder. If your current or previous skills or experience align with this post, we encourage you to apply and join us in driving meaningful change.
Please note, this role is being advertised on an ongoing basis, with interviews conducted on an ad hoc basis.
To apply for this role, please submit the following documents:
- An up to date CV outlining your relevant experience and qualifications.
- A cover letter of no more than 800 words explaining why you are interested in the Treasurer role, what you would bring to the board, and how your skills align with the needs of the charity.
Please note, this role is being advertised on an ongoing basis, with interviews conducted on an ad hoc basis.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.