Job description: Network Coordinator for the LAND project

Salary: £19,375 pro rata (£11,520 gross / before deductions)
Hours: 22 hours per week (0.6 FTE)
Holiday entitlement: 28 days pro rata (including Bank Holidays)
Sickness provision: according to statutory requirements
Place of work: the post holder will be based at the Permaculture Association’s office (Hollybush Conservation Centre, Broad Lane, Kirkstall, Leeds, LS5 3BP). Please note that the job will entail significant and regular travel across England to visit projects and attend events. Some home working may be considered for this post.

Responsible to: Chief Executive and Board of Trustees.

Post funded by: Local Food Fund. This post is for one year. The successful applicant will be expected to lead and support fund-raising efforts to continue the project beyond 2013, but we cannot guarantee the post beyond December 2013.

Job Purpose:

  • To enable the Association to fulfil its LAND project aims, in particular, those agreed in the new work funded by the 'Supporting Impact' strand of the Local Food Fund:
  • Support regional assessment of new applications to the LAND project;
  • Trial and introduce LAND Walks scheme, to complement the funded Group Visit Scheme;
  • Organise four national and regional events;
  • Engage and support ten disadvantaged groups to make use of the new LAND Learner Scheme, and liaise with their Design Support Tutors;
  • Market the LAND Learners Scheme widely to other groups and projects to encourage uptake of the new learning service; and
  • Support the development and submission of a range of funding applications to enable the LAND project to continue with funded support from 2014 onwards.
  • To work directly with people and projects across England.
  • To work in a friendly and cooperative way with other staff, Trustees, volunteers, Association members and the general public.

Duties:

The following list is indicative and may not be fully comprehensive. Some duties may change to reflect the development of the project. Changes will be discussed with the post-holder. Please note that the post-holder will enjoy the support of existing staff members, and in particular, there will be a two week handover from the existing Network Coordinator.

Support for LAND projects

  • support regional assessors to visit prospective LAND projects and assist in the decision making for acceptance to the LAND network with the LAND Advisory Board;
  • provide support and advice to LAND projects, and applicant projects that contact the office;
  • link projects to appropriate support and training;
  • assist projects to connect to each other regionally and nationally;

Project management

  • manage the overall project to ensure that the milestones and outcomes agreed with the Local Food programme are delivered on schedule and within budget;
  • manage existing monitoring and evaluation systems, and ensure appropriate M&E systems are in place to learn from and further develop the LAND Learner scheme;
  • produce quarterly project reports for Board of Trustee meetings and the Local Food Fund;
  • produce reports for other funders and others as appropriate;
  • work closely with other members of the project team and Association staff to ensure overall project coordination.

LAND membership and enquiries

  • process applications for membership of the LAND network;
  • develop a register of active permaculture projects and maintain the LAND network database;
  • ensure that LAND specific information requestsfrom members, the public and other organisations are responded to promptly;
  • work with LAND members to discover their needs, opinions and potential contributions;
  • develop a LAND members’ pack and keep this up to date;

Communications

  • assist the Communications Coordinator with identifying articles and news for the quarterly members’ newsletter, monthly e-bulletin and press releases;
  • encourage and support the use of social networking between LAND projects, in particular the LAND facebook and PA facebook pages;
  • pro-actively engage and support existing and new LAND projects in telling their stories and disseminating these more widely in permaculture, transition and other networks;

Website

This is primarily the responsibility of the Website Coordinator, but all staff support this important area of work by adding the items and information that they are mainly responsible for.

  • put up new items (such as news, jobs, course and event listings, project details, designer’s register) and update existing entries as appropriate; and
  • support the Website Coordinator to develop the site to be user-friendly and informative.

Volunteers

  • support LAND project volunteers in the office and in the network;
  • ensure volunteer opportunities are advertised on the website, newsletter and e-bulletin;
  • ensure that records of all volunteer contributions are recorded and collated so as to count towards match funding requirements.

Events and Activities

  • support the development and delivery of regional networking events, including attendance;
  • assist in the coordination, development of network training, the national convergence, the AGM and other events as appropriate, including attending events as required.

Development

  • ongoing development of LAND project systems and procedures to increase efficiency;
  • work with the CEO on grant funding bids and;
  • propose projects that could improve the Association to the CEO and Board of Trustees.

Quality Assurance, monitoring and evaluation

  • carry out checks to ensure LAND members and other stakeholders are receiving the service they require;
  • work with other staff to ensure all public materials and information are of a high quality;
  • carry out project monitoring and evaluation using web surveys, event evaluations, data collection and other methods as required.

Other Responsibilities

  • carry out keyholder, alarm and security responsibilities for the office;
  • be responsible for the security of assets, stock, cash box, etc., particularly at events;
  • attend weekly office meetings and other meetings including teleconferences as deemed necessary;
  • participate in monthly management sessions with the CEO;
  • have the opportunity to assist with general duties and represent the PA at events as and when appropriate;
  • contribute to annual end of year report;
  • undertake other duties as agreed with theCEO and the Board of Trustees.

General duties:

  • All staff are expected to work within and to promote the aims and objectives of the Association, and to present a positive image of the Association to members and the public.
  • All staff are expected to work within the Equal Opportunities framework, and to promote good practice through their work.
  • Team working and a flexible approach are essential.
  • The job will involve regular travel, and some unsocial hours. Over-night stays will be required.
  • Training may be provided to enable the post-holder to better deliver the key tasks and to aid personal development.
  • All staff are expected to take responsibility for their own safety, and to ensure that colleagues and visitors are not exposed to danger.
  • All staff are expected to abide by the Association’s policies and ethos at all times

Person Specification

JOB TITLE:Network Coordinator

Essential / Desirable
1. Qualifications /
  • GCSE level Maths and English
  • Permaculture Design Course Certificate
/
  • Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design
  • Qualifications in a related field e.g. Level 2 Horticulture NVQ, RHS Certificate, ecology, biology or similar degree; apprenticeship on an organic farm, RHS garden/Kew, etc.

2. Experience /
  • Working within a permaculture (or similar land based) project
  • Project management and coordination
  • Setting up and running events
/
  • Running a membership scheme
  • Providing design and project support
  • Volunteer support
  • Public speaking / talking to groups
  • Working with disadvantaged groups

3. Knowledge and skills /
  • Excellent communication skills – written and verbal
  • Project management, monitoring and evaluation
  • Social networking
/
  • Managing administration systems
  • Good working knowledge of permaculture design
  • Competent within an open source computer environment
  • Research skills
  • Full clean driving license

4. Personal
attributes /
  • Honest and reliable
  • Enjoy meeting and helping people
  • An interest in environmental and development issues
  • Self-motivated, able to take initiative and to meet deadlines
  • Highly organised, with good time management skills and the ability to prioritise workloads
/
  • Sense of humour

Please note that the job will be subject to an initial trial period based on a review at 3 and 6 months.