Job Title: Community Organiser – Together We Can (Refugees Welcome and Migration)

Salary: £31,479 pa (will be increased 1 April)

Hours: 37.5 hours per week (flexible working available and some unsociable hours required)

Contract: 2 years

Based: Remote (with some requirement to attend meetings)

Citizens UK

Citizens UK is a people power alliance of diverse local communities working together for the common good. Our mission is to develop leaders, strengthen civic organisations and make change. Our 550 member communities are deeply rooted in their local areas and connect every day to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Through the method of community organising we enable people experiencing powerlessness to develop their leadership and come together with the power and strategy to make change. 

This leads to hundreds of neighbourhood improvements - from zebra crossings outside primary schools to renovated public toilets in cemeteries. And it leads to some of the biggest campaign impacts in the UK, such as winning over £1.5 billion of wages through the UK Living Wage campaign, securing a legal cap on the cost of credit to control exploitative lending, and ending the detention of children for immigration purposes. We enable local campaigns to grow into large-scale social change projects such as the Living Wage Foundation, Parents and Communities Together (PACT), Sponsor Refugees, and Refugees for Justice, that form an integral part of our theory of change. The most prominent of these is the rapidly growing Living Wage Foundation with a network of nearly 9,000 accredited Living Wage Employers across the UK. 

Together We Can

The Together We Can team is a project of Citizens UK working to build the power we need to make the UK more welcoming.

We believe in the importance of standing with our neighbours, wherever they were born. By working together across difference, we can tackle injustice and win change on the issues that matter to refugee migrant, and diaspora communities.

The Together We Can team consists of community organisers working with leaders on local and national campaigns as well as two specialist projects: Sponsor Refugees and Refugees for Justice

Purpose

This role will work to build power by establishing and supporting welcome teams in key constituencies across the UK. The community organiser will be working with leaders on the ground to make their communities more welcoming and build a strong relationship with their MP and other stakeholders. The Community Organiser will also train and support a UK-wide action team of volunteers who want to build teams in key constituencies.

The ideal candidate will be a self-starter who is committed to making the UK more welcoming and who is able to work independently and build trusting relationships quickly.

Main Responsibilities

Working as a Community Organiser in Citizens UK’s Together We Can (TWC) team your main responsibilities will include:

Build relational power by developing welcome teams in key constituencies across the UK

• Build teams working to make their communities more welcoming to migrants and refugees across the UK

• Develop an action team of dedicated volunteers and support them to build teams in key constituencies

• Develop partnerships with UK-wide organisations to support the work in key constituencies 

Contribute to national campaign strategies

• Work with colleagues and community leaders to develop and win national campaigns to make the UK more welcoming

• Support leaders to participate in Citizens UK structures and leadership teams

• Build strategic relationships that will further campaign goals

Build relational power to further the goals of Citizens UK

• Develop a comprehensive power analysis of migration in the UK

• Develop and grow a substantial network of key influencers at a local level, incl. journalists; taking the initiative to establish new relationships as required

• Conduct at least 3 1-2-1s a day to develop relationships with leaders; ensuring a deep understanding of their concerns

• Tell a wide range of Community Organising stories effectively to influence others and achieve Citizen UK’s goals

Identify and develop relational leaders prepared to act with others for the common good

• Identify and discern actual and potential leaders with the passion and ability to drive change

• Achieve significant development of primary and secondary leaders; nominate 10-15 new leaders pa for training on the core taster curriculum and for National Training

• Successfully lead training on the core taster curriculum at a local level and teach a variety of sessions on the National Training course

Strengthen institutions and develop BBOs

• Ensure good understanding of the basic interests and traditions of typical member institutions

• Organise welcome teams in key constituencies

• Support pre-existing core teams and create/develop new core teams to provide leadership for multi-institutional campaigns

• Run institutional development campaigns in a range of types of organisation

Support leaders through the Cycle of Action to create change

• Take the staff lead on major actions and campaigns at a local level; aiming to achieve multiple large local wins

• Develop and facilitate action planning teams at local level

• Develop strategies for significant local impact; with comprehensive plans and tactics

• Organise and support local actions, ensuring publicity, and facilitating negotiations

• Evaluate the effectiveness of actions; demonstrating ability to incorporate lessons learned into future actions

Contribute to Citizen UK’s financial viability through effective fundraising and financial management

• Recruit new dues paying institutions; negotiating annual membership fees and letters of understanding as required

• Contribute to fundraising by securing £40k-£60k per annum overall, at least half of which must be ‘hard money’ from the recruitment and retention of member institutions.

• Manage the budget at Chapter/campaign level, incl. setting/ monitoring of budgets, and ensuring dues are collected in a timely manner

Contribute to effective teamwork

• Contribute as part of a team on Together We Can priorities and ensure work aligns with other projects and campaigns

• Be proactive concerning personal professional development and wellbeing, i.e. by reading widely, developing a healthy work-life balance and demonstrating ability to reflect on own organising craft and improve on self-identified weaknesses

• Work effectively with colleagues and participate in a team; contribute to the learning of other Organisers

• Lead other Organisers in a manner that supports high performance by providing clear expectations and providing proactive support, encourage and mentor

• Produce all required reports and follow Citizens UK’s procedures on time and to the required standards

Participate in the development of the craft of Community Organising and play a role in the Guild of COs

• Schedule an average of at least three 1-2-1 relational meetings into your daily schedule as a core part of your professional practice 

• Commit 10 working days pa to the preparation, delivery and evaluation of Citizens UK National Community

Leadership Training

• Participate in a Guild Team to develop as a Community of Practice that enables Organisers to develop their skills and experience.

 Person Specification

REQUIREMENTS (ESSENTIAL = E, DESIRABLE = D)

QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor’s degree in any subject (D)

Evidence of further and continuing study including a possible professional qualification (D)

EXPERIENCE

At least one-year employment track record of successful Organising (E)

Experience of carrying out a power analysis and using the results to initiate new relationships (E)

Experience of successful fundraising (E)

Experience of setting up a new or consolidating an existing project (E)

Clear evidence of campaigns won and volunteers developed (E)

KEY SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Ability to inspire, motivate and lead (particularly people who are different than you) (E)

Ability to organise yourself and others and to work responsibly in an unstructured environment (E)

Financial management skills incl. ability to set and manage a budget (D)

Ability to use imaginative strategies to help improve disadvantaged communities (E) 

Ability to plan and organise under pressure (E)

Ability to work with and relate to all types of people (E)

Ability to teach and run workshops (E)

Ability to develop the potential of others (E)

Ability to communicate well verbally and in writing (E)

PERSONAL QUALITIES & VALUES

A passion for justice (E)

A positive enthusiasm for working with faith congregations, trade unions, schools and other community organisations (E)

An interest in and experience of politics and public life (E)

Able to work in a team (E)

Willingness to work within accountable relationships (E)

Self-motivated and adaptable (E)

 The successful applicant will be required to undertake a satisfactory Enhanced DBS check. DBS checks are renewed on a 3-year cycle.