Citizens UK and the NRPF Partnership

Citizens UK

We are Citizens UK. We’re working together to make change on the issues that matter, from campaigning for zebra crossings on dangerous roads, to reforming the immigration system, to the Living Wage campaign.  

We bring together everyday people and local organisations to build a better, fairer society. Too often communities are left out of decisions that affect their lives, but we know everyday people have the ability to shape the world around them. We develop local leaders who find solutions to problems big and small and hold power-holders to account. 

We work with hundreds of civil society organisations, who we call our members - schools, universities, faith groups, charities, unions and more - to help them win change. Over the last 30 years, we’ve worked in alliance with 500+ members, trained 4,000+ community leaders, accredited 13,000 Living Wage employers, and won hundreds of campaigns. 

NRPF Partnership

The NRPF partnership was set up in 2023 and is being developed by Citizens UK, Migration Exchange, and Praxis. We are working to build the necessary infrastructure for collaboration across a range of organisations, amplify their work, and build power to win change against the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition. You can learn more about the overall initiative via our FAQs page. 

Each partner contributes staff capacity and will work closely with the appointed person to ensure a positive, professional and supportive culture. The Partnership centres around: 

1)  Placing decision-making power and strategic vision in the hands of people doing the work 

(frontline staff and people with lived experience), via a steering group and working groups.

2) Establishing a strategic pooled fund so that the steering group has sufficient budget to guide the collaboration, act, identify and seize political opportunities, and facilitate active participation of everyone involved.

3) Expanding the movement and building power, using incremental wins to build towards broader change towards the goal of ending NRPF.

The Person and the Role

100,000s people in our communities have put down roots in the UK but are denied access to the welfare safety net (No Recourse to Public Funds).

Citizens UK has worked with Migration Exchange and Praxis to raise over £2m to develop a 5 year partnership to enable the movement to end NRPF.

This Senior Project role will be a core part of the support to the steering group of the partnership to make sure it runs effectively and achieves its potential.

If you're angry about injustice in the immigration system, have good communication and relationship building skills and self organised - apply below. We are particularly keen to hear from candidates who have been through the immigration system themselves.

We are looking for a values-driven and experienced person with exceptional skills and knowledge in project management, relationship-building, and community organising. This role will lead and coordinate all project management and tactical activities necessary to support the day-to-day functioning of the NRPF Partnership. The right person will be highly motivated by joining the distinctive ethos of Citizens UK and the shared values of the NRPF Partnership, where local leaders and people experiencing injustice are in the lead, and where grassroots community organising is combined with strategies for social change. 

This role is a really exciting opportunity to forge real change and to shift the power dynamics in social change work. The successful candidate will be at the heart of making change happen on one of the most important social justice issues of our time. Top Priorities

• Building and maintaining relationships and communication – maintaining excellent working relationships and effective communications with the Coordination Backbone Group (CBG), Steering Group, working groups, wider community partners involved in the NRPF partnership, and the Citizens UK Migration Team 

• Managing and coordinating capacity-building and leadership development in support of the shared strategy set by the steering group– developing and maintaining the effectiveness of a capacity-building and leadership development inputs that enables everyone in the Partnership, especially those with expertise by lived experience, to fully participate across all levels of the Partnership

• Project managing all partnership implementation logistics and follow-up – managing meeting logistics from planning to scheduling to outreach to follow-up to ensure seamless participation of Steering Group and Working Group members and ensure that planned activities take place effectively in support of the goals and values of the Partnership

  The role will be reporting to Assistant Director, Migrant and Refugee Organising.

Main Responsibilities

Reporting directly to X with  oversight from the NRPF Partnership CBG, the post holder will be expected to manage their own independent workload, as well as support the broader CBG. The main responsibilities are outlined below:

Working with the NRPF Partnership’s key stakeholders

• Developing and maintaining relationships with Partnership stakeholders 

• Working with the CBG to update outreach strategy as new needs emerge

• Building and maintaining trust and relationships across the whole Partnership and more widely (within and across sectors from migration to anti-poverty to children’s rights, etc.)

• Supporting with the facilitation of Working Group meetings

• Develop and implement ideas for action that are consistent with the goals of the project

Strategic coherence

• Supporting the coordination of activities with partners to align strategies and actions and minimise duplication

• Working with the CBG to coordinate with other related projects and coalitions to maintain a full understanding of the current landscape of local and regional activities

• Maintaining understanding of current implementation challenges and developing comprehensive solutions to address them in dialogue with partners

• Developing, maintaining, and monitoring political opportunities to support Working Groups to develop and execute on their action plans

• In partnership with the CBG and steering group, providing support to partner organisations to coordinate and collaborate on joint initiatives

• Coordinating advocacy activities across stakeholders that support the wider aims of the Partnership

• Supporting the independent learning partner to deliver evaluation and learning activities

Communications

• Organising appropriate outreach and communications efforts across the Partnership (e.g. publishing a regular newsletter, email updates, insights from learning and evaluation etc.) 

• Ensuring effective internal communication with CUK organisers, leaders, and partners involved with the NRPF Partnership and with funders

• Facilitating on-going communication across the NRPF Partnership to ensure alignment of activity

• Supporting the development of any communications materials such as summary documents, brochures, FAQs, social media content, etc.

Build leadership development offer for the Partnership

• Working alongside CBG and the CUK Migration team, refine community organising and leadership development support for all members of the NRPF partnership especially those with lived experience of NRPF

• Ensuring that everyone in the group can contribute to the best of their ability by managing a training and external facilitation budget to build skills, confidence and trust

Fundraising and reporting 

• Working with the CBG to develop and support fundraising bids and support reporting requirements and funder relationships

• Contributing to the budgeting process and the effective management of financial resources in the project working closely with Global Dialogue who will hold pooled funds on behalf of the partnership

Managing meeting/event logistics 

• Planning and managing the logistics of all Partnership meetings and gatherings of the Steering Group, working groups and CBG (e.g., dial-in, attendance, cancellations, etc.)

• Consolidating Working Group updates for Steering Group, including summarising meeting notes and highlighting key outputs and decisions so they can be easily shared with others across the Partnership

Any other reasonable tasks as required by the line manager.

Person Specification

REQUIREMENTS

ESSENTIAL (E)

DESIRABLE (D)

QUALIFICATIONS

Degree or equivalent professional qualification (D)

EXPERIENCE

Significant  proven, comprehensive experience in a project management role (E)

Experience of initiating new projects and developing them so that they become sustainable underpinned by strong values (E)

Experience of building consensus between diverse stakeholders and managing complexity in relationships (E)

Experience of organising and managing all aspects of community events, incl. logistics (E)

Proven experience of raising significant funds for charitable purposes (D)

A proven track record of delivering and reporting against targets and on budgets (D)

KEY SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge of No Recourse to Public Funds and working with individuals who have an NRPF designation on their immigration status (E)

Outstanding communication skills (verbally and written) combined with the ability to liaise with stakeholders (E)

Ability to work well as part of a team, and maintain effective communication with colleagues (E)

Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships, lead, influence and motivate others (E)

Ability to act on own initiative to introduce and develop new projects and systems (E)

Proven computer literacy to include MS Office (E)

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

Exceptional leadership skills, with an ability to enthuse and inspire staff and volunteers (E)

A proactive approach to all areas of work with a flexible approach to work demands (E)

An appreciation and respect for different communities; including faith groups and different cultures. (E)

A strong commitment to the CUK values and the values of the NRPF partnership, which include: (E)

• Being open to new ideas (specifically ensuring that all our 121 conversations, small group discussions with the sector and funders create an environment that fosters creative problem-solving and innovation)

• Fostering connection 

• Championing co-design and co-production

• Being equity-focused and enabling any one interested to participate and feed into the design and development of this work

Please note there will be recruitment webinar on Tuesday, 7th May from 14:30-15:30. Please register via the following link if you are interested in attending: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpcO-rrzsoH9ecIXUaaFbqDjaVxVSvqJLq.

Interviews are planned to take place on Thursday, June 13th (subject to change.)