Otesha Co-director

Job Classification: Part-time permanent position, after six month probationary period

Hours: 22.5 hours over 3 days ideally between Monday and Thursday

Start date: January 2015

Application Deadline: 10th November

Interview Dates: Round one: 17th or 18th November, Round two: 24thNovember

Salary: £27,610 pro rata

Location: Hackney, London

We are looking for a fantastic facilitator and organisational wizard to join our non-hierarchical team of four co-directors. If you are passionate about environmental and social justice, want your work to reflect your values, love working with young people and want to join a dynamic and evolving team – this could be the role for you.  At Otesha we have a flat structure, valuing everyone’s input equally and taking decisions by consensus. All Otesha co-directors have a balance of the practical programme delivery, a voice and responsibility in running the organisation, and their share of the necessary evils of admin!

A bit about what we do

Otesha connects big global issues with our day-to-day actions and empowers young people to take action on environmental-social issues in their own lives. We’re trying to help diversify the environmental movement, and make it more accessible. We meet young people where they’re at, and support them to take their next steps. Our movement is based on creativity and joy – we believe in finding positive and practical solutions. Otesha currently works across four key programmes: Cycle Tours, Green Jobs, Change Projects and Alumni. If you’re interested in applying for the role, please have a good look around our website, to get a feel for us, and the work we do! Over the next few months we will be developing our programmes to link them better and further enable young people to progress between programmes and be supported on their individual journeys. We’re after another co-director to be part of that.

Skills and experience:

At Otesha we all have a balance of delivery, core, and admin roles – so we’re looking for a wide skill set as well as the desire and ability to multi-task across diverse roles. These are the skills and experience we’re looking to maximise in our team (we don’t expect everyone to have all of them, though!).

Knowledge of and personal commitment to environmental and social justice / consensus decision making / facilitating groups and meetings / working in a flat structure / experience working with young people / experience or interest in radical or alternative education / youth work / mentoring / taking a leadership role in a project or organisation / project management / innovation / financial know-how / monitoring and evaluation / excellent writing skills / confident public speaker / self-motivation / human resources expertise / legal knowledge / understanding of small charities / social enterprise / love of bicycles.

This time we particularly need applicants to have:

• Succe ssful trust and foundation fundraising experience (or reallyexcellent writing skills)
• Knowledge of food growing, cooking and preserving, and the ability to design and lead a structured course for young people on these themes
• Experience working with young people

At Otesha, we have a tight-knit and collaborative team, so you can expect plenty of support from your co-directors – however you’ll need to have the self-motivation and confidence to run with your work, as we don’t have managers in the traditional sense!

What the role will involve

• Share overall responsibility for Otesha with the other co-directors (see co-director responsibilities)
• Approximately half a day/week spent on core roles (see co-director responsibilities)
• Lead on the development and delivery of a green jobs training programme focused on local, organic, seasonal food (supported by another co-director)
• Be the main support for delivery and development one other area of our Green Jobs programme (out of green transport, facilitation in schools, or social enterprise)
• Support other areas and other co-directors as required
• Participate in at least 1-2 weeks of next summer’s Cycle Tour (this will involve willingness to cycle 40 miles/day. The tour starts on 14thAugust, you must be available for at least the first week.
• Working hours 22.5 hours / week. These should usually be worked over 3 days, but sometimes evenings or weekend work will be required to deliver training and working hours should be managed accordingly
• Attend board meetings (evenings) on rotation with other co-directors

How to apply

If you can’t wait to get involved, here are your next steps:

• Have a good look around our website
• Read the co-director responsibilities
• Give us a shout if you have any questions (on info@otesha.org.uk or 020 3609 6763, but please note we only work part-time)
• Fill in the Application form and send it along with your CV tojobs@otesha.org.uk
• You will need to be available for both rounds of interviews to enable us to consider you for the role

How we work: We are a tight-knit and fast-paced team, although we make time for training and skill-sharing opportunities whenever possible. We value everyone’s opinion equally and this is reflected in our non-hierarchical decision-making processes. We also all muck in and share the necessary evils of administrative work, and we try to walk the talk and test out creative sustainable solutions in the office.

The Otesha Project is committed to equality, diversity and social and environmental justice, and we welcome applications from those who share our values. We value the different expertise and diversity of our employees. We strive to make our programmes as accessible as possible and will work with committed individuals to ensure participation. We welcome applications from groups underrepresented in our areas of work and we do not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, place of origin, class, citizenship, system of belief, gender, sexual orientation, language, marital status, family status, physical and/or mental disability.