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Climate Fringe Coordinator
Full Time – 9-10 months
£24,000
Based in Glasgow (but initially working from home until we can work from an office)
Do you want to make best use of these months before COP26 to make a real difference to climate awareness and action in Scotland? Are you a natural collaborator able to spot opportunities for bringing people together? Do you have the skills to develop a dynamic and engaging web platform and the creativity to bring new ideas and approaches? A doer who can be counted upon to get stuff done under pressure and deadlines, who has a talent for building relationships and collaborations?
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is seeking a Coordinator to develop and drive forward The Climate Fringe – a year-long festival supported through a web platform that brings together events and activities led by civil society in the run up to COP.
With Scotland getting ready to host COP26, and awareness of climate impacts and the urgency for action growing, this is a pivotal moment to be supporting and joining together activity within the climate movement in Scotland.
This new post would suit someone who is passionate about the role events can have in creating change and devising ways of bringing people together. You will be a natural collaborator, creative, and well-organised, enjoying the challenge of developing web-based platforms to support change-makers. You will be able to create a buzz around activity and draw events, organisations and artists into the Climate Fringe, building momentum for a focussed week of activities in September and then again during COP.
With the COVID-19 situation meaning that the status of in-person events is still uncertain, you will need to be flexible- able to support online activity and take advantage of opportunities that in-person events offer in the Autumn.
We are seeking someone with experience of working on a website and developing its functionality and content, and with really excellent communication and organisational skills. You’ll be great at building effective relationships with people at all levels, both within our member organisations, and with external stakeholders. You will have experience of working with volunteers and will be an experienced social media communicator with great writing skills.
You will be based in Glasgow, in a small team of five SCCS staff working specifically on COP26 work, with close connections to the core SCCS staff based in Edinburgh and other organisations working on COP-related work, specifically the UK COP26 Coalition Coordinator. You will have key relationships to build through the SCCS working groups, the UK COP26 Coalition, and with civil society organisations across Glasgow, the UK and beyond. We are looking for someone who will take a proactive, flexible and pragmatic approach. You’ll be positive, creative, and have a resourceful and innovative approach to your work.
This is a unique opportunity to make an impact at this incredibly exciting time for climate campaigning. You will have ample opportunity for personal development within the role; to take on responsibility, to take the initiative and be challenged. If this sounds like you – we need to hear from you.
Background
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is a diverse coalition of over 50 civil society organisations in Scotland campaigning together on climate change. Our members include environment, faith and belief groups, international development organisations, trade and student unions and community groups.
With COP coming to Glasgow this is an incredibly important time for civil society in Scotland. The involvement of civil society is a hugely important part of the official COP with many thousands of people from NGOs, unions, faith groups, and other civil society organisations taking part in the official proceedings. But COPs are also always a focus for building civil society activity in the host country and linking the local with the global. We want the Climate Fringe to build connections and drive activity across Scotland and beyond.
The Climate Fringe website was conceived as the go-to place for information on what is happening in the climate community in Scotland in the run up to, and during, COP26, especially showcasing work of other organisations and activists. We launched at the end of May 2020 with the aim of bringing together the many hundreds of events and activities taking place, to amplify and promote all that is happening, and to help build the momentum towards COP. It is now entirely an online hub, but will include in-person events as soon as they are taking place.
The Post
This role will help to build the climate movement in Scotland by bringing together events and activities that are led by civil society, in Scotland and further afield before and during COP26. Our aim is to grow audiences for climate related events, training, workshops and activities and also promote collaboration and interchange across the movement, especially highlighting creative approaches, climate justice and connections to other movements. Our philosophy is, like that of the Edinburgh Fringe, that everyone is welcome to take part.
This post will develop ‘The Climate Fringe’, continuing its work as an events website, while developing it as a forum for collaboration and creating a special focus of activity in September (to coincide with New York Climate Week, and The Climate Coalition Great Big Green Week) and in November, during COP26 itself. We want to draw in organisations, artists and individuals to create events and activities as part of the Climate Fringe that will bring in new audiences and engage right across Scottish society.
This role will include liaison with relevant stakeholders, and management of the budget associated with the work. The post will be managed by the SCCS COP26 Project Manager and will work closely with other SCCS staff, and our sister organisation The Climate Coalition, as well as SCCS’s Public Campaigns Working Group and the COP26 Coalition.
Key Responsibilities:
- To develop climatefringe.org as a website that draws together activities from across the movement including developing new online ways of engaging and showcasing others’ activities.
- To bring together and promote a focussed week of events and activity at the end of September to coincide with New York Climate Week and TCC Great Big Green week.
- To liaise with The Climate Coalition, participating in relevant working groups, to support their work to deliver Great Big Green Week and ensure tie-in with the Climate Fringe
- To grow our social media following and website interactions
- To build collaborations with key events, and festival in Scotland to draw more people to be involved in the Climate Fringe, building new audiences
- To recruit and manage the Climate Fringe volunteer team
- To work with the SCCS Communication and Campaigns Officer to deliver media promotion and campaigns at key points in the project.
- To provide online guidance and toolkits for people organising events
- To ensure the website is the go-to place for information on what is happening in civil society during COP both in the inside COP spaces, and outside COP
- To make our events information more accessible for everyone through offering feeds for newsletters, and others’ websites.
- To promote, amplify and support the work of others through our events site, and through blogs, and webinars and promoting our podcasts
- To manage our communities event support fund to ensure that we have an inclusive Climate Fringe
- To work with the rest of the COP26 Project Team to ensure all linkages are made between activities on the climate fringe and tangible activities linked to COP, for example mobilizations and the People’s Summit organised by COP26 Coalition, and calls for volunteers.
Personal specification
Knowledge, experience and abilities
Essential
- Significant experience managing a WordPress website and ability to trouble-shoot and develop functionality using plugins and basic html.
- Experience of recruiting, and managing volunteers
- Creative problem-solver, able to bring forward new ideas for delivering our objectives.
- Natural collaborator, and ability to develop productive mutually beneficial partnerships.
- Passionate about promoting the work of others and showcasing the breadth of the climate movement in Scotland and beyond.
- Experience of managing social media accounts and excellent written communications, including writing content for the web.
- Able to create diversity and inclusivity in the work of the Climate Fringe
- Ability to work under pressure and deal with the unexpected.
Desirable
- Experience of creating or developing websites with wide knowledge of useful web platforms and plugins, such as eventon.
- Demonstrable commitment to action on climate change.
- Experience in delivering publicity including writing press releases and doing publicity with the press and media
- Background knowledge of civil society groups and the climate movement in Glasgow, Scotland and beyond
- Experience in budget planning and management
Qualifications
The competencies and experience of the successful candidate will be more important than formal academic qualifications.
Terms and conditions
Part time position: 5 days a week
Salary: £24,000
Location: Glasgow. (but initially working from home – we anticipate working from an office at Kinning Park from August 2021)
Hours: Full Time for 9-10 months (35 hours a week) Given the nature of the work, the post holder may be expected to work the occasional evening or weekend, for which time off in lieu will be granted. There will be no payment of overtime.
This role would make an ideal secondment – especially from SCCS member organisations. If you are interested in doing this post as a secondment please speak to your current employer to discuss and highlight on your application.
Application process
If you would like to apply, please do so by sending:
Covering letter (please set out in no more than 500 words why you are suited to this position, laying out how your experience and skills meet the essential -and desirable- criteria
CV (no more than 2 pages)
to Kat Jones, SCCS Coalition Manager at [email protected]
Please title your email ‘Your Name – Climate Fringe Coordinator Application’
By 5pm on Tuesday 30 March.
Short-listed applicants will be invited to attend an online interview on Friday 9 April (if attending on that date is not possible please advise at the time of applying).
This role is supported financially by The Climate Coalition and the Climate Emergency Collaboration Group
