Find your place in the field of good food

Our goal is to connect good people with good food. We advertise sustainable food jobs and training opportunities to help jobseekers and employers find each other.

Roots to Work is a project of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.

Job description

• Gross Annual Salary: £25,207 per annum for 35 hours per week or £20,165 per annum for 28 hours per week.In addition, Sustain matches pension contributions up to 5% of gross salary.
• Hours: 28-35 hours a week worked over 4 to 5 days per week, between Monday to Friday as agreed with the line manager in line with the needs of the charity. 
• Location: Role is offered on a flexible basis, with some working hours expected to be carried out in our Cambridge Heath office; Green House, 244-254 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9DA. In person attendance at events and staff meetings is expected. Some travel may be required.
• Position type: Short-term fixed-term contract, 26 weeks.
• Annual leave: 25 days pa plus pro-rata bank holidays for full-time employees. Pro rata holiday for part-time if employed: In this role, the annual leave for 26 weeks is expected to be 10 – 12 days (for 4 or 5 days pw worker). Bank holidays will be prorated accordingly too.
• Equal opportunities: Sustain is committed to being a welcoming and inclusive employer, including recruiting for diversity. Read more about our approach here.
• Right to Work: Entitlement to work in the UK. Sustain is not able to assist with applications for work permits and cannot employ people living or working outside of the UK. 
• Other details: Cycle to Work scheme available on salary sacrifice basis

About Sustain

Sustain is a powerful alliance of organisations and communities working together for a better system of food, farming and fishing, and cultivating the movement for change. We represent over 100 food and farming organisations. Together, we advocate food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture, and promote equity.

Purpose of Role

Sustain is seeking someone to join the Food for the Planet team to work on a six-month internship to support our research and campaign activities.

The focus of the role is "Planning for the Planet," a campaign addressing factory farming through the local planning system. The goal is to understand how planning policies contribute to the rise of factory farms and their negative environmental impact, such as nutrient pollution and harm to wildlife. The intern will help research local policies, analyse data, and create reports to identify areas for improvement in planning systems.

The role includes research, data analysis, writing, and supporting communication efforts to strengthen the campaign and promote better policies. The intern will also have access to internal training and development opportunities during the internship.

What is Food for the Planet?

Agriculture is both a driver of and impacted by the climate crisis. Over 30% of the UK’s emissions can be connected to the food system and it is the biggest cause of biodiversity loss. Food for the Planet is fighting for food systems that work for people and planet. Our campaigns are driven by research that supports engagement with policy actors at the local and national level. Food for the Planet encompasses a handful of campaigns that focus on some key issues: procurement, intensive farming, advertisement and the just transition.

Support offered

The successful candidate will receive an induction into Sustain and will be supported in their journey at our organisation by their team. They will have the opportunity to attend relevant internal training available during this period, as well as external events and development opportunities that are relevant to their work.

What will the work focus on?

Planning for the Planet is Sustain’s campaign tackling factory farming. We focus primarily on the planning system at a local level. The planning system is not fit for purpose right now, with the number of very large factory farms increasing 20% between 2016 and 2023. The faecal waste produced by these animals is creating a nutrient pollution crisis in our rivers, decimating wildlife and harming local communities.

We want to better understand what the planning policy environment looks like in the UK. We have developed an exciting and novel methodology for approximating factory farm hotspots. We are seeking a researcher to analyse relevant local policy documents in the worst polluted areas, identify trends, and report on where great policies exist and where there could be improvements. We would also like to analyse recent applications for intensive livestock units in these areas.

Your work will involve research, analysing and synthesising data, and producing written outputs, as well as ad hoc campaigns and communications work. You will also help the team to create and deliver a strategy to disseminate the results. This will support our campaigning and cement us as an authoritative voice on UK planning and factory farming.

Role & Responsibilities

Research

• Conduct a review of local planning policy in areas worst impacted by factory farming.
• Conduct a review of factory farm applications in those areas.
• Working with the Sustain team, write a report of your findings that will be published on our website, shared amongst our networks and act as a bedrock for future campaign work.
• Other ad hoc research as required.
• To produce and collate research-based evidence, data and statistics relating to the aims of the project.
• To stay up to date with local, regional and national policy and strategy relating to the project.
• Conduct research, data analysis, writing, and supporting communication efforts to strengthen the campaign and promote better policies.

Communications

• To create and contribute to the production of original content for placement in local media, social media, websites and in the newsletters/communications, etc.
• Writing blogs or news items to share your findings in short form.
• Creating social media content
• Present your work in a public-facing webinar.
• Other communications and campaign activities as relevant to the climate change team at the time
• To support and actively participate in stakeholder events, meetings, and public consultation meetings, exhibitions and conferences in various locations and aimed at different sectors of the population.
• To undertake specific identified projects and any other duties consistent with the nature and level of the post.

Administration, IT and other duties

• Plan and manage own workload, set targets and deadlines, and be self-supporting with regard to administration and IT.
• To attend one to one meetings and performance reviews and provide written progress and work reports as required.
• To comply with all Sustain policies and practice.
• To undertake administrative tasks necessary to achieve the outcomes of the role.
• To undertake any other duties as may be required within the scope of the role Some travel will be required as part of this role.
• Undertake any other duties agreed with your line manager and to also undertake training and development relevant to the job role.
• Take part in fundraising activities as arranged by the charity.

Person Specification / What we’re looking for

E = Essential, D = Desirable

Knowledge

• Knowledge and interest in policy related to environmental issues (E)
• Knowledge of policy related to environmental issues. (E)

Skills, Abilities & Attitudes

• Ability and interest to undertake desk-based research. (E)
• Ability to synthesise complex information into concise reference material. (E)
• Ability to work with data and statistics. (E)
• Ability to communicate well, face to face, over the phone, and in writing. (E)
• Good organisational skills. (E)
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English. (E)
• Strong IT skills. (E)
• Good numeracy and literacy skills. (E)
• Good time management skills. (E)
• A strong commitment to diversity and inclusion – particularly to making healthy and sustainable food accessible to all, ensuring the inclusion of wide and different perspectives in our work, and to tackling inequality. (E)
• Confident working with the public. (E)
• Self motivated, able to work independently and within a small team. (E)
• Good with relationship building within a team and with stakeholders. (E)

Experience

• Experience of working with MS Office, and related IT systems. (E)
• Experience of studying or working on food or farming issues and/ or an interest in working in the sector in the future (D)
• Experience of studying or working on food or farming issues and/ or an interest in working in the sector in the future (D)
• Experience in any of the following (none of these are essential as full training will be given): (D)
  • Climate justice / Just transition
  • Planning policy
  • Law
  • Working with local government
• Experience developing social media content, blogs or articles (D)
• Experience working with people from diverse backgrounds. (E)

Qualifications and requirements

• A relevant qualification related to the role. (D)
• GCSE English or equivalent. (E)
• Minimum GCSE Maths or equivalent. (E)

 

Application information

Download full job description here.

To apply for the role please email your updated CV with a covering letter and your recruitment exercise to recruitment@sustainweb.org

Your CV should be no more than 2 A4 pages, (min font size 11) and saved with your full name.

Your covering letter should provide a brief outline of your interest in the role, detail your relevant skills and experience and describe how you meet the criteria for the role and should be no longer than a max 2 pages, either as part of the email, or as an additional saved and labelled document.

Recruitment exercise: Please complete a short 2-paragraph exercise (no more than one A4 page) detailing what research challenges you might expect in the role and how you would plan to overcome them. Email this as a PDF along with your CV and covering letter.

Please also complete the anonymous Equal Opportunities Monitoring form

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs