As a member of the team, you have a real opportunity to help us shape our work and the impact we can have. You will be part of a team where everyone plays a role to make the organisation more sustainable. We’re innovative and respond to the needs of our communities.
Our organisation is driven by the following values:
Collaborative
Community-rooted
Enabling
Experiential
Innovative
Intergenerational
We’re a Living Wage employer. Our team represents diverse professional backgrounds. Working at The Ubele Initiative involves a flexible approach that fits in with your needs and projects.
Benefits of working at Ubele Initiative
20 days annual leave + UK bank holidays
Employer contribution to your pension
Hybrid working with staff working 1 day per week in our London based office; this is subject to regular review
All staff have access to Bright Wellbeing 24hr advice line and counselling service
All Staff have access to Bright Safe Health & Safety management software and a variety of training courses
Opportunity to train in Mental Health First Aid
Contribute to our wellbeing initiatives
Attend Ubele away days, annual retreat, local and international courses, learning sessions and social events.
Staff have the option to work out of one of our designated London offices. We have a shared office space located in Wood Green, London. This space offers great opportunities for sharing ideas, networking and meeting great thinkers and business owners. We have adopted the office occasional hybrid working model where staff meet on designated days for collaboration and teamwork.
We have a committed approach to learning and development. As a staff member you will have access to the events, learning bites and workshops we host, as well as mentor support. Our team attends one week training in Europe each year.
We’re always eager to meet fresh talent, so look out for open positions.
If you have any questions regarding current vacancies or would be interested in joining our team and sending us your CV contact recruitment@ubele.org
DIVERSITY MONITORING
The Ubele Initiative are committed to eliminating discrimination encouraging diversity amongst our workforce. We will not discriminate with reference to age, gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, religion, marital status, and disability. To ensure our recruitment process is fair and equitable, we collect diversity data from applicants to our roles. If you are applying for a role, please complete the attached Diversity Monitoring Form.
DATA PROTECTION NOTE
Any personal data you provide (e.g., address, telephone number, employment history) will be used for recruitment purposes only, and only shared with individuals involved in the recruitment process.
ABOUT BLACK ROOTZ
Black Rootz is a multigenerational growing project providing opportunities for Black and racially minoritised people to grow food for themselves, their families and their communities. Black Rootz was established in 2019 by a collective of Black growers in Haringey who recognised the need to organise to challenge the deep inequalities in the growing and food systems.
Over the past 5 years, Black Rootz has developed a holistic practice for Black and racially minoritised communities incorporating intergenerational knowledge transfer, increased access to land and food sovereignty, regenerative environmental practices and reduced food inequality.
Black Rootz has been incubated as a project within The Ubele Initiative since 2019. As an established name in the growing community, it is now building towards an independent future.
More information on the Black Rootz webpage.
ABOUT THE ROLE
The Project Manager is a new role that will provide hands on management capacity to Black Rootz. The role will bring experience and energy to support the delivery and continued development of the project’s core activities; the Community Growing Programme and a new workshop series. The Project Manager will take on a management position and, with support from Ubele, help the project to navigate decisions that will enable Black Rootz to achieve its overall social, environmental, and operational ambitions.
This is not a standard role. The successful candidate will be central in Black Rootz’ journey towards a more independent and sustainable future. The ideal candidate will be comfortable with the complexity and holistic nature of Black Rootz and will be committed to its values. As a small team, the Project Manager will be as comfortable making plans and big decisions as they are rolling their sleeves up and being hands on to support the team. While this is a fixed-term contract, we expect the role to be extended and grow over time.
Background
The Phoenix Way (TPW) was established in May 2021 by Black and racially minoritised led organisations with the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF). It is a response to the systemic inequalities which Black and racially minoritised communities faced during the Covid-19 pandemic and that community-led organisations face in relation to influencing and accessing funding in the UK.
The principal aim of The Phoenix Way is to transform the relationships between funders and Black and racially minoritised organisations, tackle systemic racism and develop shared leadership which actively invests in these communities and empowers them make decisions about funding processes, priorities and allocations.
In 2021, working in collaboration with The Global Fund for Children (GFC), The Phoenix Way Leadership Group (England) successfully distributed £2.4 million of National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF), in community grants to Black and racially minoritised community groups across all regions of England.
Building on this success, the partners are now working in collaboration with the Youth Endowment Foundation (YEF), the Fondation CHANEL and the Lloyds Bank Foundation to support the implementation of a new national grants programme targeted at Black and racially minoritised community groups across the UK. The Phoenix Way 2.0 is a pooled fund the initial priorities of which include supporting young people, supporting women and girls and addressing youth violence.
The overall grants programme is being launched in phases and the launch of the first two phases took place during 2023. During each phase grants were allocated from YEF and the Fondation CHANEL and targeted at Black and racially minoritised volunteer led and community sector groups, with an intersectional approach and located in England and Wales.
About The Role
Working in close collaboration with the funders, the National Partners and the host organisation the Ubele Initiative, the Phoenix Way National Programme Manager will make a major contribution to the development and coordination of the Phoenix Way Partnership. Through the learning from TPW, they will also contribute to transformational systems change across the funding landscape.
The post-holder will be based in the Ubele Initiative working closely with the National Convenor, The Phoenix Way National Leadership Group (NLG), Global Fund for Children (GFC) and national and regional panels to co-design a collaborative grant-making process. This will seek to devolve and share power in grant design and decision-making to achieve more equitable funding for Black and racially minoritised-led community organisations across the UK.
They will support the development and implementation of the overarching TPW vision, national and regional plans, which include infrastructure development support, ensuring a consistent approach to grant-making across the nations and regions in line with programme and funder requirements.
They will also be responsible for the day-to-day management of the fund ensuring that Black and racially minoritised groups access the available grants and achieve high quality outcome for beneficiaries. The post-holder will be employed by and based at The Ubele Initiative London.
