Surfers Against Sewage is looking to recruit a dynamic and experienced individual with a project management, volunteer recruitment, campaigns & events background to deliver the second phase of our successful youth volunteering beach clean & sports programme in 2011. The project will crossover into various marine litter and other campaigns, which feed directly and indirectly into the beach clean youth volunteer programme.
Title: Beach Clean Events Officer/Beach Clean Volunteer Co-ordinator
Salary: £16,000 – £18,000 pro-rata
Based: in St Agnes, Cornwall
Contract: 6 month fixed term from January 10th 2011
The Organisation:
SAS is a campaigning organisation that was set up in 1990 to improve the coastal environment in the UK, particularly from the then chronic sewage problem that existed across many of the country’s beaches. Today, SAS is a broad environmental organisation covering six main areas: sewage, marine litter, climate change, toxic chemicals, shipping and protecting the recreational wave resource. The recently launched ‘Protect Our Waves’ campaign helps protect surf spots from environmental damage, negative impacts on wave quality and to safeguard water users right of access to ensure sports such as windsurfing, surfing, kayaking and others can benefit from the very best sporting wave resources the UK offers. SAS represents all recreational water users in the UK, from surfers and sailors, through to bodyboarders and holidaymakers. The campaigns protect the coastal environment for all to enjoy, and promote a clean and safe water environment for people to enjoy and practice a wide variety of sports that rely on these marine resources.
Objectives:
- Plan and deliver beach clean and sports events nationwide attracting in excess of 1000 part time youth volunteers (16 – 25 year olds) between January – March 2011
- Work with existing networks of SAS partners and develop new contacts across university surf clubs, schools, youth services and other stakeholders with whom to run volunteer events.
- Maintain and establish network of part time youth volunteers to deliver beach clean events
- Liase with SAS regional reps & volunteers to deliver events
- Develop printed and online materials for the events to attract volunteers from 16-25 age bracket
- Develop a media and marketing strategy to effectively promote the events in a timely fashion
- Liase with sports clubs to deliver sports incentives (surfing lessons, sailing lessons, etc) for each event
- Attend & set up each event with the support of lead volunteers
- Collect volunteer details at each event along with demographic surveys
- Conduct exit surveys of volunteers
- Collect video, vox-pop, photographic and other collateral & testimonies at each event
- Effectively manage the budget for the events and overall project
- Negotiating preferable rates with suppliers
- Support the Executive Director on various issues, campaigns & events
- Managing and regularly updating information on www.vinspired.com
- Reporting to Vinspired in a timely fashion, following all funding guidelines and conditions of the grant
- Managing relationship and design guidelines with the Inspire Mark/London Olympics Committee
Nature of work undertaken:
The successful applicant will oversee second phase of the youth volunteer beach clean & sports programme.
In the last week of August 2010, Surfers Against Sewage, in association with the myGames (powered by v), hit the road with the biggest beach clean tour in our history. Since 1994, the volume of marine litter on UK beaches has increased by 146%* and SAS is helping combat this tide line of trash through its beach cleans and ongoing environmental campaigns. ‘Motivocean’ was SAS’s most ambitious beach clean tour to date and calling in at 23 major UK beaches and waterside locations across the nation, including 9 locations in the south west and even undertaking a beach clean on the river Thames.
Thanks to the support of the national youth volunteering charity v, through its mygames programme, SAS was able to offer youth volunteers surf lessons as a reward for volunteering for a couple of hours to clean the beach. The sea and coastal environment are vital components of so many sporting activities from sailing to surfing, and SAS hopes to further build awareness about coastal conservation by linking beach sports to the protection of the environment.
We were delighted with the turn out to these events, with over 700 youth volunteers participating across the UK to date, and well over 1000 volunteers getting involved overall. We removed hundreds of bags of litter, which contributed to more than 5 tonnes of marine litter that SAS has removed from beaches around the country this year alone.
We are now focusing on delivering even stronger youth volunteering beach clean events between January and March 2011, working closely with schools, universities, youth clubs and other stakeholders to tailor events for young volunteers. The candidate will liase sponsors, service providers, SAS regional reps, volunteers, suppliers, the media and other stakeholders to deliver a successful series of events, attracting over 1000 new, young volunteers and further building SAS’s longer term youth volunteering opportunities.
Candidate profile:
Essentials:
- Project Management experience
- Experience of recruiting & managing youth volunteers
- Ability to deliver reports, including financial, in an accurate and timely fashion
- Outdoor events organising experience
- Good communicator, both written & verbal
- Understanding of PR and marketing across all media, including social networking forums, blogs, broadcast and print
- Personable
- Interest in the marine environment and conservation
- Understanding of the water sports sector/community
- Dedicated team player
- Self motivated but able to work under instruction
- Full clean UK driving license
- Ability to work flexible hours, sometimes away from home
- IT literate
- Budgeting experience
Desirables:
- Degree, preferably in related subject
- Experience of the NGO/Charitable sector
- Experience of working with underprivileged young adults
- Campaigning experience
- Member of SAS
- Design skills
- Active recreational water user
SAS are working with lead sponsors V-Inspired to deliver this project. For more details please visit http://vinspired.com/organisations/7649-surfers-against-sewage
SAS is committed to equal opportunities.
CV’s to hugo [at] sas [dot] org [dot] uk by Thursday 9th December 2010.
Interviews w/c 13th December 2010. Successful shortlist candidates will be notified on Friday 10th December.
