Senior Organiser, Citizens Essex at Citizens UK

We are looking for someone who is angry at injustice, who really believes in the ability of ordinary people to make change, who cares deeply about the institutions that are dotted across our neighbourhoods – the churches, mosques, schools, charities, youth groups, etc. - and who is motivated to share the craft of Broad-Based Organising with others. If that is you, we’d love you to join our growing team of organisers across the South-East of England and, more broadly, across the UK! We hope to work with you to build on already existing work in Colchester, Chelmsford, and Southend and support the building of new work across Essex. 

A Senior Organiser is mastering the craft of community organising and taking increasing responsibility for developing major campaigns, managing budgets and managing staff. They operate with a high degree of independence and are significant contributors to CUK-wide functions such as training.  Senior Organisers model the broad-based community organising methodology in their work including the building of relational power, the recruitment and retention of dues-paying institutions, the development of leaders, the strengthening of member institutions, leader-led public actions, and the winning of systemic change.

You will bring communities together to drive change both locally, regionally, and nationally. This role will work closely with local civic institutions, such as churches, mosques, schools, universities, unions and other community groups to:

• develop the leadership of people within those organisations - our 'leaders' who lead the campaigns we work on
• help them identify the changes they want to see and create strategies to win those changes
• strengthen institutions’ own abilities to achieve their missions.

This includes listening to members of the community to find common issues, engaging local decision-makers through meetings, and planning in-person ‘actions’, where you might hold those in power to account. All of this work is underpinned by the knowledge that everyday people have the ability to shape the world around them. This work will be rooted locally, but you will be a part of a bigger national drive to make change alongside diverse local alliances across the UK. In Essex, the work is currently focusing on the first Mayoral Election for the County but you will also work on other campaign priorities that are developed through the institutions you work with.