This contractor has now been appointed and this call is now closed.
About Us
Members of long-standing protest rights groups have come together to form the Article 11 Trust – a charity working to defend rights to freedom of assembly and association under the ECHR. We help legal support groups to ensure people at protests know their rights. We facilitate ground-breaking research and education projects to push threats to protest rights into the spotlight. We help to empower the public to push for social justice through action.
The Article 11 Trust works in a collaborative and movement-led model with key partner groups that have been embedded in the protest rights movement for many years. Netpol was instrumental in co-founding the Article 11 Trust and is a key project partner for much of the Trust’s ongoing work. Netpol is a coalition dedicated to monitoring public order, protest and street policing, and to challenging policing which is excessive, discriminatory or threatens civil rights.
About the Project
The focus of the contractor’s work will be to act as General Secretary to the Trustees of The Article 11 Trust. This involves ensuring all meetings are called, and working to deliver the will of the Trustees in distributing grants, tracking our spending, ensuring reports to our funders are delivered on time.
The largest area of work will be administering our small grants programme. This programme aims to combat barriers to charitable funding for grassroots groups and campaigning organisations to defend and advance article 11 rights to freedom of assembly and association. This work is all the more critical given recent changes to Public Order legislation aimed at increasing police powers to inhibit protests and the government led crackdown on Palestinian solidarity protest and calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The contractor’s role will involve using our existing research and their own networks to ensure the landscape and ecology of groups working the protest rights space have access to our resources. These may include dedicated support groups, but also activist and campaigning organisations whose work includes upholding the right to protest. Practically this involves reaching out to and responding to queries from groups, assessing what support is appropriate, as well as taking them through our application process.
The project will be embedded with Netpol and you will work closely with their staff as well as having access to their extensive networks, but we expect the project to extend far beyond these.
About You
You have great administration and people skills, and an extensive network in grassroots movements and communities. These may include protest groups, solidarity organisations and trade unions.
You will be committed to the values of the Article 11 Trust and have an excellent understanding of the threats posed to the right to assembly. You will also, through your own experience working with small grassroots organisations have an excellent understanding of the administrative and organisational challenges they face and the role access to funding plays in addressing them.
You will be self-motivated and capable of working both autonomously and collaboratively to deliver projects in good time. You will be confident in exercising your judgment in how the project is delivered.
Deliverables
1. To act as General Secretary to the Trustees of The Article 11 Trust. Ensuring meetings are held and minuted, actions are taken forward, compliance records are kept appropriately and the will of the Trustees is executed.
2. A) Identify individual protest groups, and infrastructure groups (e.g. funding passthroughs), key contacts, and any activities they conduct that might be supported by Article 11 Trust funding.
2. B) Exercise judgement in taking appropriate groups though our application process, and ensuring that all compliance documentation is completed and advising Trustees on decisions about distributing funds.
3. Undertaking any related administrative tasks that may be identified during the course of the project.
4. Handover to Article 11 Trust trustees and staff.
Duration and Fee
The contract is for a rolling one-month period.
The fee is £200 a day, for 1.5 days work per week. You are expected to set your hours, but will need to be flexible to meet with Trustees in evenings as well as grassroots groups at their convenience.
Proposed timings:
We will be taking expressions of interest until 9am on Monday 15th January.
Please get in touch, telling us about yourself, and outlining your relevant experience by emailing contactus@article11trust.org.uk.