Executive Director January 2020
Contents Letter from the Chair
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Required Skills & Qualifications
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About Ethical Tea Partnership
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Organisation Chart
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The Role
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How to Apply
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Person Specification
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About Oxford HR
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Job Description
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Letter from the Chair Dear Candidate, Thank you for your interest in the opportunity to join The Ethical Tea Partnership as our Executive Director. This vacancy arises at an exciting moment when our partnership has gone through a period of impressive growth in both its resources and the quality of its programme. Consequently, we are now having a positive impact on more lives in more tea communities than ever before. Tea is a wonderful product which needs a sustainable future, so it is vital that we continue building the impact of our work and leadership. All the major issues at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals – living wages, climate change, better housing, gender equality and so on – are in play in the tea industry and there is a long way to go to deliver by 2030. None of the challenges we tackle are straight forward, they require insight from the tea growing world and careful listening to the industry’s many stakeholders. Our new Executive Director must have the ability to synthesize these often complex inputs into a workable action plan to deliver productive change. This requires the building of alliances between our members, tea producers, international donors, delivery partners and, increasingly, governments as well as people in tea communities themselves. This is interesting work that rewards determination and requires a balance of skills: careful understanding of realities on the ground, systems thinking, team leadership, partnership building, advocacy, implementation follow-up and so on. I should emphasize that although we are strong advocates for change, we judge ourselves principally by progress on the ground through both performance indicators and stories from people living in tea communities. The ETP is a not-for-profit organisation whose core funding comes entirely from branded tea packers committed to driving progress in tea growing origins. As such we are animated by the performance focus of the private sector who work with us to improve the resilience, transparency and sustainability of their supply chains. So, if you have experience of delivering progress in the developing world and feel energized by the challenge of working with the private sector to improve the sustainability of tea growing regions, this vacancy should be of interest. Good luck with your application.
Ian Midgley Chair
Ethical Tea Partnership Executive Director
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About Ethical Tea Partnership The Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) is a not for profit organisation that convenes the tea industry, development partners, NGOs and governments to improve the lives of tea workers, farmers and the environment in which they live and work. Much of tea is grown in places that face significant sustainability challenges. ETP works on long-term change programmes that improve the lives of workers, farmers and their families and communities through improving livelihoods, empowering women and to enable the whole sector to become more resilient to climate change. All ETP programmes are focused on creating a thriving, socially just and environmentally sustainable tea sector and all programmes aim to improve the progress that is being made towards attaining United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals in tea-growing regions. To date, ETP’s programmes have improved the lives of over 700,000 people in tea communities with a goal of reaching one million people by 2020.
ETP has 50 corporate members including the biggest multinational tea companies such as Unilever (PG Tips, Lipton) and Tata Global Beverages (Tetley), major international tea brands e.g. Twinings, large food service companies such as Starbucks and specialist tea companies from Europe, North America and Asia. ETP is supported through a mix of international funding from the public and private sector, including our member companies. ETP has a strong track record in driving and delivering change in tea-growing regions, through a range of partnerships which include tea boards and tea research institutes, producer associations, local and international NGOs, UN agencies such as the FAO and UNICEF, institutional donors such as IDH - Sustainable Trade Initiative, GIZ, and others. ETP has small but dedicated expert teams across most tea growing regions, including Kenya, Rwanda and Malawi in Africa, as well as a London based secretariat. 4
The Role Title:
Executive Director
Position type:
Full time
Reporting to:
Chair of the Board of Directors
Direct Reports:
Seven
Location:
Flexible, with at least two days a week in the London office
Salary:
c.£80,000
Travel:
There will be national, regional and international travel (up to 20% of time).
Annual Leave:
33 days of paid holiday per annum for full-time employees, which includes the eight public holidays. ETP also operates a Christmas shutdown on the three working days between Christmas and the New Year – these days are in addition to annual leave.
Pension:
ETP operates an auto-enrolment pension scheme with Royal London. The current employer contribution is 8% of earnings.
Season Ticket Loan:
ETP offers interest free season ticket loans for the purpose of purchasing annual travel tickets for public transport.
Cycle to Work Scheme:
Employees are entitled to borrow up to £1,000 for bikes and associated accessories.
Ethical Tea Partnership Executive Director
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Person Specification The Ethical Tea Partnership is looking for an ambitious Executive Director to lead the organisation into its next phase of growth and development. The Executive Director will manage a global team of 30 and drive strategic level change in the tea industry – influencing at senior levels to ensure sustainability remains at the heart of the sector.
for operational issues such as HR, financial management and internal systems and processes, as well as working strategically to develop the future direction of the organisation. There is a solid organisational strategy in place, a high performing staff team and a committed Board of Trustees.
The successful candidate will have a proven track record of driving change and securing and nurturing cross-sector partnerships. They will be fascinated by the challenges and opportunities faced by tea communities and motivated to find new and innovative solutions to sustainability-related issues.
While knowledge of agricultural value chains – and the social and environmental complexities inherent in them – would be highly advantageous, it is not essential. A good understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals and experience of working in the Global South is required. This could be an interesting role for a senior leader wanting to move into their first Executive Director (ED) role or for an established ED looking for a new challenge.
ETP is a small team and the Executive Director will be required to provide high level support Ethical Tea Partnership Executive Director
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Job Description • Build and maintain a strong understanding of the tea industry, and continue to assess the issues facing tea communities, especially in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. • Oversee development and implementation of strategic plans and ensure effective systems are in place for programme design, delivery, monitoring and evaluation. • Convene staff and stakeholders to build creative solutions to the social and environmental challenges faced by the tea sector – programmes, new coalitions, commercial solutions, advocacy etc. • Build excellent relationships with ETP’s corporate members to understand (and balance) their priorities and commercial interests. • Ensure that strong relationships are developed and sustained with tea growers, donors, opinion formers and implementation partners.
• Provide compelling leadership for a small but geographically dispersed team –promoting an organisational culture that values and encourages all staff to contribute fully and work collaboratively. • Advocate for ETP and its mission with a range of audiences and through different media and lead efforts to ensure ETP is regarded as a highly credible and effective development organisation. • Work closely with the Board of Trustees and ensure it receives accurate and timely information (including financial) to enable it to carry out its governance function and meet all its responsibilities. • Oversee financial planning, budgeting and income generation for the organisation.
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Required Skills and Experience Essential Qualifications • A degree in a relevant discipline – international development, economics, sustainability, business, agriculture, environmental science for example, or equivalent experience.
• Demonstrable ability to communicate effectively across audiences and cultures, tailoring language, tone, style and format to match audience • Excellent communication skills in English (oral and written), with the capacity to engage private sector, government, public and community audiences at a senior level.
Experience • More than 10 years of senior level leadership experience including strategy development, change management and influencing & advocacy • Experience in brokering, leveraging and managing cross-sector partnerships (across the private sector, government and NGOs) with sustainability related objectives • Experience of designing and delivering projects, programmes and alliances with rural communities, including understanding of monitoring and evaluation and impact analysis • A good knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals and experience of delivering against them in the developing world • Proven experience of design and delivery of influencing strategies for achieving widespread systemic change • Experience of leading and managing teams – employing a coaching approach to develop people.
Personal Attributes • A strategic outlook with the ability to problem solve alongside a willingness to trial innovative ideas • An unwavering commitment to ETP’s mission and values • Ability to maintain resilience, positivity and perseverance when faced with challenging issues • An understanding and appreciation of what it takes to deliver across different cultures • Integrity and professionalism, setting and demonstrating the highest ethical and moral standards and a strong sense of personal accountability.
Skills • Strong leadership, listening and facilitation skills – with the ability to enable partners, staff and sector stakeholders to coalesce around shared plans and ideas
Highly desirable • Experience of working in or with the private sector • Specific knowledge of the tea sector or another agricultural value chain • A track record of securing funds and generating income for a not for profit organisation.
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Organisation Chart
Executive Director
Head of Communications/ Media
Communications Manager Media and Social Media Manager
Senior Programme Manager - Climate
Consultants/Donor Relationships
Senior Programme Manager - Asia
Strategic Regional Manager - India
1 direct report (2 more + 2 project team)
Senior Programme Manager - Africa
Senior Programme Manager - Malawi 2020
2 Kenyan Reports
Malawi Country Manager (4 more)
Indonesia RM
Rwanda Country Manager
Programme Officer
SRL RM
Programme Officer
China RM (2 more)
Strategic Lead Africa (new post being recruited)
Finance and Operations Manager
Finance Officer
Programme Officer, UK Programme Officer, India
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How to Apply All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR. To apply for this post, click on the “Apply” button in the job advert page and complete our online application form. Before applying please combine your cover letter and CV in ONE single document to be uploaded during the application process.
Equality Statement Equality and diversity are at the core of Ethical Tea Partnership’s values. Staff are expected to work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of others is valued and respected.
The cover letter should be no more than two pages and explain why you are interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you a good fit.
Selection Process All candidates will be notified about the status of their applications. Shortlisted candidates may be required to undertake an additional assessment prior to the final interview.
The document should be saved in MS Word in the following format: Your First Name-Your Last Name-Document Name-Date (yymm) e.g: Esther-Wairumi-CVandStatement-2011 Timeline Closing date: Preliminary interviews: Final panel interviews:
26th February Week of 16th March 9th April
Queries If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information, or would like to have an informal discussion, please email etp-executivedirector@oxfordhr.co.uk in the first instance.
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About Oxford HR Oxford HR operates globally - mainly within the international development and charity sectors. We carry out retained executive search mandates at board and senior management levels. We also offer human resource and organisational development consultancy. Oxford HR has many years of experience in search as well as an extensive network of international development, social sector, corporate, public sector, and academic contacts
from across the world. We carry out comprehensive and often international searches designed to meet the specific needs of our clients. Oxford HR’s team members have significant personal experience of working in international development and the social sector as well as the corporate and governmental sectors. We are in a unique position to find and assess talented individuals from a variety of backgrounds. 11
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