Job Description

Part-time (0.7 FTE, 7.5 hrs/day, 26.25 hrs/wk), remote, UK-based



Fixed-term contract at 0.7 FTE through September 2027, decreasing to 0.6 FTE thereafter until September 2030



Candidates must have the right to work in the UK.

Ideal start date:

1st April 2026



This role will require travel to Edinburgh, Belfast, Brighton and London, so there is a preference for candidates who live within travel distance of these locations.

About the Real Farming Trust



The Real Farming Trust (RFT) runs a number of programmes which bring people together to advocate for a fairer food and farming system based on agroecology. We are looking for a communications coordinator to work across two programmes, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund: Extended Table and Twinning (see descriptions below). The coordinator will work with the programme managers of each of these programmes, as well as each programme's partners, to draw out and communicate the learning. A key part of the communications coordinator's role is to support community members in both programmes to advocate for themselves and their needs. We are a small charity and value honesty, empathy, care and compassion in our interactions with each other in the organisation and with the partners we work with.

The two programmes that this role covers are:

Extended Table - (3 days per week to September 2030)



Extended Table is a 5-year programme of work across the UK with four delivery partners. The Real Farming Trust's role in the project is to evaluate the work, maximise impact from the evaluation, identify meaning and learning and to communicate this to cause wider change in food systems.



Extended Table is about bottom-up community development and self-advocacy. The communications coordinator will be serving the delivery partners to understand and draw out their messages and then amplify them.



The partners are the NOW group, Edinburgh Cyrenians, Organic Lea / Hornbeam cafe and Brighton and Hove Food Partnership. They work directly in communities of need, addressing social situations arising from learning disabilities, neurodiversity, homelessness, food poverty and marginalisation. They will offer food activities, such as community cafes, to bring people together and build community cohesion. This project is primarily about social inclusion and agency through food, not primarily about farming. It builds on a previous partnership project with the same partners called Ready Healthy Eat. There is more information about Extended Table here.



Twinning (0.5 days per week through September 2027)



The aim of Twinning is to use food as a vehicle for fostering connection and understanding between urban and rural communities. The programme links four pairs of twins, each consisting of a community-run farm and an urban community organisation. The urban community organisations are a foodbank, two community organisations working with migrants and refugees and an organisation supporting people with learning difficulties.

RFT's role is to:

(1) support the twins and manage the administrative and financial tasks of the programme; and (2) to pull out learning to share across the twins and with other organisations and local and national policymakers working to promote understanding between communities that are geographically and culturally separated from each other. Additional information about the programme can be found here.

About the Role



The Real Farming Trust employs a manager for the Twinning Programme and a manager for Extended Table. The Food Justice Communications Coordinator will work closely with both of them and act as a link between the community delivery partners and the audiences we are seeking to engage. This includes all those who affect the delivery of community food provision - for example, policymakers and campaigners, public health, funders, community delivery organisations, mosques and churches, large operators in the sector (eg, Fareshare), health and disability groups. The communications coordinator will have the skills to reach a wide range of audiences, as well as identify new groups and organisations that are not currently engaged in this work.

There are two main areas of focus:

To use the learning from the Programmes to effect wider change, beyond the project partners; and to enable marginalised participants and communities to speak out for themselves.



The communications work will drive systems change by amplifying the voices of community members and enabling them to advocate for their own needs. This will be supported by activities that focus on capacity building and skill sharing, including a variety of workshops on topics such as:



How to create a video on your phone



Storytelling and public speaking



Writing blogs, poems, or articles



Media and spokesperson training



Photography and graphic design for social media



Working with the delivery partners to identify the stories community members want to tell and the messages that are coming out of the programme activities, the communications coordinator will further the reach of the project.

Activities will include:

One to one and small group time with marginalised participants to help them to articulate and then communicate their issues in ways that suit them. This includes adults with learning disabilities, migrants and asylum seekers, people with insecure housing, people living with addictions and older isolated people.



Drawing out learning from partners and creating accurate, effective, change-making, public-facing storytelling, such as:



Policy-influencing communications (ie, briefing papers, reports)



Videos capturing the breadth of the project



Developing training materials for accessible community- and peer-oriented webinars/workshops, such as:



Toolkits and how-tos



Support workshops and activities on advocacy/campaigning with local partners



Reporting on the project activities through RFT channels. including:



Blogs on the RFT websites (once every two months)



Monthly social media posts on RFT channels



The communications coordinator will work closely with the academic and external evaluators to identify significant data and communicate that to cause changes in practice. The communications coordinator will also enable interaction between different partners' community members such as online discussions or activities including cook-alongs, grow-alongs, gaming etc. Through this approach, the communications work will help break down silos, build new networks of influence, improve practice and help community members find their voice so that their messages are widely heard.

Key responsibilities include:

Draw out learning from partners and events to create accurate, effective, change-making public-facing storytelling and factual reports



Supporting communications for day-to-day programme activities with flyers, webinars, copywriting etc.



Work with an academic and external evaluator who will be engaged in the evaluation and collection of formal data, and use this data to produce narrative materials that contribute to systems change.



Help partners and community members find their voice by identifying their own messages and building their own communication skills, sometimes working directly with marginalised individuals to become advocates.



Support on-site workshops and activities on advocacy/campaigning with local partners.



Bridge divides between partners' communities, for instance. by bringing community members together on a digital forum or through live digital activities, e.g., Cook-along, grow-along exchanges or games.



Develop and produce videos that capture the breadth of the project.



Share pre-existing materials and resources with target audiences.



Produce regular comms outputs, including a monthly feature on RFT socials and bimonthly on RFT website.



Comply with National Lottery Community Fund protocol



Provide accurate and timely reporting to funders on work completed.



You may also undertake other responsibilities in connection with the work of the Extended Table and Twinning programmes to support the successful delivery of the programmes, as agreed with RFT.



Essential Skills

Community:

Personal and communications skills to work alongside a wide range of community participants



Understanding of how community groups work



Accurate and empathetic listening skills, ability to hear what really matters to others



Understanding of risks and safety measures required to protect people's personal information



Skills to run workshops, group sessions and interviews with marginalised groups



Ability to deliver high-quality, accessible learning experiences in diverse environments



Experience of the day-to-day lives of people experiencing marginalisation in different settings



Experience of working in or belonging to an active front line community group addressing social issues.



Understanding of the issues affecting people's food options

Communications:

Significant demonstrated experience of working in communications, either in a not-for-profit or corporate environment



Understanding of the practice and purpose of advocacy (ie people speaking for themselves, particularly marginalised people).



Excellent copywriting and editing skills, and the ability to help stakeholders shape narratives



Ability to tailor messaging to different and diverse audiences



Basic photography and videography skills, including editing software



Good design sensibility and ability to use Canva



Comfortable and confident with social media and website management (WordPress)



Skilled relationship builder who enjoys building, maintaining and sustaining contacts and outreach



Strategic planning and project management skills



Ability to working with freelancers and third parties as required



Ability to work both independently and as part of the larger RFT team

General:

Live within convenient travel of Brighton, Belfast, London and Edinburgh.



Willingness to travel to these locations and for occasional other meetings elsewhere in the UK, including overnight stays.



Commitment to the purposes of the Real Farming Trust and the Extended Table Partnership.



Reliable access to good WiFi.



Desirable Criteria



Understanding evaluation of similar large third sector social programmes of work



Experience of working in food access/poverty settings



Interest in local and community food systems, with an understanding of different challenges and opportunities to providing access to nutritious, culturally appropriate in a way that supports the well-being of people and planet



Live within easy travelling distance of Stroud, Gloucestershire (where other staff are based)



Experience of working on a grant funded project for a charity



Clean driving licence (most meetings will be possible by public transport)



RFT does not have an office and all staff work remotely from home. The successful candidate must provide their own laptop and be a self-starter able to work alone with occasional remote supervision. This role will require travel to Edinburgh, Belfast, Brighton and London, so there is a preference for candidates who live within half a day's travel distance of these locations.

The benefits you will get:

Salary:

34,790 (pro rata at 0.7 FTE through Sept 2027, then at 0.6 FTE through Sept 2030)



20 days annual leave, plus Bank Holidays, pro rata increasing by 2 days for every year of completed service up to a maximum of 25 days (33 including bank holidays)



Flexible working to suit your other commitments during the week



Employer matched pension of 4%



If you have questions about the role, please contact Jade Bashford at jade@realfarming.org (allowing several day's notice for a reply).

What will happen after you have sent in your application



We will let all applicants know if they have been shortlisted for an interview by the end of Thursday, 12th February 2026.



Interviews will take place online on Wednesday 18th and the morning of Thursday, 19th February 2026. If these dates or timings are difficult for you, please tell us in your application.



We will let you know in advance who will be on the interview panel and their role within the Extended Table. The questions will ask about how you meet the person specification.



Equity and Anti-Oppression



We are committed to becoming a more inclusive workplace with a diverse staff body. We believe this is essential to our effectiveness as an organisation and our ability to fulfil our mission of "good food for everyone, forever". We need to address both inequity and oppression within our work if we are to meet our aim. There will be tensions that this work creates and difficult questions that we need to address both internally and externally.



We know that people with certain backgrounds and characteristics are underrepresented in our team and in the alternative food and farming movement, and we want to address this. We are committed to working proactively to dismantle these systems of oppression and ensure equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of their background. We have started to do this work internally, but we know there is much more to do. Every member of RFT staff is involved and part of this work.

Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form



The Real Farming Trust is committed to promoting equality and diversity in line with the Equality Act 2010, providing an inclusive and co-operative environment in which all individuals feel respected. Filling in this equality and diversity monitoring form is voluntary. The information you provide will be kept confidential and will only be used for monitoring purposes. Please don't enter any information that would identify you. This form is kept separately from your application and will not be seen by interviewers.



Please note that due to the volume of applications we usually receive, we regret that we are unable to offer feedback to individual applicants.



Thank you for your interest in the Real Farming Trust.



Extended Table and Twinning are generously funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.