Operations Team Coordinator At MapAction

Job purpose: This is a generalist post that ensures positive and effective volunteer engagement, ensuring that volunteers contribute effectively to the organisation’s mission. The postholder supports and coordinates operational activities to ensure the organisation delivers its core functions.

Hours: 37.5 hours per week (will consider flexible working / 4 days per week)

Location: Remote with hybrid working style and expectation to attend regular in person team meetings, attendance at training weekends and events.

Salary: £33,056 FTE

Contract: This is a full time permanent position

Reports to: Head of Training

Matrix relationships: Volunteers, Standby team, Head of Geospatial Services, Head of Emergencies, Head of MEAL, Head of Communications, Innovation and Technical Team, Business Support Coordinator.

The Opportunity

MapAction has developed an exciting new strategy to make humanitarian response and disaster preparedness more effective. We need a dynamic, proactive individual for the role of Team Coordinator to support our volunteers who play a central role in MapAction’s work.

The postholder will work alongside our volunteer and staff team to ensure the effective support, coordination and engagement of volunteers as well as supporting training events and activities across the four pillars of MapAction’s work: emergency response, disaster preparedness, anticipatory action and training. This is a vital role, which underpins the resilience and effectiveness of our operational capability. It requires attention to detail, outstanding communication skills, a collaborative working approach and an ability to manage multiple work streams concurrently. The role also is a perfect opportunity for someone who would like to enter the humanitarian sector but does not have any experience in it yet.

About you

You are a skilled and highly motivated individual with a background either as a volunteer or in volunteer coordination or community engagement. You are a people’s person who feels comfortable working in a central, liaison role with a focus on communications. . You share our ‘can-do’ attitude, rooted in our volunteer values. You relish a challenge and like us, feel excited about the future and what we can achieve together. You want to work in a diverse organisation that impacts critical decision making in international crisis situations, is concerned about minimising its environmental impact, and cares about everyone in the team. You have a keen interest in humanitarianism and how it will change in the future. You are excited to support the work of volunteers focussed on reducing disaster risks and responding to emergencies. Be assured, you will be supported in your role as you grow.

Why MapAction?

MapAction (mapaction.org) is a leading humanitarian mapping charity delivering information services and products to enhance decision making in disasters and conflicts. In collaboration with our partners, this mapped information helps responders understand vulnerabilities and target their response effectively, contributing to saving lives and minimising suffering. We work through a team of skilled volunteer technical professionals and a small paid staff team.

We have built a strong reputation in the humanitarian sector and are a technical partner of the United Nations, Non-Government Organisations, the Red Cross, Red Crescent Movement, regional entities and national authorities. MapAction has response and standby agreements with OCHA, UNDAC, and WHO and a long term agreement that includes emergency response with partner CartONG for Unicef.

At MapAction, training and team building are at the heart of our organisational culture. We have frequent meet-ups where staff and volunteers get together for training opportunities and skill-sharing as a peer network, in areas such as: mission management, emergency preparedness, technical development and working with partners.

The humanitarian sector is evolving, and technical expertise such as geospatial services (mapping, data processing and visualisation) is becoming increasingly sought after in order to ensure continuous improvement in humanitarian response. MapAction and our partners are uniquely positioned to provide this technical expertise, to ensure the most effective coordination of humanitarian efforts.

Main Responsibilities

This role is pivotal to MapAction being operationally ready. The postholder is responsible for coordinating the recruitment, onboarding, and ongoing engagement of highly skilled, specialist volunteers (MapAction currently has approx 100 in the UK, but plans to grow this and have a more globally diverse pool of volunteers). The role is established to ensure that volunteers feel valued, have access to relevant training that enables them to contribute in a meaningful way to the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

Volunteer and Operational support

• Serve as the primary point of contact for staff seeking volunteer support. Plan, forecast and maintain records of volunteer engagement and workload.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for volunteers seeking support and information.
• Coordinate the development and implementation of recruitment strategies to attract and retain a diverse pool of volunteers, including outside of the UK.
• Establish and maintain open lines of communication with volunteers keeping them informed about organisational activities, addressing their questions, concerns, and feedback.
• Undertake training needs assessments, programme design and annual training planning (in partnership with Head of Training), training session coordination and facilitation e.g. timekeeping, icebreakers, team building exercises
• Gather feedback from volunteers to assess their experiences and identify areas for improvement.
• Maintain accurate records of volunteer information, including contact details, hours worked, and specific contributions.
• In coordination with the Monitoring and Evaluation team, develop metrics and generate reports to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the volunteer program.

Key Competencies

Essential

• Communication Skills (Oral and Written English): Excellent verbal and written communication skills to articulate the organisation’s mission, values, and volunteer opportunities. Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with diverse groups of volunteers and staff.
• Interpersonal Skills: Strong interpersonal skills to build positive relationships with volunteers, addressing their concerns, and fostering a sense of community and belonging.
• Organisational Skills: Effective organisational and multitasking abilities to manage volunteer schedules, events, and various tasks simultaneously.
• Recruitment and Outreach: Skills in recruiting and attracting volunteers through various channels, including social media, community events, and partnerships.
• Empathy and Cultural Sensitivity: Demonstrated empathy and cultural sensitivity to understand and respect the diverse backgrounds and experiences of volunteers.
• Experience in creating and using spreadsheets
• Ability to deal with ambiguity and use judgement in challenging circumstances
• Self-starter with experience of working to deadlines and demonstrable ability to use initiative, work independently, and prioritise a diverse workload effectively under pressure
• Positive team player and experience of collaborative working with ability to initiate, develop and sustain positive and productive working relationships with a wide range of people
• Good attention to detail, record keeping, analytical and reporting skills
• Strong commitment to MapAction’s mission and values

Desirable

• Training or community facilitation skills
• Experience of working with Salesforce software or willingness to learn
• Good IT skills and experience of Microsoft Office/Google applications, Confluence, Jira, Cloud Sharing
• Language skills: speakers of French, Portuguese, Arabic, Spanish and other regional languages are particularly welcome

Additional Information

• This position is hybrid with regular visits to the office, the postholder will be required to travel to support training weekends.
• Required to attend weekend team trainings (time off in lieu is provided)
• 30 days holiday plus bank holidays (pro rata) with a workplace pension and also paid training opportunities to help further your career
• Must have the right to live and work in the UK; MapAction is unable to consider candidates who do not already hold appropriate permissions
• Note: this is an operational role in a small, highly specialised charity and an appreciation of, and affinity with the humanitarian purpose of the charity is essential, as well as a willingness to take up additional tasks outside of the normal role when needed

Equal Opportunities Policy

MapAction is an Equal Opportunities employer. All employees have a personal responsibility to promote and support measures designed to create a working environment which is free from harassment or discrimination on the grounds of gender, marital status, family status, age, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, membership of the Travelers community or HIV&AIDS status.