FOOD SECURITY JOBS

Position: Anticipatory Staffing: Program manager and focal point for Equitable access to healthy, sustainable food
Organization: Food Secure Canada
Location: anywhere in Canada

Food Secure Canada is seeking an experienced Program Manager to oversee a collective process to identify, analyse and document food systems approaches and innovations towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, by influencing Canadian food policy. The manager will be both the focal point for the action area ‘Equitable access to healthy, sustainable food’, and will help coordinate the work of two other focal points leading action areas on ‘Healthy school food’ and ‘Indigenous food sovereignty’, including ensuring rigorous quarterly reporting to the funder. We are looking for a candidate who combines management experience with a deep commitment and capacity to ground the work in food justice, and the lived experiences of communities.This position is financed for three years, for a four-day a week (32 hours per week) employment contract, for a gross salary of $40,000 per annum plus benefits.

About Food Secure Canada

Food Secure Canada is a pan-Canadian alliance of organizations and individuals working together to advance food security and food sovereignty through three interlocking goals: zero hunger, healthy and safe food, and sustainable food systems. We believe deep and lasting change can occur by: facilitating accessible dialogue to foster participation of civil society in food policy; supporting dynamic networks to facilitate research and enhance learning and collaboration on food system projects and campaigns: and advocating for food policies at the federal level that reflect the priorities of Canada’s food movement.

About the Program Manager Position

Food Secure Canada (FSC) is developing an expanded three year program of work on Sustainable food systems and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focused on three action areas: ‘Equitable access to healthy, sustainable food’; ‘Indigenous food sovereignty’; and ‘Healthy school food’. The work entails a collective, participatory process to identify, analyse and document food systems approaches and innovations in the three action areas towards meeting multiple SDGs. The process, progress and products will be shared through a bilingual knowledge hub and a dynamic communication flow, with - primarily federal - policy makers and the new Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council as key target audiences. The collective, civil society led approach ensures that the identified pathways forward - to fill the knowledge and data gap about how Canada can best meet multiple SDGs by 2030 - will be rooted in the lived experiences of communities and Nations from coast to coast to coast. The program has anchor financing from a funder which entails rigorous quarterly reporting.

The Program Manager will act as the focal point and lead for the ‘Equitable access to healthy sustainable food action area’, as well as managing the overall work-flow of the program, coordinating the work of the two other focal points as well as supervising other project staff and contractors, and the quarterly reporting to the funder. We are looking for a candidate who combines management experience with a deep commitment and capacity to ground the work in food justice, and the lived experiences of communities. The position reports to the Executive Director of FSC.

Specific tasks include :

• Organise and participate in the meetings of the program’s Communities Advisory group, which will advise on the overall scope and direction of the work.
• Develop, monitor and lead the implementation of a detailed program work plan.
• Co-ordinate the overall project implementation with peers (the focal points for two action areas) and supervise the work of other staff and contractors working on the program.
• Responsibility for preparing quarterly, interim and final project reporting to the funder, working closely with the FSC Office Manager for the financial aspects.
• Lead the implementation of the action area ‘Equitable access to healthy, sustainable food’
• Recruit and supervise contracted researcher(s) to establish the scope of the work, and the most appropriate participatory methodologies.
• Ensure the participatory collective knowledge gathering and sharing processes with communities (key informant interviews, meetings (physical, virtual or hybrid), webinars etc).
• Recruit and supervise contracted writers, and ensure the synthesis of learnings into case studies and recommendations and their transmission to policy makers, including the new Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council.
• Participate in FSC staff meetings and contribute on request to the collective work of the organisation.

Requirements:

• University or College degree in a relevant field of study OR demonstrable equivalent expertise gained through life and work experience.
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of food systems, and a food justice, anti-racist and decolonising approach and analysis.
• Lived experience or deep professional experience with equity-seeking communities most affected by lack of access to healthy, sustainable food.
• Capacity to foster participatory processes and about how to translate learnings into policy recommendations.
• At least three years of management and supervisory experience.
• Strong listening abilities and demonstrated ability to work collaboratively.
• Ability to work within multiple deadlines and effectively manage workload.
• Fluent proficiency in English and a minimum of passive professional competence in French, ideally full fluency or willingness to improve.

Assets:

• Knowledge and experience with the Sustainable Development Goals framework.
• Lived experience or deep professional experience with racialized, particularly Black, communities.
• Cultural competency and experience of Indigenous protocols, teachings and worldviews.
• Bilingual English-French and ideally knowledge of other languages.
• Experience working with policy-makers.
• Experience with budget management.

Contract length: One year renewable contract, starting April 1, 2021 (or as soon as possible thereafter) with financing already secured for a further two years. Possibility to increase from 4 days a week to full-time if further financing is secured.

Salary: $40,000 plus benefits

This position is four days a week, for a total of 32 hours. Food Secure Canada’s head office is in Montreal, but the role can be performed from any location in Canada. If and when travel restarts, occasional travel will be expected. To accommodate meetings, the Program Manager needs to be available some afternoons until 5 pm EST and occasionally on evenings and weekends given time zones and interaction with volunteers. Food Secure Canada is a bilingual national organisation.

Food Secure Canada is committed to employment equity, diversity and inclusion. Through our processes and practices we are working to eliminate barriers to employment for people who are usually underrepresented in Canada’s workforce and encourage diverse candidates to apply, including Indigenous People, those with disabilities, racialized persons, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Eligibility to work in Canada for three years required.

Minor changes to this Job description may be introduced by a Communities Advisory Hiring consultant and these will be shared with short-listed candidates.

To Apply:

Please submit the following to Amélie Lévesque, with the subject heading titled ‘Program Manager SDG 2021’, by email to admin@foodsecurecanada.org Materials can be in English or French:

• A cover letter
• Your CV or resumé
• Names and contact details of two referees.

Please indicate you saw this posting at FoodWork.

Application Deadline: March 10, 2021 at 5:00 pm EST.

Interviews will take place on March 19.