Practical Action - Trustee

Practical Action

TRUSTEE WITH FINANCE BACKGROUND January 2020

Practical Action - Finance Trustee

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Practical Action - Finance Trustee

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Contents About Practical Action

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Our Aims

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How we work

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Our Organisation

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About the Role

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Trustee Job Description

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Time Commitment

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How to Apply

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About Oxford HR

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Practical Action - Finance Trustee

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Practical Action - Finance Trustee

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About Practical Action We are an international development organisation putting ingenious ideas to work so people in poverty can change their world.

We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. Challenges made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. We work with communities to develop ingenious, lasting and locally owned solutions for agriculture, water and waste management, climate resilience and clean energy. And we share what works with others, so answers that start small can grow big.

We’re a global change-making group. The group consists of a UK registered charity with community projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, a development publishing company and a technical consulting service. We combine these specialisms to multiply our impact and help shape a world that works better for everyone.

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Our Aims We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems, made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. Our aims are to: • Make agriculture work better for smallholder farmers, many of them women, so they can adapt to climate change and achieve a good standard of living • Help more people harness the transformational effects of clean affordable energy and reduce avoidable deaths caused by smoke from indoor stoves and fires.

• Make cities in poorer countries cleaner, healthier places to live and work.

• Build resilience to disasters such as floods, droughts and earthquakes and minimising their impact on lives and livelihoods.

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How we work We work on holistic solutions that change systems and have a framework to help us achieve our aims: • Analyse the root causes of a poverty and vulnerability • Define the change at scale we need to make • Develop activities along three complementary paths: Demonstrate, Learn and Inspire.

• Demonstrate that our solutions are sustainable in the real world • Learn by capturing evidence and adapting our approach • Inspire wider support to multiply our impact.

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Practical Action - Finance Trustee

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Our Organisation Practical Action is an unconventional, multi-disciplinary change making organisation • A highly innovative community development charity operating in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Practical Action community projects use ingenious ideas to design, test, refine and prove new ways to overcome poverty and disadvantage and then ‘open-source’ knowledge of what works so that it can be implemented at a greater scale by others.

• A world-class consulting operation that helps socially responsible business, government policy makers and other development organisations. This draws on learnings from our own development work as well as the combined brainpower of a roster of over 2,000 expert consultants. Practical Action Consulting helps to extend the reach of our influence by providing the best advice to others, whose work can make a bigger difference.

• A well respected specialist development publisher. Practical Action Publishing brings together development practitioners, researchers and thought leaders to create publications that stimulate discussion, strengthen peoples’ capabilities and inspire sustainable change.

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Practical Action - Finance Trustee

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About the Role Practical Action is looking for a Trustee with financial skills and experience to join its Board.

All trustees take responsibility for the full range of Practical Action’s work. We look for trustees who can bring to the table particular relevant experience. The board regularly reviews the mix of the board’s skills and experience and has identified the need to recruit an additional trustee with a financial background who would join the board’s Finance Audit and Risk Committee and who may in due course be a candidate to succeed the current Treasurer, We would also expect the successful candidate to become a trustee of Practical Action’s Employee Benefit Scheme, a defined benefit scheme that was closed to new members in 2002. The Scheme currently enjoys a small actuarial surplus.

Essential Trustee qualities required It is essential that you: • have an understanding and empathy with Practical Action’s mission, values and work.

• have an ability to provide valuable oversight and strategic judgement and address complex issues collaboratively.

• have an understanding and acceptance of the legal duties and responsibilities of being a trustee of a charitable organisation.

• are able to exercise good independent judgement and are willing to speak out.

• are able and willing to participate in four board meetings a year in Rugby or London

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Practical Action - Finance Trustee

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About the Role Specific qualities required for this vacancy

Audit and Risk Committee two

and

Desirables

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Practical Action - Finance Trustee

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Trustee Job Description Key Responsibilities: With other Trustees to hold the charity “in Trust” for current and future beneficiaries by fulfilling the following duties: 1. Ensure that the charity has a clear vision, mission and strategy and is focused on achieving these, by working with other Trustees, the Chief Executive and senior staff; 2. Be responsible for the performance of the charity and for its corporate behaviour; 3. Ensure that the charity complies with all legal and regulatory requirements; 4. Being a guardian of all the charity’s assets, both tangible and intangible, taking all due care over their security, deployment and proper application; 5. Ensuring that the charity’s governance is of the highest possible standard.

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This Appointment will be subject to a satisfactory basic DBS check.

Practical Action is committed to creating a strong and effective enabling environment and a safeguarding culture to promote the rights and protection of beneficiaries, community members, staff, volunteers or anyone else impacted by our work. The post holder will undertake the appropriate level of training and is responsible for ensuring that they understand and work within the safeguarding policies of the organisation.

Time Commitment Your commitment in an average year is likely to be between 10 and 15 days (including pre-reading), of which 8 would be on fixed dates, planned well in advance. We encourage active participation and trustees often give more time. The initial term of office is for 3 years, followed by a second term of three years.

Appendices 1. Trustee Duties and Responsibilities 2. Trustee Code of Conduct 3. 2020 Board and Committee dates 4. Terms of Reference for the Finance Audit and Risk Committee 5. Delegated Authorities 6. Conflicts of Interest Policy 7. Strategic Intent 8. 2018/19 Trustees’ Report and Accounts To review any of the appendices, please contact Sarah Engerer at sengerer@oxfordhr.co.uk.

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How to Apply All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR. To apply for this post; • Prepare a CV and Cover Letter – in ONE single document this is a necessity that will be requested in the application process.

• The cover letter should be no more than two pages long and should explain why you are interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you a good fit. For advice on how to write a successful cover letter, please see here.

• The document should be saved in MS Word in the following format: Your First Name-Your Last Name-Document Name-Date (yymm) e.g: Pat-Jones- CVandCoverLetter-1910 • Click on the “Apply” button in the job advert page and complete our online application form.

To make sure our emails reach your inbox, please add us to your safe sender list.

Timeline Closing date: Preliminary interviews: Final interviews:

Sunday 9th February Monday 17th / Tuesday 18th February 2nd March

If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information, or would like to have an informal discussion about the role and the organisation, please email financialtrustee.practicalaction@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.

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Practical Action - Finance Trustee

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OXFORD

LONDON

AMSTERDAM

NAIROBI

The Old Music Hall

Three Tuns House,

Korte Schimmelstraat 12,

Watermark Business Park

106-108 Cowley Road

109 Borough High Street,

1053 SZ

Cove Court, 1st Floor

Oxford

London

Amsterdam

OX4 1JE

SE1 1NL

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The Netherlands

Kenya

+44 (0) 1865 403 298

+44 (0)20 7939 7451

+31 (0) 621 153 452

+254 (0) 797 233 217

PO Box 17300-00606, Nairobi

www.oxfordhr.co.uk | Company No. 6456325

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Practical Action - Finance Trustee

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