After 7 years as Chair of Trustees, Cat Davison has decided to step down from the board to increase her commitment to the organisation through formalising her role as a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), aiming to bring in additional experience and leadership to the Board in this process.  

As such, we are looking for a knowledgeable, experienced, and committed Chair of Trustees to lead our experienced Board, working closely with the CEO, trustees, advisory board members, wider staff, and our network of volunteers.

EduSpots – Chair of Trustees 

Location: Flexible  

Hours & Contract: 15-25 hours a month with an ability to give hands-on support to our CEO including 4 board meetings / year plus strategy days. 

Salary:  Unremunerated, but reasonable expenses will be paid. 

Term: Three-year initial term, eligible for re-appointment. 

About Us

EduSpots is an innovative, dynamic, and locally driven UK and Ghanaian registered charity which connects, trains, and equips voluntary community educators to create transformative literacy and STEM opportunities through education spaces named ‘Spots’, with a focus on female empowerment and environmental action. Together, we are creating a movement of community-based changemakers. 

Since 2016, through collaborating extensively with over 250 local volunteers, we have supported 50 communities, mainly in Ghana, in creating and running community-led and owned education spaces named ‘Spots’, with a strategy to support them in moving towards our ‘Dream Spot Model’. We are developing a model for a community-led education space with accompanying network engagement that could have applications across the world.

Our 16-strong but entirely part-time and remote working Ghanaian team creates collaborative learning opportunities through our Ignite and Community Leadership in Development (CLEd) Programmes which include training to lead our EduLit, EduSTEM, EduKidz and Ignite Girls clubs, alongside locally designed education projects, reaching over 15,000 students of all ages annually. Read our 2022 Impact Report here.  

We are in an exciting period of our development, with multi-year unrestricted funding gained in 2022, and our new Ignite Programme launched in April gaining a multi-year grant alongside support from five competitive trusts and foundations. We won the Tes International Award in 2018 and the Big Give Supporters’ Choice Award in 2022, and we were recently selected as a finalist for the Their World Scale-Up Innovation Prize. In 2021, our Founder was a Finalist in The Varkey Foundation’s $1 million Global Teacher Prize, supported by UNESCO, partly for her role in developing EduSpots. 

We are excited by our future.  Do visit www.eduspots.org for further information.

Across 2023 EduSpots will be:

• Advancing our operational and financial systems, with a particular focus on monitoring and evaluation, including exploring the potential for IT solutions at the Spot level
• Rolling out the trial of our Ignite programme, which aims to give all our volunteers the skills, knowledge and experience they need to lead community-led, sustainable, and transformative change in their communities through establishing a range of clubs in their ‘Spots’, alongside a particular focus on child safeguarding and protection training. 
• Continuing to track, review and advance the existing network of community-led libraries or education ‘Spots’, working collaboratively with community educators across our network to move our spaces towards our ‘Dream Spot Model’. 
• Creating new partnerships to strengthen the impact of our work, creating a network of EduSpots Ambassadors. 
• Creating a dedicated part-time team across the UK and Ghana to lead a strategic approach to fundraising, aiming to expand income by 100% across grants, individual giving, corporate sponsorship, and community fundraising. 
• Developing a medium-term and long-term strategy for the future, exploring different options for sustaining, deepening, and scaling our impact. 

About this role

After 7 years as Chair of Trustees, our Founder has decided to step down from the board to increase her commitment to the organisation through formalising her role as a voluntary Chief Executive Officer (CEO), aiming to bring in additional experience and leadership to the Board in this process.  

As such, we are looking for a knowledgeable, experienced, and committed Chair of Trustees to lead our experienced Board, working closely with the CEO, trustees, advisory board members, wider staff, and our network of volunteers. Key medium term objectives include helpingus to consolidate our programmes, develop our central ‘Spot’ model, and extend our staffing capacity, ahead of starting to consider opportunities to scale our work. They will have the time and the interest to meet (generally virtually) with the CEO on a fortnightly basis, working closely with her and supporting her professional development. 

We are looking for an individual with a strong understanding of charity leadership and governance. They will have experience of organisational development, with the insight needed to advise us in this exciting period of growth, ensuring that risks are effectively managed, and that our strategy enables us to build a strong foundation for future scaling of impact. In the next period, we are aiming to considerably grow our income; experience in fundraising strategies and hands-on relationship development would be a particular advantage. 

We are ultimately looking for an individual who is a hands-on team player with a genuine passion for educational equity and community-driven models of development, with experience of working in low or middle-income contexts. This would ideally be within Ghana or wider Africa, but this is not essential if they bring a learning mindset and an awareness of power imbalances. 

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Ensuring the effective governance of the Charity, including but not limited to operating within its charitable objectives, reviewing and responding to major risks and opportunities and ensuring strong systems are in place to ensure financial accountability. 
• In partnership with the CEO, developing the long-term strategy for the organisation, including evaluation of potential expansion / partnerships opportunities.
• Lead the monitoring and evaluation of the Board’s collective skills, experience, and contribution, and developing this over time ensuring trustees have clearly understood roles.
• Scheduling, planning, and chairing Board meetings, working closely with the CEO ensuring meetings are well-planned and meaningful, with Trustees given information required for effective decision-making and policy review in advance. 
• Developing a strong co-learning relationship with the CEO, providing mutual support, and working together to create a structure and support for the CEO’s professional development. 
• Representing EduSpots at some key events, and key internal / external (e.g. fundraising) meetings, working with the CEO, actively promoting the organisation’s work through their networks. 
• Supporting the CEO and key senior staff through informed questioning and oversight to ensure the organisation’s legal responsibilities and strategic objectives are achieved.

Personal Specifications

Essential 

Knowledge & Experience

• Strong experience and understanding relating to all areas of charity governance and management. 
• Experience of being a trustee, ideally with both large and small charities. 
• Experience in developing the strategy of an organisation through a consolidation and growth phase.  
• Ability to work in, and inspire, a fast-paced, ambitious team. 

Personal Qualities & Skills

• Time and energy to contribute in a hands-on manner to the development of the organisation. 
• A genuine passion for our educational model and genuinely community-driven development. 
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, with the ability to create positive working relationships and motivate staff, volunteers, and a range of stakeholders in a cross-cultural environment, ensuring voices across the whole organisation are heard with reflection on power analysis. 
• Diplomatic, thoughtful, and empathetic; yet assertive, and decisive.
• Exemplary written and verbal communication skills; attention to detail. 

Highly desirable 

• Experience of working in a low or middle-income context, preferably in Ghana or Africa. 
• Experience of leading a fundraising strategy within a charity context and willingness to be involved in this area.
• Experience of working in an education-focused charity or other education-focused organisation 

How to apply:

Please send a tailored covering letter and updated CV addressed to the Chair, Miss Cat Davison, at info@eduspots.org by Friday 9th June. We are happy to receive any questions relating to this role at the same address. 

For further information please see www.eduspots.org  or contact us at info@eduspots.org 

Also follow us on social media – @eduspots on Twitter and Facebook 

Download this information here: Final EduSpots Chair of Trustees Advert .docx

Note that we are also interested in receiving applications from anyone looking to take on a trustee role in either our UK or Ghana NGO board. Particular areas of experience that would be advantageous are: fundraising (all forms), charity governance and leadership, educational programme design, international education and monitoring and evaluation.

EduSpots is committed to the safeguarding of children. Appointment will be subject to an enhanced child protection screening appropriate to the post. Please note that you may be required to provide additional documentation as proof of your identity and qualifications.