Capacity Builder (Cornwall)

Job Title: Cornwall “Capacity Builder”.

Salary: £3,322 pcm (including employer’s 3% pension contribution) or £23,254 for seven months. All public holidays/bank holidays are paid.

Working hours: Full-time (37.5 hours per week). Some evening and weekend campaign activities by agreement.

Location: The candidate will need to be based in Cornwall owing to the distances involved. Some home working will be required.

Tenure: The appointment will be made as soon as possible with a seven-month duration through to the end of May 2025. The “Capacity Builder” needs to be available across the county when needed.

Transport: A valid driving licence and car are required. Travel expenses within Cornwall will be paid for as pre-agreed expenditure but up to £150 pcm. 

Line Manager: The designated Regional Campaigns Manager and the Chair of the Cornwall Council25 Campaign Steering Group (CSG).

Accountable to: The Cornwall Council25 Campaign Steering Group.

An exciting opportunity has arisen to work for Cornwall Liberal Democrats helping to lead their fightback across the county ahead of the Cornwall Council25 (CC25) elections. This is for an organisational and campaign “Capacity Builder” to assist across the four Labour-held Cornish constituencies of Camborne, Redruth & Hayle, Truro & Falmouth, St Austell & Newquay and South East Cornwall.

Our recent history:

The party held all the Cornish parliamentary constituencies up to 2010 before losing every seat after 2015. Between 2017-2021, despite having a smaller Cornwall Council group than the Tories, the LibDems managed to be the largest party within a joint administration before substantially falling back at the last Cornwall Council elections in 2021.
 

This has impacted the party’s strength both in terms of members and organisational capacity which has fed through to the party having fewer councillors than we should do on the Cornwall Council unitary authority (see below). It has also meant that four of the six local parties across the county were unable to deliver campaigns anywhere near sufficient to achieve either moving forward or target seat status at the most recent General Election.

At GE24, the party regained both the St Ives and North Cornwall constituencies from the Tories. The other four Cornish constituencies (Camborne, Redruth & Hayle, St Austell & Newquay, Truro & Falmouth and South East Cornwall) were lost by the Tories to Labour who now have more Cornish parliamentary seats than ever before. Neither St Ives nor North Cornwall required the Reform vote to ensure victory, but the size of each constituency’s winning margin was undoubtably impacted by the presence of an active Reform candidate eating into the Tory vote share.
 

There was a reduction in the number of Cornwall Council wards between 2017 and 2021 with a concomitant increase in ward sizes and matching boundary revisions.

There is a confidential annex to this job specification setting out the party’s local infrastructure,
membership numbers and campaign objectives for CC25. It will be shared after an application has been received.

Roles and key responsibilities:

You will play a central role within the CC25 campaign and straddling four local parties. There is also to be a matching role specifically covering the Truro & Falmouth target wards and this is funded to last into the New Year.
 

The CSG has agreed that urgent assistance needs to be given to the four “non-held” local parties which means the role will extend from Torpoint in the east, to Hayle in the west, to Falmouth in the south and to Newquay in the north. The post is likely to be based in Truro, where there is a constituency campaign hub, but it will permit some home working.

Your primary focus:

In order to maximise campaigning efficiency and avoid duplicating tasks, the intention is to utilise the existing core infrastructure (such as literature design and production) at the existing campaign hubs thereby enabling local campaigning teams across the non-held local parties to focus on their priority tasks which are to:

• increase the number of fully engaged activists;
• expand their literature distribution networks;
• raise funds;
• dramatically increase the campaign data through surveys and door contacts;
• and develop winning teams.

You will need to be prepared to engage directly with campaigners, members and supporters to encourage and organise activity. The role is not there to infill on campaigning activity that should be being undertaken by local campaign teams.

Thereafter:

1. To work with the newly appointed Devon & Cornwall regional campaign manager to develop and deliver a campaign plan for the CC25 elections, with a specific focus on the four non-held local parties.
2. To focus on developing and improving the organisational capacity of the four local parties in order to achieve the campaign plan including organising volunteers and local party activists. Ensuring volunteers and local party activists receive appropriate training.
3. To work with Membership Development Officers (where there are local MDO’s) to maintain contact with and engage members in the work of the party. Otherwise, to work up methods to engage with members to encourage and promote their active engagement in the CC25 campaign.
4. To liaise and develop effective communication; to disseminate information to councillors and campaigners; to assist wards with membership recruitment development, organisational, campaigning and literature support.
5. To oversee the organisation, printing and delivery of publicity material. To oversee and assist in art working of local party and other literature as necessary and making effective use of literature templates supplied by ALDC and Campaigns Department.
6. To oversee and assist with the digital campaign e.g. web site, social media, creating
   videos.
7. To ensure regular contact between the local media and the candidates / councillors; to provide and circulate media releases and briefings on behalf of and with the approval of the local team.
8. To advise the line manager, as appropriate, on organisational and maintenance priorities which may benefit the smooth running of the local party.
9. To undertake such training as is recommended and provided through the party in order
   to develop and update required skills.
10. To undertake such other duties as the line manager may require, to further effective
    communication, campaigning and organisation across the four local parties.
11. To liaise with staff and officers of the Devon & Cornwall regional party, the CC group and
    other Liberal Democrat organisations.

PERSON SPECIFICATION:

• Previous experience of working or volunteering in a campaign role, whether in a political environment or otherwise. E
• Previous experience of working with volunteers. D
• Ability to communicate and liaise effectively with a wide variety of participants including candidates/councillors/local party executive. E
• Demonstrates a "can-do" attitude and resilience in pressured/difficult situations. E
• Ability to motivate and manage a team of people. E
• Ability to work unsupervised and prioritise a wide variety of tasks. E
• Ability to meet deadlines. E
• Ability to produce effective political literature. D
• Ability to spot issues with campaigning potential. D
• Methodical approach to record keeping and database maintenance. E
• Good written and oral communication skills. E
• Ability to team build. E
• Day to day experience of managing an office. D

In addition, the “Capacity Builder” will comply with general duties, including:

• Adhere to all health and safety and fire regulations and co-operate with the local constituency parties;
• to maintain good standards of health and safety;
• Uphold ethical and professional standards and not behave in a manner that is likely to bring the party into disrepute;
• Promote and sustain a responsible attitude towards equal opportunities and diversity within the party; and
• Demonstrate a commitment to ongoing learning and development and participate in training relevant to the role.

Recruitment timetable:

Owing to the timeline ahead of CC25, we are intending to appoint as soon as practicable.

Please apply, enclosing a CV and covering letter explaining how you believe you could successfully fulfil the job role, by return to:

Richard Goedegebuur,
Devon & Cornwall Region Campaign Manager
Email: Richg2007@googlemail.com