HR & Legal Trustee

Introduction

Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN) is a well-established and highly respected UK-based charity working to reduce malnutrition globally. ENN strives to enhance the effectiveness of nutrition policy and programming by building evidence, convening critical actors and transferring knowledge. We are passionate about being field driven and are globally recognised as thought leaders and conveners in nutrition. Our vision is that every individual confronted by malnutrition is empowered to respond according to their needs. We work with governments, civil society, UN, donor and academic organisations to achieve mutual goals. Through these collaborations we support agencies to implement evidence-based nutrition programming, predominantly in low- and middle-income countries.

The Trustee Role

Being an ENN Trustee is an important, influential and valuable role and as well as ensuring that we are an accountable and well governed organisation you will make an important contribution to our current work and future direction. This is an exciting time to join ENN as a Trustee as we have just produced our new strategy for 2024 – 25. A helpful summary of trustee roles and responsibilities can be found in Charity Commission guidance ‘The essential trustee: what you need to know, what you need to do’

ENN is looking to strengthen its Board of Trustees by seeking a Trustee with both HR and legal experience, particularly in employment law. We are seeking a dynamic professional to work closely with ENN’s Management Team and the Board to maintain an overview of the regulatory environment and our contractual obligations. You will have strategic vision, experience and expertise in overseeing HR functions and/or charity law, commercial law or employment law.

Your Responsibilities as a Trustee:

• Work with the ENN Management Team to approve, review and monitor progress against strategy
• Provide support and constructive challenge to the Management Team and hold them accountable for the performance of ENN
• Ensure ENN’s financial and operational viability. This will include approving budgets, accounts, financial statements and financial reports
• Ensure that the correct accounting and accountability procedures are in place and are being well respected.
• Attend quarterly Board and sub-committee meetings and contribute to key strategic debates within the organisation
• Safeguard, respect and demonstrate ENNs values, policies and reputation
• Contribute actively to the Board of Trustees’ role in shaping and reviewing key organisational policies
• Act in ENN’s best interest to ensure that the organisation complies with its Articles of Association, Charity Law, Company Law and any other relevant legislation or regulation, and ensuring the effective management of resources and of risk
• Attend ENN-led events and engage with staff across the organisation
• Commitment to undertake ENN’s safeguarding training and adherence to relevant policies
• Offer specialist support in areas where you have dedicated expertise; namely to
• Guide and advise the board and its chair on the HR/legal requirements for and implications of the charity’s strategic plans
• Assess risks and impact of ENN’s decisions in light of changing HR/legal requirements and best practice
• Take a lead role in ensuring the organisation complies with its governing documents, charity law and relevant legislation
• Provide a focal point for escalation of any arising data protection and health & safety issues within the charity
• Hold strategic oversight of ENN’s investment in human resources and advise Trustees on good practices in relation to recruitment, performance review process, reward & recognition, training & development, wellbeing and EDI strategies
• Advise on and help improve HR practices and process within ENN

Required Knowledge and Skills

• CIPD Chartered membership, legal qualification, or equivalent experience, with understanding of non-profit organizations
• An understanding of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of trusteeship
• An understanding of the UK charity sector, good governance, Charity Commission, relevant legislations and statutory requirements
• A substantial background as a senior HR professional or legal practice relating to organisational practice, with proven track record of success at both an operational and strategic level
• A thorough understanding of HR policy and practice, with significant experience of employment law and implementing solutions contextually
• Understanding of data protection, health & safety and charity legislation and changing regulations
• Experience of attending and contributing to Board or Commercial meetings
• An ability to work effectively as a member of a team, contributing ideas, listening to others, and reaching collective agreement
• Willingness to input the necessary time and effort to achieve objectives and potential availability to staff for advice and enquiries on an agreed basis
• A proven track record of sound judgement and effective decision making with a history of impartiality, fairness, and discretion
• A commitment to promoting equality and diversity
• Alignment to ENN’s culture and goals with an interest/commitment to the organisation’s aims and ambitions

Prior experience of being a Trustee of a UK-registered charity or experience of the charity/third sector is desirable but not essential.

Membership and Operation of the Board

The Trustees of the Board are appointed by the Trust Members to provide a range of skills, expertise and ability to realise the vision and values of ENN and enhance its effective strategic leadership and management.

The term of office for any Trustee shall be four years. Any Trustee may be re-appointed or re-elected at a General Meeting (reference articles). The chair will be elected by the trustees and may hold a maximum of two terms of three years.

Time Commitment – And our Commitment to You

Your commitment in an average year is likely to be 4 pre-fixed board meetings, each of half a day. Each of these are preceded by sub-committee meetings, usually of ninety-minutes, and each trustee is expected to participate in one sub-committee. Other committee and ad hoc meetings and additional support will be arranged as agreed. We encourage active participation and engagement, and Trustees often give more time outside of this, on their own terms.

Board meetings are held virtually, with an intention to hold one facilitated face to face meeting at the ENN HQ in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, every two years. Additional sub-committee meetings will be convened remotely.

Ideally you will join the Board in July 2024, though we can show some flexibility on this for the right candidate, and in your first few months you should allow for additional time for induction and orientation (including meeting a number of the Leadership Team).

Remuneration

This is an unpaid, voluntary position. Reasonable expenses will be reimbursed for attendance at Board meetings and other Trustee activities in line with ENN’s policies. Some employers encourage and enable trusteeship as part of wider career development and corporate social responsibility; please check with your organisation and their relevant policies.

Our Values and Commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

ENN is committed to diversity and inclusion, and to building a culture where every staff member and volunteer is recognised and valued as an individual. We actively encourage applications from a broad range of experiences and backgrounds and are particularly interested in improving representation of younger people and minority ethnic groups on our Board.

To Apply

If you believe you’re the candidate we’re looking for please submit a CV and a covering letter of no more than 2 pages describing your motivation behind applying for the role, as well as explaining how you believe your skills and experience match what we are looking for. Please email this to: [email protected].

Closing date for applications: Friday 21st June 2024

It is expected you will be called for an informal interview. These are likely to be held on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th July.

Screening Checks

All candidates who we progress will be screened through Accuity World Compliance to comply with counter terrorism and financial sanctions regulations. Appointment will be subject to a satisfactory enhanced DBS check (or equivalent criminal records check where available, for non-UK citizens) and 2 satisfactory references. If you already have a transferrable enhanced DBS, please state this in your application.

Useful Information

1. ENN Annual Accounts
2. ENN Strategy 2016-2020

*****Please also find additional information about ENN on our website https://www.ennonline.net/ and across the following pages.

Additional Information About ENN

A Letter from the Board of Trustees

At ENN we are truly passionate about what we do. Over the past 27 years ENN has become a powerful and recognised name in the nutrition sector, working with others to influence outcomes around the world. We produce highly regarded research and publications that inform and inspire practitioners worldwide and we convene technical interest groups and communities of practice who are the ‘go to’ networks for their specialisms. Our partners know and trust ENN for quality, rigour and impartiality. Our work makes a real difference in the lives of children in some of the most difficult parts of the world. The ENN-led Operational Guidance on Infant Feeding in Emergencies has become the key global policy guidance and has been endorsed by the World Health Assembly, and our technical leadership and convening has facilitated real change in awareness and a new narrative, challenging siloed approaches to Wasting and Stunting management.

Our work has never been more important. Nutritional challenges are growing across the world; undernutrition rates may be slowly decreasing but other forms of malnutrition are on the rise. The positive progress that is being made is unequal and many countries are now facing the double burden of both under and over nutrition. Crises around the world are increasingly protracted and the historical and artificial silos of ‘humanitarian’ and ‘development’ don’t reflect real needs which are much more fluid. Emerging threats, such as the broader impact on nutrition of the COVID-19 pandemic bring new challenges to address.

At present our annual turnover is around £1.8m (c. USD2.27m), we employ 28 staff and engage 20 – 30 specialist consultants. With our new strategy, we are keen to drive even greater impact by exploring new and innovative approaches and increasing our reach further still. We do so with funding in place from a range of institutional partners and private foundations.

As an organisation working across numerous technical areas relevant for countries experiencing high burden of malnutrition, we look to the board, and those trustees with a more technical focus in particular, to discuss new technical gap areas with us to ensure we maintain a responsive and balanced portfolio, to help us further develop our network, funding and connections, and to help us navigate the important work we do to influence structural and impactful change in the sector, including advising in situations where there is potential for strategic risk. We are looking for a Technical Trustee to join the board who can bring their technical knowledge and extensive experience to this role.

We hope the enclosed information helps you to explore ENN and the role.

With best wishes,

The ENN Board of Trustees

Vision

Our vision is that every individual confronted by malnutrition is empowered to respond according to their needs.

Our History

Founded in 1996 in Ireland, ENN has a long and rich history in global nutrition. Following an evaluation of the Great Lakes Emergency in 1995, implementing agencies identified an urgent need to establish a vehicle for capturing programming experiences and preserving institutional memory in the emergency food and nutrition sector. This gave rise to ENN’s publication, Field Exchange, which was first produced in 1996, designed to stimulate critical thinking and learning, influence research agendas and cross-fertilise information and exchange. ENN was generously hosted by Trinity College Dublin for its first eight years, before relocating to Oxfordshire in 2004 and is now a UK registered Charity.

“To me, ENN is one of the most long-standing focal points for emergency nutrition technical information and coordination.” (ENN partner)

Who We Are Now

Our Strategy aims to enhance the effectiveness of nutrition policy and programming by improving knowledge, stimulating learning, building evidence and providing support and encouragement to practitioners and decision-makers involved in nutrition and related interventions. We take a particular lens on fragile and conflict affected, and high burden, states. We have three core principles guiding our work:

• Independent, neutral and impartial

ENN is not bound by the views or positions of any one institution and is not a nutrition implementing agency. Any opinions expressed are based on the available evidence and the experience of our rich and diverse network.

• Driven by our network

ENN’s network is made up of practitioners, decision-makers and academics working on nutrition and associated fields all over the world. By supporting their learning and sharing their knowledge, ENN is able to make a unique contribution to turning knowledge into practice.

• Based on experiential learning and evidence

ENN believes that policy and practice can, and should be, informed by evidence and experience. Where this exists, ENN seeks to share the learning from this evidence and experience; where it is missing, ENN advocates for it to be developed or directly supports, and often brokers, its development.

Our People

ENN’s team is made up of a range of technical experts in nutrition, with decades of collective experience, and a small operational team. ENN’s Management Team comprises of the CEO, 2 Technical Directors, a Finance Manager, HR Manager & Projects Coordinator Lead. As well as our 28 staff, we engage a significant number of experienced specialist consultants on our projects. ENN is highly committed to diversity and inclusion, to enabling and promoting flexible working for our staff, and to supporting continued professional development.

Our Governance

ENN is a UK-registered charity (Charity Registration Number: 1115156) governed by the Board of Trustees and a set of ‘Articles of Association’. The Board is currently comprised of 8 Trustees and meets regularly throughout the year, with full board meetings on a quarterly basis. The Board currently has three sub-committees, one covering Governance & People, another Technical and the other Finance, which are responsible for ensuring the highest standards in terms of finance, personnel, and technical expertise and application.

As a UK-registered Charity, ENN also files accounts as a UK-registered Company with Companies House (Company Registration Number 04889844).

Our Finances

ENN is financially supported by a range of institutional donors (including the Irish and US governments), charitable foundations (including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Eleanor Crook Foundation), as well as UN agencies and INGOs. Our income has grown over the last few years, with income in the current FY 2023 projected at around £2m (c. $2.5m).