Salary: £34,000 pa pro rata, 4 days per week

Are you passionate about championing community-led food projects and creating a fairer, healthier, and more sustainable food system? We are seeking a pro-active and dynamic person to co-ordinate and grow the Tower Hamlets Food Partnership and manage Wen’s local food projects.

The Tower Hamlets Food Partnership (THFP) was established in 2018, bringing together the council, community organisations, social landlords and local businesses. Registered with Sustainable Food Places, the Partnership links closely with Wen’s work over the past 15 years supporting community food projects and partnerships in the borough. As the convener of the THFP you will have a strategic view of the local food system, coordinating individuals and organisations across sectors to take action for a sustainable and equitable food system. 

Your role will strategically lead on our Tower Hamlets Food Partnership key action areas:

FAIR FOOD FOR ALL: Convening a joined-up, multi-agency group, collaboratively tackling food poverty and insecurity. Working in partnership you will support activities that enable people in the borough to access nutritious, culturally-appropriate and affordable food with dignity.

FOOD AND CLIMATE: Convening the Just FACT Forum, bringing together strategic partners biannually to advise and resource our ambitious five-year Just Food and Climate Transition Programme. Working alongside the Just FACT Programme Manager you will explore how to influence more action on food and climate within the borough.

COMMUNITY FOOD NETWORK: Building the capacity, connections and collective power of Tower Hamlets’ community food projects and social enterprise. This currently includes:
Overseeing the work of Tower Hamlets Food Growing Network, supporting the work of the Green and Grow Co-ordinator. Wen has also been coordinating the network for over 10 years. It is comprises of local food growers, community gardens and housing associations. The network organizes seasonal events for residents to learn, grow and eat together, share tips and resources and make the borough a better place to grow your own.

Overseeing a collaborative project called Food Lives Tower Hamlets. Working in partnership with University of Sussex, Food Lives Tower Hamlets (previously called ‘Food Stories’) is based on the St George’s Estate, Shadwell, and explores the role food plays in our lives and the importance of history, culture and heritage to our food habits. Food Lives Tower Hamlets is part of a 5-yearresearch programme funded by UKRI and led by University of Reading, FoodSEqual.

GOOD FOOD PLACES: Developing a workstream and action group focused on local economy; that supports nutritious and culturally-diverse food to be available and celebrated on our streets, estates and neighbourhoods, and in our local shops and markets.

See the job description and person specification on our website for more details and information on how to apply. 

About Wen

Wen works both in East London and nationally to support women and their communities to take environmental action. We work across a wide range of environmental issues, including building resilient and sustainable local food systems, food growing, nature based wellbeing sessions in women’s refuges, our Environmenstrual campaign and our work on a UK Feminist Green New Deal.

Wen has been supporting women and communities to grow their own food, and become advocates for environmental action in Tower Hamlets, for over ten years. Wen leads on the Tower Hamlets Food Partnership, bringing organisations and individuals together to build a better food system for everyone in Tower Hamlets. Members include housing providers, food charities, small businesses, schools, social enterprises, community gardeners and the council.

Wen strives to take an inclusive and intersectional approach to everything we do, and are actively trying to improve this through our participatory leadership model, the types of projects and campaigns we choose to work on and movement building.