About Scottish Fair Trade

Scottish Fair Trade is the national network organisation for Fair Trade in Scotland.

We work to build a world where trade is fair, people are valued, and the planet is protected. We connect communities, campaign for change, and support ethical businesses to grow and thrive.

Scotland is a Fair Trade Nation, and we’re working to re-energise the movement for the future, bringing all sectors of Scottish society with us.

About the role

The Development & Business Partnerships Officer plays an important role in strengthening relationships between Scottish Fair Trade and businesses, public sector organisations, social enterprises and partner networks across Scotland. The postholder supports engagement and knowledge-sharing around Fair Trade, ethical sourcing and sustainable procurement, helping to grow understanding and participation across different sectors.

The role also supports the development of Scottish Fair Trade’s membership community, encouraging organisations and businesses to engage with and support the movement for fairer trade.

Alongside this, the postholder will help coordinate light-touch consultancy and advisory activity delivered through Fair Change Co., our trading subsidiary, working with external associates or consultants where appropriate.

This is a relationship-focused and coordination role suited to someone with strong communication and organisational skills, an interest in ethical business and sustainability, and the ability to engage a wide range of stakeholders.

About CHAI

CHAI is a leading community advice organisation dedicated to reducing poverty, preventing homelessness and improving the wellbeing of individuals and families across Edinburgh.

We believe that no one in our communities should endure hardship. Our Financial Wellbeing Team provides high-quality welfare rights, debt and housing advice to some of the city's most vulnerable people through a range of community-based services.

We are looking for an experienced, motivated and inspirational Service Manager to lead our Financial Wellbeing Team and help shape the future of our services.

About the Role

This is an exciting opportunity to join CHAI's Senior Management Team at a time of continued growth and development.

As Service Manager for our Financial Wellbeing Team, you will lead a dedicated team of advisers delivering life-changing welfare rights, debt and housing advice to individuals and families across Edinburgh. You will be responsible for ensuring the highest standards of service delivery, supporting and developing staff, maintaining strong relationships with commissioners and partners, and driving continuous improvement across the service.

This is a varied and rewarding leadership role that combines operational management with strategic development. You will play a key role in shaping and expanding our services, identifying new opportunities, supporting funding initiatives and helping to ensure CHAI continues to meet the changing needs of our communities.

We are looking for someone who is passionate about tackling poverty and inequality, who inspires others to achieve their best, and who is committed to delivering excellent advice services that empower people to improve their lives.

If you are an experienced manager with a collaborative leadership style, excellent organisational skills and a commitment to social justice, we would love to hear from you.

Job Purpose

As a member of CHAI's Senior Management Team, you will provide leadership and operational management to a team of advisers delivering welfare rights, debt and housing advice in accordance with the Scottish National Standards for Information and Advice Providers.

You will ensure services are delivered to the highest professional standards, contractual targets are achieved, and staff are supported to deliver outstanding outcomes for clients.

Our advisers work across a variety of locations including GP surgeries, Mental Health and Recovery Hubs, community venues and CHAI offices.

This is an exciting opportunity to make a genuine difference to the lives of individuals and families experiencing financial hardship.

Selkirk Regeneration (SR) is a community charitable organisation with a broad remit to support the social, economic and environmental prosperity of Selkirk and its environs (TD7 postcode area). We have several well-established projects including developing a Local Place Plan with the community, delivery of the

Sustainable Borders energy advice service and managing a community pop-up shop in Selkirk High Street. We have investigated options for various community-owned renewable energy projects, including wind, solar and hydro, and most recently have led a feasibility study into a Local Energy Club as the most viable project in current circumstances. Selkirk Local Energy Club

The Selkirk Local Energy Club is a proposed community-led pilot that aims to help Selkirk make better use of renewable electricity generated locally. The club will use both domestic and business rooftop solar electricity generation to supply electricity to local households and businesses and community buildings on a local electricity tariff.

In simple terms, the model links local renewable generators with local households, businesses and community buildings that use electricity. The electricity still flows through the national energy grid, so members do not need a new physical connection to the generator. Instead, the Local Energy Club uses a commercial and billing arrangement to match local generation with local demand. When local renewable electricity is generated and used by participating members, members benefit from lower energy bills, while generators can receive a fairer return than standard export arrangements.

With external independent technical support, we have examined the feasibility of the project and developed a business plan; both demonstrate that this can be a realisable and viable scheme. Our next step is to establish a pilot scheme to convert this exciting vision into reality. We believe this will be the first distributed rooftop solar energy scheme in the Scottish Borders and will create a model that can be widely replicated by other communities.

The pilot will focus on moving from feasibility into live operation. This will involve commencing supply to participating members and monitoring the model over an initial 6-12 month period. The pilot will capture data on local electricity matching rates, bill savings, generator revenues, export performance, administrative costs and operational learning.

This evidence will be used to confirm that the Local Energy Club is technically, commercially and administratively viable, and whether it could be scaled up to include more members, more generators and wider community benefit activity in future.