Position Summary:
Farm to School BC (F2SBC) and Public Health Association of BC (PHABC) seeks a dynamic, organized, team leader to build capacity to advance Farm to School (F2S) in BC and Nationally. In partnership with F2CC, the Farm to Cafeteria Canada (F2CC) School Animator will enable and facilitate the implementation of a pan Canadian Farm to School Canada Digs In! Initiative. The School animator’s primary focus will be to build capacity within 30 K-12 schools in urban, rural and remote communities in BC – supporting their endaevours to implement and sustain Farm to School salad bar programs. The Animator will place local people at the centre of all they do, believing that sustainable solutions are only ever developed when the support of the school community and the local food system sector is strongly evident. The Animator will be a change agent, developing and supporting the exchange of information ideas and resources between within the school community, between participating schools, and and among the different communities and with the diverse organizations and institutions that can contribute to the vision – more healthy local foods on the minds and plates of students.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:
- Coordinate learning opportunities for school-based F2S teams (including teachers, principals, school meal providers, and additional partners who work with students).
- Support F2School leads in the 30 participating schools in achieving three main objectives:
- improve student access to and consumption of healthy local food,
- enhance student food literacy,
- engage the school and the broader community program development, implementation, and evaluation in a manner that fosters sustainability.
- Support all School leads in achieving contract deliverables in a timely manner.
- Establish and maintain relationships with all participating schools and provide ongoing support to ensure that teachers, stakeholders and partners are successfully implementing their Farm to School plans.
- Strengthen communities of practice in School regions by facilitating teleconferences, face-to-face meetings, webinars and other actions as needed to promote the national F2S movement while embedding F2SBC framework.
- Assist the evaluation team with development and implementation of an evaluation plan and tools.
- In concert with the Provincial Manager of F2SBC, promote F2SCDI initiative, disseminating ideas, information, tools and other resources and linking F2S, programs, policy and practice.
Deliverables (see Appendix A)
- Attend annual National F2CC face to face gatherings, quarterly RL Community of Practice calls and regular check-ins with the Provincial Manager.
- Create articles, blogs and tweets about the F2SCDI initiative and developments in BC and disseminate through F2SBC e-platforms including websites and social media (i.e.,Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).
- Disseminate national newsletters, national farm to school month campaign materials, produced by F2CC.
- Provide mid-term and annual reports to Executive Director of PHABC and the Provincial Manager of F2SBC.
Qualifications
- Background in Health Science, Education, Community Development, Nutrition, Agriculture, Public Health or related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Preferred minimum of 2 years of experience utilizing school setting-based approaches to health promotion, working with people and communities to integrate a holistic and multidisciplinary method to build capacity in various settings.
- Understanding of local and sustainable food systems, school food environments, child and youth nutrition, health promotion, health literacy, agriculture and/or combination of relevant or related disciplines.
- Comfortable with the following software/social media platforms: Word Processing, Excel spreadsheets, WordPress, PowerPoint and social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Hootsuite).
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and as a team player.
- Leadership style and work ethic that promotes collaboration, inclusivity, creativity, open communication as well as independent decision making.
- Understanding of regional food systems and school-food service systems including the network of individuals therein (e.g., principals, teachers, parents, school meal coordinators staff, students…).
- Ability to network with key stakeholders within the regional food system (farmers, gardeners, food producer groups, food processors, and food distributors – including those associated with existing F2S programs and those keen to be supplying such programs).
- In-depth knowledge of sustainable food system, school food and/or public health nutrition.
- Expertise in establishing Farm to School programs and familiarity with existing BC Farm to School network is an asset.
To Apply:
Submit your resume and cover letter to Richard Han, Provincial Manager of Farm to School BC at
prov.manager@farmtoschoolbc.ca
Application Deadline: October 4th, 2017 @4:30PM. Shortlisted candidates will be notified on October 9th, 2017.
The term defined for this position is between October 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018 with the
possibility of an annual renewal.