We’re Hiring: Policy and Research Coordinator – Organic Transition

Location: remote, anywhere in Ontario

Start Date: Ideally before March 25th
Hours: 30- 40 hours per week (negotiable)
Salary: $42,000-$55,000/year pro-rated commensurate with experience
Length of Contract: 6-12 months

This position is funded in part by the Natural Resources Internship. To qualify, you must:

• Be a post-secondary graduate
• No more than 30 years of age at the start of the internship
• A Canadian citizen, permanent residents or persons granted refugee status in Canada*
• Legally allowed to work according to the relevant provincial and Canadian legislation and regulations
• Available to work for at least six months (26 weeks)

About the Organic Council of Ontario:

The Organic Council of Ontario (OCO) is the voice for organics in Ontario. We represent Ontario’s organic sector value chains and our membership includes over 1400 producers, processors, retailers and consumers.

About the Job:

The Organic Council of Ontario is looking for an enthusiastic, dedicated and dynamic Organic Policy and Research Coordinator who is passionate about agriculture and the environment. OCO has a small staff team with a broad scope: we punch above our weight! Ideal candidates will be up for a diversity of tasks, able to balance competing priorities, and able to see a project through from concept to completion.

We seek candidates with a balance of left and right brain thinking, with the ability to hold the big picture without losing sight of important details, and the problem solving chops to excel at new tasks. Ideal candidates have a curious mind and know how to ask the right questions to gain clarity or build consensus on tricky regulatory issues with diverse players. They will be able to grasp organic regulatory and standards issues quickly; contribute to our website, social media and database management; problem solve multi-stakeholder policy issues; plan member events; and have the capacity to parse complex issues into clear sentences. A successful candidate will be equally at ease chatting on the phone with farmers as they are analyzing sector-wide data.

This job is part policy researcher, part data analyst, part stakeholder management, part journalist, part event-planner, part information management specialist, and part facilitator.

The primary duties of the role fall into four main categories:

1. General Communications (10%)

1. Assist with the maintenance and upkeep of the Organic Council of Ontario’s main website, microsites, e-news and social media;
2. Research, write and proofread informative blog posts that have broad appeal;
3. Contribute to OCO’s Knowledge Base articles and content;
4. Support on-going grant writing and research efforts.

2. Special Research Projects (70%)

OCO is initiating a commodity-specific organic transition needs assessment for three specific commodities (e.g. wine grapes, sheep, and field crops). We are looking for a project coordinator to lead on project execution and management. The project tasks include:

1. Contribute to commodity and value chain outreach efforts and stakeholder management;
2. Conduct an environmental scan of commodity-specific transition solutions in other jurisdictions;
3. Assist with the development of surveys (through survey monkey), interview guidelines, and contact lists;
4. Interview, record and summarize interview findings;
5. Host video conference meetings and focus groups to identify potential problems and solutions with respect to organic transition needs;
6. Research and test potential education and training platforms and modalities for creating on-line, self-paced transition training resources;
7. Aggregate scientific literature and production information on the differences between conventional and organic farming, including the potential for environmental and economic impact;
8. Assist with a scientific literature review in specific commodity areas and identify future research opportunities and priorities;
9. Assist with report and recommendations development;
10. Propose potential partnerships with agricultural commodity groups to support shared projects and resources;

3. Data Management and Analysis (10%)

1. Support engagement and outreach efforts through list building and segmentation through Ontario Organic Directory and back-end database in Hubspot by improving reports, information management categories and filling in data gaps;
2. Improve communications KPI tracking and use Google Analytics to inform communications strategy;
3. Analyse survey data and findings;
4. Analyse organic acreage, production, and pricing data;
5. Assist with developing new Ontario organic commodity-specific data reports in our data portal;
6. Support data and outreach streamlining through integrations using Zapier where possible.

4. Event Planning and Membership Outreach (10%)

OCO plans to host several organic farm and business tours throughout the summer as well as a large member event in September for Organic Week. The coordinator may be tasked with coordinating one or more of these events. They may:

1. Recruit new members through organic and agri-food events;
2. Assist with event management, promotion, registration and logistics;
3. Coordinate print material production, mail-outs and phone campaigns to update membership details and recruit new supporting members;

General Project Management

As a small non-profit, OCO’s work is dynamic and project-based with the overarching goal of growing and supporting the Ontario organic sector. Our work may shift as we receive new grants for projects that fit with our overarching mandate and priorities to support the growth of the Ontario organic sector. We’re looking for a candidate who can demonstrate the necessary flexibility to adjust to such changes willingly and gracefully.

The Ideal Candidate

• Highly motivated, can work independently and in a team;
• Customer service oriented;
• Knows how to juggle and prioritize multiple priorities;
• Curious and engaged systems thinker;
• Familiarity working with standards and/or the ability to interpret regulatory and policy language;
• Experience creating and managing multi-stakeholder research and/or consulting projects under limited timelines;
• Experience with non-academic report writing and/or journalism;
• Experience managing information and/or data systems including data analysis;
• Takes initiative to constantly improve their work and the work of the organization;
• Is passionate and knowledgeable about organic agriculture;
• Has experience using or is comfortable learning to use various online communications management tools (e.g. Survey Monkey, WordPress, Statamic, Mailchimp, Google Analytics, Canva, Google Suite, Zapier)
• Has experience with contact management and/or online information management tools;
• Has strong research and writing skills;
• Experience with graphic design an asset (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Canva etc.);
• Has an understanding of the Ontario agri-food landscape;
• Has some understanding of the Ontario political climate and public sector;
• French language skills are an asset.

Application: 

To apply, send a CV and cover letter in one pdf document to hiring@organiccouncil.ca with Policy and Research Coordinator – Labour in the subject line. Please provide two samples of relevant work (e.g. report summary, communications piece).