Title: Program Manager
Supervisor: Co-Executive Directors
Location: Remote home office in Canada
Application Deadline: Wednesday September 29, 2021 at 12 am midnight ET
Starting date: October 2021
Position Type: Full-time employment
Salary: $60,000 - $80,000
About Nourish
Nourish works with the health care sector to spread and deepen innovations that use the power of food to build health for people and the planet. We seek to transform food served in hospitals and long-term care, and to nourish preventative health for communities towards a planetary health care system.
We are a growing national community of practice that works across community, institutional, and policy scales to steward innovation to transition to a more preventative, equitable, sustainable health system and future. Nourish’s current core funders are the McConnell Foundation, the Arrell Family Foundation, and the Maple Leaf Centre for Action on Food Security.
Over the course of the next five years, Nourish is convening two cohorts of multidisciplinary teams, called Anchor Collaboratives. Bringing together health care and community leaders, each cohort lasts two years, and seeks to create impact on equity, community well-being and climate. These place-based collaboratives will co-design innovations and harness anchor leadership by the health care sector to address the social and ecological determinants of health, from community food insecurity to the acceleration of climate change.
Nourish will also coordinate Action Learning focused on Indigenous Foodways (Food is Our Medicine, launched spring 2021) and Planetary Menus (planned launch 2022) across the country. These initiatives are supported by strategic communications and policy work.
The Opportunity
The Nourish Program Manager will be part of a small and dynamic team dedicated to leveraging food in health care to impact the upstream ecological and social determinants of health. The nature of this role is twofold:
1. Anchor Cohort Program Manager (0.5 FTE)
The successful candidate will work closely with the Program Director and Co-Executive Directors to develop and implement the Anchor Cohort strategy. This includes supporting up to three Anchor Collaboratives in the cohort with facilitation, logistical, and administrative activities including: maintaining key relationships, coaching on systems change and social innovation processes, encouraging collaboration with local partners, supporting evaluation, and assisting with design of place- and land-based programming.
The Anchor Cohort is part of the broader Nourish Anchor Leadership Strategy, which builds from our previous work with the Innovator Cohort described in our Developmental Evaluation.
2. Planetary Menus Action Learning Lead (0.5 FTE)
The second aspect of the role will be to lead Nourish’s next Action Learning Series promoting the uptake of planetary menus in health care settings across Canada. In this capacity, the successful candidate will work closely with the Communications Manager and Co-Executive Directors to design and launch a national Action Learning strategy through research, writing, and relationship-building efforts to engage health care facilities in climate action by taking a hard look at the way we eat and produce food. Innovation in menus and sourcing can support healthy eating and reduce health care’s environmental footprint. The goal of this Action Learning Series is to reach a minimum of 100 Canadian health institutions (e.g., hospitals, long-term care homes, community health centres, etc.) in the next four years to put climate-friendly foods on the menus by reducing food waste, sourcing sustainable food, and featuring plant-rich and culturally diverse meals.
Why should you apply?
This is an opportunity to become involved with ongoing efforts to address some of Canada’s toughest challenges – such as the climate emergency, inequality, and reconciliation – providing systems leadership to support transition to futures where the well-being of people and planet are valued and seen as interdependent. You will gain a pan-Canadian perspective on social and ecological change while having the opportunity to develop meaningful connections across multiple scales of the system, from Indigenous knowledge keepers in the community to policymakers and health care professionals. You will support efforts for awareness-based systems change and leadership that (re)builds relationships with food, land, and each other.
In your role you will frequently pivot from one meeting to the next to provide leadership and support on the various aspects of Nourish’s work. This position is a good fit for someone who enjoys working in a small, tight-knit team, collaborating to design and implement strategies that inspire health and food systems stakeholders to be bold and ambitious in moving toward more equitable and sustainable futures. Nourish seeks someone who is highly organized, thoughtful, solutions-oriented, and self-starting. You are a team player who prioritizes healthy, generative work relationships, and lifts up the people around you.
Main responsibilities include:
Collaborating with the Program Director, Co-Executive Directors, and other members of the Nourish team on the design and implementation of the Anchor Cohort strategy, including design, logistics, hosting and supporting multidisciplinary teams across Canada through programming and retreats.
Collaborating with the Communications Manager, Co-Executive Directors, and other members of the Nourish team on the design and implementation of the Planetary Menus Action Learning Series, including design of a launch and engagement strategy, hosting informational calls and webinars, building partnerships, developing relevant resources, and overseeing responsive programming.
Co-leading virtual, place-based, and land-based programming, including synthesizing diverse systems change frameworks to animate a leadership and innovation program that incubates and scales innovation in health care;
Building capacity for multidisciplinary Anchor Collaboratives to lead local change efforts, including pursuing local funding partnerships;
Maintaining key relationships with policy, health, and food system stakeholders to identify and pursue windows of opportunity to work together;
Supporting the implementation of developmental evaluation practices to measure and demonstrate impact in line with Nourish’s mission;
Effectively collaborating with the Nourish team to ensure prompt and effective engagement with cohort and Action Learning participants, Nourish advisors, funders, and network partners;
Undertaking research and writing activities, including developing resources and case studies, and contributing to newsletters, blogs, and reports;
Providing leadership through an array of facilitation, logistical, and administrative activities, including correspondence, scheduling, and preparing budgets and expense reports; and
Contributing to Nourish’s strategic learning, program, and operational improvements.
Other responsibilities include:
Support development of policy briefs, advocacy activities, and funder reports as needed.
Contribute to the day-to-day life and culture of the Nourish team, including attending team meetings; contributing to organizational learning; supporting logistics, hosting, and recording of Nourish convenings; drafting key documents; etc.
Skills & Attributes
Strong interpersonal skills with colleagues and partners of diverse backgrounds and sectors. You are a persuasive and empathetic written and verbal communicator who can effectively engage with a CFO, patient, funder, or Elder.
Superior written and verbal communications skills in English. Competency in French is a strong asset.
Ability to move with ease between pan-Canadian policy and strategy development and personalized, individual support to specific stakeholders and teams.
Demonstrated project management abilities, strong multi-tasking, and superior organizational skills; ability to work as a self-sufficient member of a team.
Experience providing systems change coaching and guidance to individual change-makers as well as diverse, multidisciplinary teams.
Proven success designing and executing marketing and communications strategies and campaigns, preferably in a health and/or food systems context.
Strong creative problem-solving skills and initiative; you come with solutions to offer.
Demonstrated expertise in working with health care and/or institutional food systems, and/or experience working on other systems change projects on a related issue, like Indigenous food sovereignty.
Intellectual curiosity and openness to change are essential. Experience with anti-racist, anti-oppressive, trauma-informed approaches are an asset.
Self-awareness about strengths and areas for growth are essential, along with a high level of professionalism and integrity.
Proficiency or willingness to learn the following platforms: G-Suite, Squarespace, HubSpot, Miro, Asana, Slack, and Zoom.
To Apply
Send a cover letter and CV to robin@nourishhealthcare.ca by Wednesday September 29, at 12 am midnight ET. Selected applicants will be contacted for interviews.