Opportunity to join the Environmental Justice Fund Grants Committee
- Lee-Anne Bruce
The Environmental Justice Fund is recruiting members for its Grants Committee who will be responsible for making decisions on grant applications
About the Environmental Justice Fund (EJF)
EJF is a new organisation which aims to strengthen the environmental justice movement in South Africa. We believe that supporting those most affected by environmental injustice to design and implement responses is our best chance of reversing the tide of environmental destruction and building a better, sustainable and just world. To assist environmental activists to do their work, EJF provides financial, capacity-building and networking support to community-based organisations and community networks working to advance environmental justice in South Africa.
About the Grants Committee
EJF is no ordinary funder. It is designed as a fund ‘by activists, for activists’. The idea is that decisions on who should be given support should not be made by people who are removed from environmental justice activism with little understanding of the South African context. Instead, it is activists themselves who should guide EJF’s decision-making. For this reason, EJF has chosen to adopt a participatory grant-making model. We are therefore creating a Grants Committee which will be responsible for making decisions on grant applications. This is unlike the traditional funding model where such decisions are made by an (often anonymous) board.
We are currently offering an exciting opportunity to be part of the first Grants Committee and to help build EJF from the ground up! To serve on the Grants Committee we are looking specifically for people who have worked in the environmental justice sector in South Africa – as part of a community organisation, an NGO, a law clinic, or other kind of civil society organisation, or as an individual academic or environmental expert who has worked in solidarity with communities. We are particularly interested in applications from women and young people. Please note that people with political or corporate affiliation will not be eligible.
This is a voluntary, unpaid position (although any necessary travel costs will be covered). We anticipate that the Grants Committee will need to meet – either online or in person – approximately four times a year. Members of the Grants Committee will serve for a term of two years with the possibility of renewal.
How to apply
Please send the following documents to Lisa Chamberlain (Executive Director) at lisa@ejfundsa.org.za by 15 June 2022 with the email subject line “EJF Grants Committee Application”:
- A cover letter setting out your interest in serving on the Grants Committee and why you are well suited to doing so; and
- CV (Your CV should be a maximum of 3 pages and must contain the names and contact details of two references who can vouch for your work in the environmental justice sector specifically. We particularly welcome references from community activists).
Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.