Volunteer Chair of Mityana: an international aid charity

What will you be doing?

You could be the next Chair of the Mityana Charity, a small UK-based unincorporated organisation that supports education, healthcare and sustainable community development in the vicinity of Mityana in Uganda. We transform lives by encouraging donations in the UK and, as we don’t have employees, these funds go towards our collaborating charity in Uganda, Partners for Community Transformation.   About us Set up in 1994, we had an income in 2022/23 of almost £190k, with matching expenditure, as we’re not a large charity with overheads. Our projects in Mityana now include economic empowerment, improving welfare and medical provisions, and enhancing education and safeguarding. About the role We’re looking for someone to lead our Board who is committed to maintaining, developing and sustaining the charity, and who will work with our other trustees to continue to shape our future. You should have an interest in supporting the sustainable development of communities in Africa, and thus a empathy with our cause and beneficiaries. Our Board is composed of enthusiastic volunteers, some with a long-term involvement in the charity; some have visited our delivery charity in Uganda. Trustees are the people who make the top-level decisions for our charity. You don’t necessarily need prior experience of charity trusteeship, although that would be welcome. Induction to our organisation will be provided, plus access to external training, as needed. Your prior experience of committee work would be useful. Once you are familiar with the function and operation of our charity, we would welcome your taking on other operational responsibilities, if possible, as we don’t have UK staff. If you can think strategically, plan long-term and able to work collectively with our other Board members, you have the primary skills needed by our trustees. We are a charity not a business, but we apply business principles to governing our organisation. We are looking for fresh expertise and experience from a variety of backgrounds to our charity. We want to expand the diversity of our board, in all meanings of the word, and strongly welcome applications from people from less-represented groups.  The Board meets online and face-to-face for about 90 minutes, usually five times a year on days agreed in advance by trustees. We ask for at least 8 hours per month, to include all meetings, correspondence and communication.

What are we looking for?

Here is some of what we would expect from our Chair. We know that you may also need training and support from other trustees and from external organisations, and that that will be forthcoming, as necessary, to build on any area.

Understanding of the needs of our beneficiaries is desirable; an empathy with them is essential Strategic vision; good, independent judgement; ability to think creatively, tempered by pragmatism and reality Ability to cooperatively lead the team of trustees and effectively manage meetings, bringing impartiality and objectivity to decision-making along with the ability to listen to differing views in a way that brings people together to build consensus Willingness to speak your mind and to challenge other trustees with good intent; able to make unpopular recommendations to the Board, if necessary Skills to analyse proposals, examine their strategic consequences and make concise recommendations Secure personal access to digital communication and able to competently use those resources Commitment to the organisation; willingness and ability to devote the necessary time and effort Experience of committee work, with an understanding of the role of the Chair in effective (charity or corporate) governance, would be desirable Having appropriate personal and professional contacts & networks, with willingness to draw on those as needed, would be desirable

What do YOU get as Chair of our organisation?

A chance to use your leadership and chairing skills, possibly in a different context New skills and expansion of your experience of charities An understanding of the importance of sustainable community development An opportunity to volunteer alongside other committed trustees The personal reward of giving back to an international community Boost to your career or CV, if needed Induction, training, support from our organisation and from charity-support organisations

What difference will you make?

What do we get?

Your leadership skills coupled to our strategic vision Your cooperative communication skills Effective Board meetings leading to our charity’s further development Enhancement to our overall governance and to our Board Your participation in our collective decision-making, contributing to all areas of our charity work Your enthusiasm

  What do our beneficiaries get

The ability to continue our support to communities in Mityana A well-governed charity, sustainable for the future A forward-looking and agile organisation, with a well-informed Board