This is outdoor work in a small organisation. It suits people who are comfortable holding a difficult conversation with a farmer and then writing it up accurately.
No vacancies at present
Openings are posted here and on our LinkedIn page as they arise. Speculative applications are welcome and are kept on file for six months.
How we hire
Every role is advertised, including junior ones. Where a trustee or staff member is connected to an applicant, that connection is declared and the person takes no part in the decision.
Field roles are filled from the catchment districts wherever possible. Someone who grew up beside this river brings context no induction can supply, and households speak more candidly to a neighbour.
We ask for a covering note rather than a formal letter, and we tell every applicant the outcome. Being left without a reply is a small cruelty that costs nothing to avoid.
The kinds of role we recruit
Field officer
Bank surveys, household negotiation, planting supervision, monitoring visits and accurate record keeping. Most of the week is outdoors.
Nursery coordinator
Working with the community groups running our nurseries on seed sourcing, technique and quality.
Education coordinator
Teacher training and school partnerships. Requires teaching experience.
Internships
Three to six months, typically for students of environmental science, hydrology or development studies. Paid a stipend covering transport and lunch.
How an application is handled
- 1
You send a covering note
Not a formal letter. Tell us what you have done and what you want to learn. A CV helps; a page about why you want to work on this river helps more.
- 2
We acknowledge it
Every application gets a reply, including the ones we are not taking further. Being left without an answer is a small cruelty that costs nothing to avoid.
- 3
A conversation rather than a panel
For field roles this usually happens at a site instead of in an office, because the job is at a site and both sides learn more that way.
- 4
A practical task where the role warrants it
Typically walking a stretch of bank and writing up what you saw. We pay for the day. Unpaid trial work is work.
- 5
References and safeguarding checks
Taken up before an offer is confirmed for any role involving contact with children or adults at risk.
What the job comes with
- A written contract and a job description specific enough to hold us to.
- Transport to sites, or the cost of it, and lunch on planting days.
- Boots, gloves and wet-weather gear. These are tools, not a benefit.
- Safeguarding training before any work with schools or households, not afterwards.
- A named person to raise a concern with who is not your line manager.
Before you apply
Do I need a degree?
For field roles, no. Surveying accurately, writing clearly and holding a difficult conversation matter more than what you studied. For the education coordinator role, classroom experience matters more than a qualification in education.
Do I need to speak Runyankole?
For field roles, yes. The negotiation that decides whether a buffer strip survives happens in the household's own language, and running it through an interpreter changes what gets said.
Are internships paid?
They carry a stipend covering transport and lunch. We cannot pay a salary for an internship and we do not describe the stipend as one.
Can I apply from outside Uganda?
For research collaboration and specialist input, yes, and the research page is the route. For field roles, no. These are jobs for people who live in the catchment.
How long do you keep an application?
Six months, and we do go back to them. Tell us if you would rather we did not.
Speculative applications
Tell us what you can do and what you want to learn. We keep applications for six months and do contact people when something opens.