Convoy Coordinator

To plan and oversee the preparations for our aid convoys

What will you be doing?

Hope and Aid Direct (HaAD) is entirely run by volunteers, and our primary purpose is to obtain and deliver humanitarian aid for distribution to those most in need.

The charity operates a small fleet of trucks (1 x 40 ton artic and 3 x 7.5 ton) for the collection and delivery/distribution of life-saving humanitarian aid, has useful but constrained storage/warehousing, and its finances are healthy but not excessive. Until the Ukraine War, most HaAD deliveries were in our own trucks driven by our volunteers, but for expediency, since starting our support for Ukraine, many loads have been sent as ‘backloads’ in overseas trucks returning to Ukraine or surrounding counties.

Our expectation is that when the war and fighting stops, we will wish to take our own trucks and volunteers to distribute aid directly, working also in partnership with others. We anticipate between 2 and 6 multi-truck convoys per year. Meanwhile we continue to support refugees in France and elsewhere and are sending ‘backload’ trucks to different in-country partners.

This demanding and time-consuming role carries significant responsibility, and is about organising and coordinating forthcoming aid convoys, including all aspects of volunteer and partnership engagement, and ensuring effective and successful aid delivery direct to our agreed recipients.

The convoy co-ordinator will work with the Heads of Operations and Logistics, to schedule and plan convoys, agreeing dates and timings and drawing up schedules with tasks and timelines

They will coordinate volunteers, ensure readiness of aid/trucks/drivers/recipients/accommodation at destinations and troubleshoot and overcome challenges when they occur, in conjunction with the Head of Operations, to achieve successful preparations and delivery of the right aid, to the right people at the right time.

What are we looking for?

Skills needed:

• Leadership and Management
• Enthusiasm and Ability to Motivate and inspire
• Flexibility and adaptability.
• Organisational and planning skills
• Time to devote to this role
• Passion for the charity’s goals and operations
• Ability to hit the ground running, and willingness to accept and take responsibilities
• People and inter-personal skills
• Understanding of the NGO sector
• PC and Internet literacy
• Attention to detail
• Contingency planning/troubleshooting unflappability

Experience needed:

• Past convoy participation and understanding would be a big advantage
• Past volunteering or employment in a similarly minded/operating NGO
• Humanitarian Aid distribution, ideally in Eastern Europe would be an advantage
• Management or coordination of volunteers
• Own network of appropriate contacts beneficial, to compliment those already known to the charity
• Truck driving or Operating license understanding, would be beneficial

What difference will you make?

By co-ordinating convoys the volunteer will ensure the delivery of the right aid, to the right people at the right time.

Number of hours required.

This will vary a lot depending on when the next convoy is departing but will be quite intensive and "as required" pre- convoy, spread across the week.

Outside of when there is a convoy we would envisage this role taking 4-5 hours a week.