Role: Groundswell Advisor

We are seeking a dynamic and proactive Advisor to join our team at Groundswell. The ideal candidate will possess outstanding interpersonal skills, creativity, and a passion for fostering diverse collaborations. As an Advisor, you will play a pivotal role in nurturing relationships with various stakeholders, driving inclusive dialogue, convening strategic conversations and advancing our shared mission of shifting a global mindset towards one of possibility. You will lead in identifying and leveraging new and innovative opportunities for the project to grow and mature, and bring bold and imaginative ideas to steer the effort towards delivering impact.

The stories we tell ourselves shape our world view. They shape our quality of mind, sense of possibility and conviction for the future. Most importantly, they shape our actions now and, therefore, the future world we want our children to live in. 

The current narrative on climate change, which tells us we are way off track, is scientifically accurate but is sending us into a doom loop, leading to a state of despair and paralysis: 75% of climate-related news articles in the UK and US contributed to a ‘climate doomist’ narrative in 2023. We believe that, by reframing the narrative with positive transformations that are already unfolding, often more rapidly than we realize, we can shape a new mindset: that with grit and determination, we can unite behind outcomes to protect 1.5C. 

Groundswell is a collaborative effort (established by the Bezos Earth Fund, Global Optimism, and the Systems Change Lab) that seeks to tell a different story on climate - one in which we inspire and determine our collective future. Because whoever imagines the future, creates the future.

2023:

Last year’s Global Stocktake (GST) provided a testing-ground for our theory of change. From April to December, we worked in an unbranded, behind-the-scenes capacity with our partners to help unite leaders behind a reframed narrative of possibility, which included driving toward shared outcomes on energy, finance and nature. 

A comprehensive report of what Groundswell delivered can be found here.

2024-2025: 

Groundswell sees 2025 as a global tipping point year in which our collective mindset shifts from ‘we can’t’ to ‘we can, and we are’. To achieve this, we plan on focussing on two key, interconnected areas of work: 

• Mainstreaming the exponential story: Groundswell will continue to work with the climate community to demonstrate that change is possible and happening faster than we think. Within this area of work, Groundswell will add to the bank of evidence already gathered (in power, transport, industry) and delve into further sectoral unlocks to tell the story of exponential progress. We will also look to communicate these positive tipping points to a broader audience beyond the climate community.
• Supporting 1.5C-aligned action ahead of COP30: In continuation of its GST work, Groundswell will work with partners on a non-state actor wide effort - designed to create ‘signal in the noise’ to hold the line on 1.5C. This campaign will support 2025 outcomes ahead of COP30. 

Responsibilities will include:

• Convening Groundswell communities: 
  • Identify, establish and nurture Groundswell's key relationships with business, sub-nationals, financiers, youth and civil society who can become leading Groundswell messengers
  • Organize and orchestrate gatherings to facilitate information exchange and build trust across stakeholder types in the run up to COP30.
• Collaborating on message creation: 
  • Bring together community groups representative of different pockets of society (i.e. young people, Brazil leaders, leading service providers, athletes etc.) to understand their aspirations for COP30 and weave their goals into the Groundswell meta-narrative
• Engaging target audiences: 
  • Build out a map of Groundswell’s target audience and influence strategies - including for each major activation - in order to effectively and efficiently move key decision makers;
  • Focus, in particular, on bridging engagement between leaders and government representatives, creating space for intimate and honest discussions, in order to bring together unlikely voices and explore how non-state actors can build momentum and provide support.
• Delivering high-level events: 
  • Imagine and deliver high-level activations and events, in collaboration with team members, to provide opportunities for leading Groundswell messengers to elevate specific messages / calls to action
  • Consider a variety of platforms such as debates, panels, festivals, and engagement with influencers to disseminate compelling visions of possibility and catalyze support for Groundswell's mission.

Key Attributes:

• Curiosity and Creativity: Approach new partnerships with an open mind, embracing fresh ideas and innovative collaborations.
• Flexibility: Adaptability is crucial as you navigate diverse relationships and conversations with stakeholders from different backgrounds simultaneously.
• Proactivity: Take initiative in identifying opportunities and converting them into tangible outcomes.
• Commitment to Inclusion and Diversity: Prioritize inclusivity across gender, regions, and stakeholder types in all engagements.
• Team Player: As part of a small team, demonstrate flexibility and willingness to support projects beyond the immediate role.
• Fearlessness and humble confidence: being comfortable with uncertainty and able to bring clarity and sharpness to ideas and opportunities
• Excellent time management: ability to prioritize and juggle multiple projects at once

Qualifications:

• Proven experience (4 years) in stakeholder engagement, community building, or related fields, with a track record of successfully fostering collaborations and driving meaningful impact.
• In-depth understanding of climate change issues, the Conference of the Parties process and the global landscape of climate action.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to articulate complex ideas effectively across diverse audiences and cultural contexts, both in spoken and written English. Knowledge of other languages is a bonus.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, prioritize tasks, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced, remote environment.
• Experience working with youth networks, grassroots organizations, government representatives, business leaders  is a plus.

• Embrace radical imagination: We see opportunities rather than challenges. In the words of the world’s leading sports brands – impossible is nothing, so let’s do it.
• Lead and convene with humility: we recognise the tremendous work and efforts already underway in this space to race to a better world, and we wish to humbly convene without ego, championing and celebrating the work of other partners.

• Appeal to the best in people: we will seek to be everyone’s allies, believing that the partners we work with have the best intentions and offering trust from the outset, to be nurtured and drawn out if needed through radical generosity and generous tolerance whilst maintaining a science-based approach.

• Be focused yet agile: we will be guided by a clear vision and committed to driving impactful outcomes, whilst recognising that our focus may need to change. We will therefore remain flexible and agile to adapt to the best course.

• Be self-aware and seek evaluation: we will constantly seek to improve and welcome feedback from our partners. Given that our main aim is to rally the climate community behind a united mindset and outcomes, we will be open to adapting our approach to best support this goal.

About Bezos Earth Fund

The Bezos Earth Fund was established with the largest philanthropic commitment ever to fight climate change and protect nature. The $10 billion grant commitment will be disbursed by 2030, the date by which the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals must be achieved. We aim to harness the best of human ingenuity, adaptability, and collective action to create a future in which everyone can thrive.

About Systems Change Lab

To ignite transformational change across our interconnected systems, Systems Change Lab has identified more than 70 shifts needed to protect both people and the planet. Within each shift, the Lab measure how much progress has been made toward 2030 and 2050 science-based targets, as well as enablers and barriers of systems change.

About Global Optimism

Groundswell is part of Global Optimism, which operates as a family of projects and partnerships to elevate leadership, transform mindsets and accelerate action to protect and regenerate the web of life.

Global Optimism was co-founded in 2016 by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac upon leaving the UN, having overseen the delivery of the landmark Paris Agreement. Global Optimism’s mission is to ensure that by 2030 we all - business, civil society, government and citizens around the world - will have taken necessary and decisive action to restore and regenerate the web of life. 

As Founding Partners Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac learned during their stewardship of the Paris Agreement, how we show up in the world defines how we work with others, how we interact with our surroundings and ultimately the future we co-create. It is in this spirit that Global Optimism activates the stubborn optimists of the world, inviting and inspiring people to face the climate crisis head on and take action towards a regenerative future. We do this through trusted partnerships, an award-winning podcast, public engagements and convenings. In all our projects and partnerships, we believe that mindset matters most - we model stubborn optimism and joyful curiosity as necessary inputs to achieving our goals and encourage the same in others.  

“Our future is unwritten. It will be shaped by who we choose to be now. As we learned during our stewardship of the Paris Agreement, if you do not control the complex landscape of a challenge (and you rarely do), the most powerful thing you can do is change how you behave in that landscape, using yourself as a catalyst for overall change. All too often in the face of a task, we move quickly to ‘doing’ without first reflecting on ‘being’ – what we personally bring to the task, as well as what others might. And the most important thing we can bring is our state of mind.” - Christiana Figueres

Applicants should email a CV and cover letter of no more than 2 pages to groundswell@globaloptimism.com including the subject line: Groundswell Advisor Application

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis until midnight on 12th June 2024