Amma Birth Companions (Amma) is a Glasgow charity that provides information, care, and advocacy to those who face barriers to support during pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. Our services include birth and postnatal companionship, peer support, and education.

Amma believes that everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, language, age, gender, sexual orientation, ability, or socioeconomic circumstances, should be supported to birth and parent with confidence.

Having recently recruited a new Chief Executive, we are now looking to identify a new Chair of the Board who will provide inclusive leadership to the Board of Trustees as well as supporting and, where appropriate, challenging the Chief Executive to ensure the achievement of agreed strategic priorities and objectives. Overseeing the process to develop and embed a new strategic vision for the charity, you will develop a more robust approach to governance, ultimately ensuring the long-term sustainability of the charity. This includes the ongoing evolution of our fundraising strategy and continued diversification of revenue streams to support our future growth

With direct experience of charity governance having worked with or as part of a Board of Trustees, ideally at Chair level, the successful candidate will have demonstrable interpersonal and relationship-building abilities and a strong commitment to the aims and objectives of Amma. With strong leadership skills and the ability to motivate staff and volunteers alike, you will bring a clear understanding of managing the performance and effectiveness of an organisation to ensure it meets its operational, business, and financial goals, coupled with significant experience of building effective networks, relationships and partnerships to further organisational objectives.

Amma Birth Companions is a registered Scottish charity that supports birthing people experiencing significant adversity on their journey to parenthood. Our aim is to create a supportive space where all birthing people feel seen, informed, and empowered in all aspects of their birth experience.

We are currently seeking a volunteer Treasurer to join our Board of Trustees. This role requires a commitment of approximately 4-6 hours per month. The outgoing Treasurer will provide an extensive handover for the role.

Amma Birth Companions is funded by a range of funders and grant providers, including the Scottish Government and National Lottery, and is on course to record £200,000+ of income this year.

Key Duties of Treasurer

The overall role of the Treasurer is to maintain an overview of the organisation's financial affairs, ensure its financial viability and ensure that proper financial records and procedures are maintained.

Please download the Role Description below to find out more about the role.

This new post will support the smooth and effective running of the Amma office and will support Amma’s growing staff team. The postholder will manage the smooth and efficient day-to-day running of the Amma office and will oversee all administration and finance tasks and processes.

Main duties:

Office management

• Ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the office
• Act as main point of contact for people contacting Amma by phone, email or via the website
• Oversee office-based health & safety checks and issues
• Maintain Amma’s policy review schedule and governance calendar, ensuring compliance with relevant legislation
• Manage equipment sign out sheet and conduct weekly check of equipment and arrange returns
• Conduct purchasing for services, equipment, office supplies, marketing, and fundraising activities
• Liaise with contractors to book in repairs and maintenance
• Set up and attend staff and board meetings as required, write and share agendas and meeting minutes

Administration & finance

• Oversee financial administration, including acting as a banking signatory
• Oversee and support with all team and office administration
• Streamline and ensure consistency in procedures and systems
• Collate and analyse reports to facilitate monitoring and evaluation, funding applications and reports
• Oversee IT systems and filing systems, ensuring data security and GDPR compliance
• Manage administrative duties for Amma’s groups and clients, including bookings and supplies
• Oversee administration and preparations for events and training, including logistics, AV and IT, and venue layout

Staff and volunteer management

• Line manage and support the Administrator
• Support with the recruitment of staff and volunteers
• Ensure HR systems, policies and procedures are administered effectively, including staff hours, leave and rotas
• Support with volunteer recruitment and administration
• Manage phones and on call rotas

More details:

Amma believes in fairness, equity, diversity and inclusion. We recognise the importance of an inclusive and diverse workforce and we strive to ensure our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to everyone.

We welcome and actively encourage applications from people with a diverse range of experiences, regardless of age, disability, gender, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. We also welcome and encourage applications from people with lived experience of our client group.

This role will be subject to references and a Protection of Vulnerable Groups check.

The post holder will manage a caseload of clients, ensuring that safe, appropriate and trauma informed support is provided from 3rd trimester of pregnancy until approximately three weeks after the baby is born. This role combines coordinating teams of volunteer companions and providing support directly to our clients.

Clients will often be assigned a small team of companion volunteers according to their individual needs and preferences. The Perinatal Team Leader will lead each team, ensuring continuous support is provided throughout the perinatal period. Support should be person-centred depending on individual needs. Support is offered in clients’ homes, at hospital or other appointments, and during birth.

Support may include:

• Emotional & practical support
• Advocacy
• Providing information about birth choices, rights and processes
• Birth preparation
• Postnatal support

The post holder will:

• Provide support, supervision, guidance and shadowing opportunities to volunteers
• Provide support directly to clients to ensure a continuous service is provide
• Be the primary companion when specialist support is needed for clients facing particularly complex or difficult situations
• Keep thorough records using our client database and ensuring volunteers do the same
• Track work progress using Microsoft Excel
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with partner agencies, making onward referrals to ensure clients’ needs are met by the most appropriate agency
• Ensure the service adheres to adult safeguarding and child protection procedures and manage any associated risks
• Engage in regular case file reviews with members of the staff team
• Work with the Volunteer Manager to deal with any disciplinary and practice issues that arise
• Create and deliver volunteer training
• Deliver birth preparation sessions either one-to-one, with partners, or with groups

Note: We are recruiting three people to these roles, one of whom will have a focus on working with young people. This is a new area of development and may entail a higher proportion of group work and birth preparation.

Hours and On Call Requirement

As births can happen at any time of the day or night, Amma operates an on-call system to ensure that support is provided 24/7. Perinatal Team Leaders will receive a full-time salary (equivalent to 35 hours per week) and will work a 30-hour standard week. In addition to this, they will be on call one week in every four. The on-call period entails:

• Being a back-up to attend births and emergency appointments
• Answering the emergency phone in the evening and at the weekend
• Addressing any urgent issues arising
• Monitoring Whatsapp groups involving volunteer companions who are on call for a birth

When attending births, hours of work may be long. Time will be given for rest and recuperation afterwards.

Weekly hours can be flexible but team members must be available to attend staff meetings, including on-call and handover meetings.

More details

Amma believes in fairness, equity, diversity and inclusion. We recognise the importance of an inclusive and diverse workforce and we strive to ensure our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to everyone.

We welcome and actively encourage applications from people with a diverse range of experiences, regardless of age, disability, gender, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. We also welcome and encourage applications from people with lived experience of our client group.

This role will be subject to references and a Protection of Vulnerable Groups check.

This new post will coordinate and further develop the Amma Family programme. This peer support programme currently consists of several activities each week including parent and baby groups, yoga, garden activities, and workshops.

The programme takes a person-centred approach and is developed in line with the needs, wants, knowledge and skills of the participants. All peer support and learning activities relate to our organisational aims of reducing isolation, building confidence, and empowering people with information about pregnancy, birth, and parenting.

Main duties:

• Work with the Head of Services to run the Amma Family Programme
• Work with the Volunteer Manager to recruit and train peer support volunteers and a placement student
• Create a monthly rota for Amma Family volunteers
• Manage an active WhatsApp group which enables information sharing and connection between parents
• Work with senior management to tailor the Amma Family Programme to the needs of new client groups
• Support and encourage new clients to engage with activities, finding ways to overcome barriers
• Host groups, ensuring clients feel engaged and included
• Sensitively deal with issues arising within groups
• Collaborate with others to run a series of social events and workshops for service users throughout the year
• Undertake administration for the groups including organising catering, expenses, travel as well as room preparation and tidy up

Other duties include:

• Keeping thorough records of attendance and participation using our client database
• Risk assessing activities and ensuring safe working
• Monitoring and evaluating activities
• Responding to safeguarding concerns in line with Amma’s policies and procedures
• Working with the Head of Services to signpost and refer participants to support with any needs arising.

More details

Amma believes in fairness, equity, diversity and inclusion. We recognise the importance of an inclusive and diverse workforce and we strive to ensure our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to everyone.

We welcome and actively encourage applications from people with a diverse range of experiences, regardless of age, disability, gender, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. We also welcome and encourage applications from people with lived experience of our client group.

This role will be subject to references and a Protection of Vulnerable Groups check.