Community Accountability Partner Roles

About the role

We believe that the communities most affected by historical harm must also be part of the response and recognise that grassroots knowledge is essential to the programme's integrity and credibility. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute positively to the development and growth of a strategic Programme within the University of Bristol.

In November 2023, the University announced its commitment to investing £10m over 10 years via the Reparative Futures Programme to tackle racial injustice as a result of the legacies of chattel enslavement. Following an 18-month mobilisation phase (February 2024 – September 2025), where our first cohort of Community Accountability Partners (CAPs) helped develop the programme’s foundations, we are now shaping the roadmap, action, and delivery plans.

We are recruiting community members for this next phase to ensure we remain accountable to our commitments. We are looking to appoint:

• Eight Community Accountability Partner (Programme) roles, who will provide ongoing support across the programme.
• Twelve Community Accountability Partner (Project) roles, who will provide ad-hoc support and contributions to specific projects or workstreams.

Responsibilities

• Advisory Role: Bring specialised knowledge, lived experience, and expertise in reparatory justice practices to help shape the university's policies, programmes, and initiatives.
• Ethical Oversight: Ensure the university remains committed to its reparative goals, addressing past harms and promoting equity, justice, and repair.
• Bridge Between University and Community: Represent the voices of those most affected by historical injustices, fostering collaboration and mutual understanding between the institution and the broader community.
• Promoters of Transparency: Hold the university accountable for promises and goals related to reparatory justice and programme commitments, ensuring progress is measurable and visible.
• Agents of Change: Signal a commitment to partnership and change, where the university acknowledges its responsibility to listen to and act in partnership with those who bring valuable insights, lived experiences, and historical context.

Requirements

You should apply if you:

• Have expertise and relevant lived experience within one or more of the following areas: education, co-creation & partnerships, civic engagement (global and local), community engagement, media and comms, fundraising, economic empowerment, mental health & wellbeing, creative expression, reparative justice, and developing historical narrative and memorialisation.
• Are enthusiastic about improving outcomes for people of African and Caribbean descent via our Reparative Futures Programme and are committed to helping us achieve success.
• Are skilled in influencing networks, bringing forward and listening to the views of others, and communicating your expertise respectfully.
• Can commit approximately 6 hours per month to attend and contribute to formal meetings as a Community Accountability Partner (Programme).
• Can respond to the demands of specific projects and workstreams on a flexible basis as a Community Accountability Partner (Project). Notice will be given for each opportunity.

We recognise that institutional expertise (e.g., governance, budget literacy, policy knowledge) is often more visible on paper, while grassroots expertise (e.g., community memory, lived resilience, relational trust-building, deep place-based understanding) is embodied, relational, and harder to "evidence" in a traditional application. Both are forms of expertise, and an individual may hold both backgrounds simultaneously. We welcome applications in multiple formats: written, audio, video, or community testimony.

Qualifications

We particularly encourage applications from those with experience of community listening and engagement in relation to racial injustice, including:

• Young people aged 18–30.
• Those with Black-African/Caribbean or Black-African/Caribbean-mixed heritage.

Additional Information

For more details, see the recruitment pack for the capabilities, experiences, and skills framework we hope our CAPs can bring, our co-created ways of working documents, and other key information in our candidate brochure.

Application closing date: 23:59, Sunday 30th August 2026. Interviews will be held during the week commencing 21st September 2026.

Informal enquiries: email reparative-futures@bristol.ac.uk.