Melbourne University Community Garden is located on Monash Road at Parkville campus, and is a space for growing healthy food, learning gardening skills and meeting like-minded people.
The garden wouldn’t run without our volunteers! We are looking to appoint several volunteer Garden Coordinators to help make decisions about the management/running of the garden, and ensure that all participants get as much out of the space as possible.
The team of coordinators will be involved in:
- Attending meetings to discuss planting and activities for each season
- Assisting with the planning and execution of working bees, workshops and events
- Advertising activities in the garden
- Updating the MUC Garden Facebook page and website
- Attending Environment Collective meetings
- Ensuring that transparent budgetary records are kept
- Communicating with the garden facilitators about the materials required for upcoming working bees
There are no minimum hours for this position, however it is expected that coordinators will be regularly involved in the life of the garden by attending as many events and working bees as possible, and being in communication with other garden members.
The coordinators work in conjunction with the Garden Facilitators. The Garden Facilitators volunteer as coordinators, as well as: being responsible for facilitating democratic decisions within the group; ensuring that the garden (including the compost) is properly maintained and looks presentable (especially during university holidays); communicating with university grounds staff; making sure that the budget is correctly managed; and preparing materials required for working bees and events. Essentially, the garden is there for and run by the volunteers, and the facilitators are there to make sure things go smoothly!
Being a garden coordinator has lots of benefits, including:
- Affecting the future of a garden that successfully demonstrates the benefits of communal urban gardening
- Gaining experience in organic gardening
- Networking with other passionate people
- Gaining valuable resumé building skills in volunteer management, organising and running meetings, managing a budget, running events, liaising with different stakeholders, and managing social media channels
- Getting a reference to put on your CV
- Harvesting delicious produce from the garden to take home
- The potential to apply for a paid facilitator position at the garden in future
To apply for the position, please email us at mucgarden@gmail.com with answers to the following questions so we can get to know a bit about you:
- Please tell us a bit about yourself (e.g. hobbies, interests, what field you work in or what you’re studying).
- Have you already been to events or working bees at the MUC Garden?
- Why would you like to be a Garden Coordinator?
- Do you have any gardening experience (it’s completely fine if you don’t!)?
- Do you have a particular area of interest (e.g. garden maintenance, running workshops, advertising)?
- Are you willing to attend regular (e.g. once per month) meetings with other coordinators?
- What skills, knowledge or other benefits would you like to gain from this position?
- How did you hear about this position?
- Any questions or anything else you would like to add?
- What is the best way to contact you?
You can find out more about the garden at our website (http://mucgarden.weebly.com/) or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MU.CommunityGarden).
If you have any questions, please contact us at mucgarden@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!