A Life We Can All Afford: The People's Inquiry

About the Project

Across Ireland, the cost-of-living crisis is reshaping people's lives. Rising energy bills, rent, food prices, and care costs are pushing more and more people to the edge. Failure by governments to address inequalities is fuelling a deepening sense of exclusion and disillusionment with democracy, and far-right actors are increasingly exploiting this hardship, offering false solutions designed to divide communities.

Through deep listening, leadership building and connection, narrative power, national and regional events, we will co-create a People's Charter capable of shaping national policy, shifting public narratives, and building a civil society that is more connected, more visible and connected.

A Life We Can All Afford: The People's Inquiry is an all-island initiative, which will place communities at the centre of building a powerful, evidence-based agenda for change. Uplift is the lead partner, with Hope & Courage Collective, Community Work Ireland, Act Now NI and Cliftonville Regeneration Forum.

About the Role.

The project lead role is for 18 months. Employed by Uplift, you will coordinate this innovative initiative, guided by an agreed project plan. Working remotely, you can be based anywhere on the island of Ireland, and you will be expected to travel throughout the island.

Key Responsibilities

Project Coordination and Delivery

Lead the development and implementation of the project roadmap, ensuring measurable goals, timelines, and outputs are met.
Coordinate the cross-partner implementation team, fostering shared ownership, clear roles and strong communication across partner organisations.
Support the Steering Group and Advisory Group to function effectively, preparing materials, coordinating meetings and following up on agreed actions.
Oversee the practice capture process, ensuring learning, evidence and methodology are documented.
Manage the budget and reporting to funders.

Community Engagement and Deep Listening

Lead the design and delivery of the deep listening phase of this project, including the development of materials and coordination of data collection.
Support the planning and delivery of 100+ community events — kitchen table conversations, town halls and local dialogues — ensuring broad representation across class, geography and communities of interest.
Coordinate the recruitment and training of community leaders and partner organisations ie deep listening, media and narrative power.
Establish and manage communication channels between all involved leaders and partners.

Narrative and Communications

Oversee the language and narrative analysis work and development of evidence-based persuasive narratives (based on the deep listening phase).
Coordinate the communications and political engagement plan, including media strategy, branding and political outreach.
Support trained community spokespersons to engage with local and national media.
Create content to communicate the purpose, process, and impact of this initiative.

All-Island Partnership

Maintain strong working relationships with all partner organisations, taking into account the different political and organisational contexts in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Events & Actions

Organise the National People's Inquiry Event, including logistics, media engagement, participation of communities across the island, and follow-up activities
Organise events in NI, i.e., pledge launch and hustings for Assembly Elections, including logistics, media engagement, participation of communities across the island, and follow-up activities
Organise regional and localised feedback activities.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

Track progress against agreed success indicators and ensure evidence is documented
Lead the learning and reflection review at the close of the project,
Document best practices and design the dissemination of learning for wider civil society.
Represent the project at practice seminars, stakeholder events and public platforms as required.

Who We Are Looking For

Essential

Proven experience in project coordination and management of multiple workstreams, deadlines and relationships simultaneously.
Experience in community development, campaigning or leadership development.
Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
Ability to innovate, use of design thinking, and problem-solving.
Strong political judgment, including the dynamics of the cost-of-living crisis and the rise of far-right activity.
Understanding of the political and social landscape in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Desirable

Familiarity with deep listening, narrative power or participatory action research methodologies.
Experience of working on an all-island or cross-border work.
Excellent facilitation and decision-making skills
Media and spokesperson experience, or experience of supporting others in those roles.
Strong tech and digital skills.

How to Apply

To apply, please complete the application form 2pm May 18th, 2026

Employment details

Contract: Fixed-term, employed by Uplift, 16 months (July 2026 – October 2027)

Hours: 0.7 FTE (24 hours per week)

Salary: €35,479 (€50,684 pro rata)

Location: Remote working location within the island of Ireland, with regular all-island travel required

Responsible to: Uplift Executive Director.

This role is kindly funded by St Stephen's Green Trust through its Rooting Active Democracy grant programme.

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Project Lead - A Life We Can All Afford