Green Impact Project Assistants

The Green Impact Project Assistants (GIPA) scheme provides excellent development opportunities for students as well as extra support for your programme. It’s proven successful in many organisations both on and off-campus.

 

This page is for organisations who wish to run the GIPA programme. If you are a student who wishes to become a GIPA, please look out for opportunities at your university. You can also consider becoming a Green Impact Auditor.

SOS-UK train students to become Project Assistants to join Green Impact teams within your organisation to offer support and extra resource. Through the scheme, students develop a range of transferable skills, gain experience of a professional workplace, and increase their sustainability knowledge. Green Impact Project Assistants also add capacity to your Green Impact teams and act as a link between students and staff at your organisation.

Benefits of Green Impact Project Assistants

Student benefits

  • A chance to develop and gain invaluable transferable skills: 88% of students in previous years gave a rating of 4 or higher in response to being asked to what extent the training/practical experience would have a positive impact on their employability.
  • Increased knowledge of sustainable practices in the workplace.
  • Experience of working in a professional department and having an influence on their sustainability practices.
  • Building links and relationships with a broad range of staff members and other students.
  • Opportunity to contribute to Green Impact’s national communications through writing blogs articles, taking photos, drawing up case studies etc.

Organisational benefits

  • Enhanced student experience
  • Greater student engagement in university operations/strategy
  • Increased employability opportunities for local students
  • Building strong relationships with other organisations in the community
  • Increased volunteer base/engaged audience for other sustainability related projects
  • Increased student-staff collaboration

Team benefits

  • Added resource to help complete Green Impact actions and the toolkit.
  • Increased student-staff collaboration.
  • New perspective on actions and communications within the toolkit.

 

We have two packages which you can add on to your Green Impact programme. Tier 1 includes delivery of the initial training of your GIPAs and guidance and templates for you to support them over the year. Tier 2 includes everything in Tier 1 as well as two additional days of training and/or support for your GIPAs, ongoing check-ins, and a wrap-up event to support with your GIPAs careers development.  

To request more information on our GIPA programme, including costs, or if you have any questions, please get in touch through the contact page.