Refugee Support Food Support Volunteer Volunteer Roles

Role Description

The Volunteer Cook is responsible for preparing and cooking a variety of meals in our kitchen. This includes following recipes, ensuring food safety and hygiene standards are met, and adapting menus to meet dietary requirements as needed. In this role, you’ll work as part of a team to ensure the smooth preparation of lunch for approximately 30-40 visitors at our centre, who have a variety of dietary needs. This role requires a commitment of 3 months.

Lunch preparation starts at 9:45am and lunch is served at 12pm on Mondays and Thursdays.

Person Specification

Essential

• Ability to work efficiently as part of a team.
• Good time management and organisational skills.
• Ability to follow recipes and instructions accurately
• Willingness to adapt to changing menus and kitchen needs
• Familiarity with food hygiene and safety regulations (preferred but training will be provided)

Desirable

• Experience as a cook in a similar environment
• Experience working or volunteering with refugees or asylum seekers

How to apply

If you are interested in applying for this role please email a completed copy of the Volunteer Application Form

Care4Calais is a volunteer run charity delivering essential aid and support to refugees living in France and the UK. We believe in a fair and tolerant British society and advocate for a welcoming and inclusive attitude towards refugees.

In northern France we operate year-round from Calais, providing warm clothing, bedding, food and assistance to refugees who live in appalling and dangerous conditions.
Across the UK we collect and distribute clothes, shoes, mobile phones and other essential items, as well as social support and interaction, including language lessons, sport and music workshops.  We also help with vital access to legal, medical and educational services.

Due to rapid growth of our UK operations, we are currently looking for volunteers who will help us drive froward UK operations to achieve maximum impact and effectiveness.

Profile:

Strong interest in refugee and asylum work.

Hands on, operational, dynamic and enthusiastic

Team worker with good communication and people skills

Pragmatic with a strong willingness and drive to find solutions and to get things done

Capacity to inspire and sustain volunteer engagement

Organizational skills

Note: Appropriate training and support will be provided. 

As a Regional Lead, you will act as a point of contact between volunteers and the Care4Calais UK Operations team. Working mainly via Facebook/Whatsapp groups, Google Drive, and Zoom, your primary function is to motivate, inspire and support volunteers to take actions. These actions include distributions of essential aid to asylum seekers, joining in and organising social activities, and befriending and supporting asylum seekers to access key services. You will be available to answer questions and provide support to volunteers, and to drive the group forward to achieve maximum impact and effectiveness.

In addition, you will represent Care4Calais in your region and support the team to identify and develop local partnerships. You will acquire an in-depth understanding of Care4Calais policies and procedures and ensure they are adhered to for all local operations. You will also be responsible for keeping the UK operations team informed of activities in your area, as well as feeding back to your group any UK-wide information and updates, promoting strong communication, best practice sharing and rapid action.

Our guidance for groups document sets out the key objectives for UK regional groups, explaining the optimum way we should be working together as an organisation to achieve our goals in an organised and effective manner. This guidance was developed based on the experience of our teams on the ground and reflects current best practice. As a regional lead, you should familiarise yourself with this guidance and look to ensure that your group is operating according to its content.

Tasks:

Set-up:

• Request access to the ‘Care4Calais volunteer chat group’ and your regional group on Facebook.

• Ask admin to add you to the main whatsapp groups – Regional Lead Support group (optional) and the UK Hotels group. The former is for issues specific to regional leads and is for support, and the latter for all UK hotel leads.

• We highly recommend using a separate phone and sim card for Care4Calais; this allows you to switch off when you need to. You may also want to set up a specific Care4Calais Facebook account.

• Events, such as upcoming distributions or drop-ins, to keep everyone in the loop and encourage new volunteers to join in.

• Important updates that may affect the group, such as changes in government legislation, or new services that Care4Calais UK are offering.

• Posts to congratulate everyone on their hard work and keep them motivated!

• You should also keep an eye on the ‘Care4Calais volunteer chat group’. Sometimes people may post requests relevant to your area. We also receive requests from areas that don’t have a dedicated C4C group, but there may be an individual volunteer in that area - you can post in the volunteer group in case they can help.

Emails:

• Emails come through from various sources – via the Annie inbox (monitored by admin), from other charities or from other places. 

• Emails are often requests for items for individuals in the area. If your group maintains a spreadsheet of requests, add these requests to the spreadsheet, place a post on Facebook (see above) or get in contact with a volunteer if you know someone in their specific area.

• If you are sent an email from the Annie inbox, don’t reply to the Annie email – reply to the email address that sent the original email to the Annie inbox.

• Keep on top of emails daily if possible.

Meetings:

• Host a meeting with the group

• Make sure this is advertised well in advance to increase the amount of people who attend. 

• Write an agenda beforehand to ensure you remember to cover everything in the meeting.

• Ask someone to take minutes and post them on the facebook group after the meeting.

General volunteer support:

Another aspect of the regional lead role is ensuring volunteers feel well supported and can reach out to you if they ever need. If you think a volunteer is struggling or doesn’t feel integrated in the group, reach out to them. You need to be there for volunteers when they have questions and just be a friendly supportive face. If you feel a volunteer is dealing with some very sensitive cases that may call for extra support, RLs can, at their discretion, offer volunteers the opportunity to speak to an MSF counsellor. 

Remember that the C4C UK Operations Team and Field Operations Coordinators are always here to help, just pop them a message if you have any questions and feel free to reach out to them for support!

Care4Calais is dedicated to cultivating a diverse and inclusive work environment and
recognises that this is invaluable to our ability to serve the communities we support.

We therefore welcome and encourage applications from diverse backgrounds including
from Black, Asian and Minority-Ethnic communities, people from refugee and migrant
backgrounds, and people with lived experience of the UK immigration system. If you have
any questions about this or need additional support with the application process for any reason, please let us know.

Plateful Café works to relieve poverty and isolation amongst refugees, asylum seekers and ethnic minorities in Lewisham. Our commitment is to reach the most vulnerable people in our community and open a pathway to employment for people who have asylum here. Refugees will benefit from workshops, training skills and knowledge relevant for the catering industry. As a small charity it is important to share information and updates through our communications and social media content, to help us fundraise and grow. We are looking for someone to assist us with updating our website including the online shop, events page and blog. The website is a key part of Plateful Café, raising awareness about the barriers to work for refugees as well as helping to share our delicious products with a broad network. By joining the team you’ll be able to put your marketing and website design skills to great use, ensuring more refugees in South-East London can share delicious food.

Duties will include:

• Keeping the website up to date, including the online shop, events page and blog
• Identifying potential content and opportunities
• Adding ideas to the content planner
• Producing analytics on a monthly basis
• Attendance at monthly web  team catch-ups virtually/phone 
• ad-hoc attendance at events and markets

Requirements:

• Photo editing skills
• Experience with using Wordpress and Woocommerce
• Marketing / communications experience
• Able to create interesting and engaging content
• An interest in supporting refugees and contributing to the work of Plateful Café
• Good time management skills
• Good team player

Desirable:

• SEO knowledge
• Experience of working with refugees, people seeking asylum, vulnerable groups or lived experience
• Lives in South-East London

What Will You Gain?

• Experience and insight into working with a charity and our community and play a key part in ensuring Plateful Cafe achieves its goals.
• Develop your writing, editing and website skills
• Access training opportunities available to Plateful Cafe volunteers
• Regular support with undertaking your role

Our volunteers champion the rights of young people in care and on the edges of care, support them to access advocacy and make their voices heard. Training is provided. Whether you are currently studying, recently graduated, working part-time, retired or between jobs, volunteering with Coram Voice is a great opportunity to make a difference at the same time as gaining experience of working for a national children’s rights charity.

Our Helpline Supervisors will support you to develop valuable advocacy skills and knowledge of children’s rights and we offer specialist training in safeguarding, equality and diversity and advocacy. This training and other resources will help you to prepare for the role. You will be joining a team that provides quality support to young people in a friendly and supportive environment.

Our volunteer team is integral to our service and we could not provide the service we do without them, particularly in terms of the support we offer to homeless children.

We believe this role will be of particular interest to anyone looking to develop a career involving giving advice, advocacy, children’s and human rights, legal work, social work or youth work; or for professionals in those fields who want to use their experience to support the work of a children’s charity.

Please see our candidate information document for more information about our organisation and the training provided.

We ask that recruitment agencies do not contact us in relation to this position. We have chosen to recruit directly as this helps us to minimise our recruitment costs, ensuring that funds are not diverted from the children and young people we help.

We are looking for new trustees with experience of working in HR or fundraising to join our experienced and committed board. We are particualrly interetested in trustees who have lived experience of migration, either from claiming asylum in the UK or navigating the immigration system. You will join our main trustee board and one of our committees depending on your expertise.

LRMN exists to empower refugees and other migrants and to bring about systemic change to remove the challenges they face. Our services include providing specialist legal advice on immigration, housing and welfare, supporting those who need to improve their skills through training and volunteering as well as helping them gain employment.  We support women who survived gender-based abuse including rape, trafficking, domestic violence and more and we offer them 1:1 counselling and therapeutic activities.  In addition, we provide mental health and well-being support to those who are suffering from non-clinical mental health issues. We advocate and campaign against policies that are not fair and just and which uphold hostile environment. We also provide hardship funds and food parcels to destitute clients.

As a trustee you will be expected to attend a quarterly board meeting, join a sub-committee which also meets quarterly and offer support relevant to your expertise. We have three sub-committees: Organisation Development; Finance, Risk and Compliance; and Fundraising and Marketing. Meetings normally take place in the evening from 6pm and last about 2 hours. The sub-committee meetings are online and the full board meetings are a mix of online and in-person meetings. You will need to be able to attend face to face meetings in London.

A fantastic opportunity to build knowledge of the UK asylum system, gain hands-on casework experience and deliver an essential service to refugees. 

About us

Care4Calais is a volunteer-based charity providing essential aid and support for refugees in France and the UK.

In northern France we operate year-round from Calais, providing warm clothing, bedding, food and assistance to refugees who live in appalling and dangerous conditions. 

Across the UK we collect and distribute clothes, shoes, mobile phones and other essential items, as well as social support and interaction, including language lessons, sport and music workshops. We also help with vital access to legal, medical and educational services.

Our Legal Access Department is an access to justice project that exists to arrange critical legal representation for people seeking asylum and, more than this, to support people through the hostility and difficulty of claiming asylum. The department, made up mostly of volunteers, works tirelessly to ensure that people feel informed, empowered, and far less isolated and alone.

About the role

The aim of this role is to provide crucial one-to-one casework and support to people seeking asylum in the UK. Our Asylum Team assists asylum seekers in navigating the UK asylum process by finding them specialist solicitors and working with our volunteer interpreters to help them organise their paperwork.  We currently work with 100+ legal firms around the UK, providing an invaluable service to both the asylum-seeker and the overstretched legal immigration teams. You’ll have the chance to gain broad experience of working in a fast-paced and experienced team while meeting the ever-changing needs of those we support. So, if you thrive in a collaborative environment and are looking for a role where you can make a real difference, we want to hear from you! 

The Role  

As a Legal Access Caseworker, you’ll focus on providing outstanding support to your clients throughout the complex asylum process.

In this busy, hands-on role, you’ll gain a deep understanding of the function of the UK asylum system so we can provide the highest standards of service to those who need us most.  A key focus will be on maintaining accurate and complete records and processes and delivering high quality service to every one of our vulnerable clients. 

We are looking for people who have a genuine passion for human rights and refugee protection.  If this is you, please get in touch.

Responsibilities

• Manage own caseload of adult asylum seekers requiring legal representation to support their asylum claims and to challenge unsuitable accommodation, poor treatment, and uphold our client's rights. 

• Communicate effectively and sensitively with clients and refer to legal firms where appropriate. 

• Identify clients’ individual wellbeing needs and make onward referrals internally and externally in line with this. Provide emotional support to clients undertaking the process of claiming asylum in the UK.

• Liaise with legal teams on behalf of clients where necessary.

• Keep relevant records up to date to allow for quick and effective retrieval.

• Attend and contribute meaningfully to team meetings.

• Develop and maintain a network of key contacts within relevant authorities, legal teams dealing with immigration and public law matters, and other NGOs focused on support of refugees and people seeking asylum.

• Attend relevant external meetings representing the organisation as needed, ensuring that knowledge and learning is shared across the department. 

• Ensure that any safeguarding concerns are identified and responded to appropriately.

• Complete relevant external training required for you to undertake the role. 

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:

• Proven dedication to social justice with a clear understanding of the challenges faced by vulnerable populations.

• Ability to work sensitively and effectively with a diverse range of clients, demonstrating cultural competence, respect and compassion.

• Experience in efficiently managing high volume caseloads while maintaining a high standard of care and attention.

• Resilience in the face of challenging and emotionally demanding situations, with a positive and solution-oriented mindset.

• Exceptional written and oral communication skills, including the ability to convey complex information clearly and concisely.

• Meticulous attention to detail in documentation and case records, ensuring accuracy and compliance with protocols.

• Proactive and self-motivated, with the ability to take initiative.

• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office.

Desirable Criteria:

• Proficiency in one or more of the languages spoken within asylum seeking communities, such as but not limited to: Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, Dari, Kurdish Sorani, Tigrinya, Amharic.

Successful applicants will be provided with the induction and training needed for them to succeed in the role. 

Care4Calais is dedicated to cultivating a diverse and inclusive work environment and recognises that this is invaluable to our ability to serve the communities we support. 

We therefore welcome and encourage applications from diverse backgrounds including from Black, Asian and Minority-Ethnic communities, people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, and people with lived experience of the UK immigration system. If you have any questions about this or need additional support with the application process for any reason, please contact us.

Background to the RJ4All Internships 

RJ4All was originally set up by volunteers, and it would not exist without their involvement and continued support. Therefore, RJ4All recognises their significant contribution. The vast majority of our interns are young people most of whom are faced with challenges let those be social, financial, migration or refugee status etc.

The RJ4All internships are not paid, but offered on a volunteering basis. This is because we believe that volunteering is an important way to make a positive contribution to our communities and is of particular benefit to young people who are often forgotten or marginalised. Nevertheless, volunteering with RJ4All does not mean standing outside of tube stations wearing bunny suits to raise funds! It involves high quality project activity, engaging with social project and policy issues, and making a real difference where it matters. It also means doing youth-led work, organising events and running user-led training workshops. All out of pocket expenses are paid (see Volunteer Policy for more detail).

Our principles 

We are established upon the FREDA underlying values of restorative justice. These stand for Freedom, Respect, Equality, Dignity and Autonomy. Our interns are expected to subscribe to these values as well as that of power sharing. 

RJ4ALL has the Quality Mark of the European Commission’s European Solidarity Corps and has adopted European Solidarity Corps Charter. All principles underlying this Volunteer and Intern Policy are fully aligned with the Mission and Principles of the European Solidarity Corps. Previously, RJ4All was using the EVS principles (European Voluntary Service). 

The role  

This is a supporting role working under the line management of the Community Centre Manager. It is an office-based position at our RJ4All Community Centre in Rotherhithe working across projects and RJ4All services. The post holder will support the organisation to ensure the effective administration of the RJ4All Centre and the delivery of RJ4All programmes through a combination of excellent organisational, communication and interpersonal skills.

Initiative and innovation are attributes that are highly valued at RJ4All. Furthermore, the post holder will be involved in delivering project-related tasks as well as promoting projects, participate and create workshops. 

Volunteering hours under this role are between 9:30am-5:30pm and the placements are usually offered on a minimum of a 3-month engagement. 

Role description 

We want to offer a rounded experience to all our interns and therefore they are engaged in five different areas of work: 

1. Community Project Delivery on one or multiple of our community centre projects (incl. Youth Clubs, Food Bank, Community Fridge, Charity Shop, Sports classes for young people/for people with disabilities, Digital Inclusion workshops), art workshops, Mediation, wellbeing support, etc.).  

1. Research and policy support on our Restorative Justice postcode project.

1. Administrative work such as managing our organisation email account or project monitoring and evaluation

1. Social media such as leading on our Facebook page

1. Writing a blog for our members and our FRED campaign. 

Other tasks may include: 

• Engagement with Service Users, 

• Youth work, 

• Event planning, outreach, and management, 

• Report writing and proofreading, 

• Compiling, formatting, analysing qualitative and quantitative data,

• Conducting stakeholder mapping 

• Writing for the website, blogs and other newsletters, 

Helping with funding applications. 

What support will I be given?  

Interns will be given a full induction and will be supported through one-to-one meetings and daily support. The candidate will benefit from a range of training initiatives.

What benefits can I expect to gain from the experience?  

The position offers a rich and high-quality experience that will enhance future job prospects within the area of community engagement and project delivery within the charity sector as well as social policy and research. We also offer Youth Pass and CPD accreditation where relevant. 

What skills or experience do I need? 

• An interest in community engagement and project delivery within the charitable sector and/or social policy and research

• Excellent written and oral communication skills,

• Excellent organisational skills

• Ability to work as a member of a team and on your own initiative,

• A keen eye for spotting errors, 

• Organised and self-managing, 

• Commitment to the values of dialogue, transparency, non-adversarial methods of conflict resolution and restorative justice, 

• Sympathise with the aims, ethos and organisational culture of RJ4All including its vision, mission and values.