Where to start? We currently have over 300 volunteers working across our four regions in England. Their roles are varied, and range from serving lunch in our day centre to football coaching on Saturday afternoons. Some, for example, teaching English, require specialist skills but the main skills that we need from you are enthusiasm and an interest in refugee and asylum seeker issues. Whether you are looking to volunteer on a specific short term project, or would like to volunteer over a long period of time, we would love to hear from you.
Our volunteer roles can be broadly divided into three main areas:
- volunteering in direct services
- office-based volunteering
- community-based volunteering
Volunteering in direct services
Our direct services work closely with clients and help them though every stage of the asylum and settlement process - from applying for support from the National Asylum Support Service to the provision of information about rights and entitlements after an asylum application decision. Volunteers play a key role in this work and allow us to offer a broader and higher quality range of services. Volunteer roles include:
- staffing an information line
- working with project workers and client advisors to provide information to clients
- providing English language classes
- working with our reception team to greet clients and answer enquiries
- serving meals and supporting services in our London day centre
Office-based volunteering
As well as working directly with clients we also work on their behalf through policy work, research, campaigning and supporting refugee community organisations. Volunteers play a key role in supporting this work, as well as allowing us to develop new innovative projects. They work in a variety of different ways - from providing valuable office and administration support to organising events. Examples of recent office-based volunteer roles include:
- research for a variety of different projects across the organisation
- administration
- writing and researching articles for newsletters or websites
- assisting with event organisation and marketing, including Refugee Week
Community-based volunteering
With the exception of our London offices, all our offices have volunteer projects based in a community environment. This allows us to be more accessible to our client group and be more innovative in the services we offer. Many of these community-based activities are run by volunteers and range from football coaching in Birmingham to home-based ESOL teaching in Ipswich and talks teams in Leeds. Volunteer roles include:
- helping to organise and run a women’s group
- accompanying clients to appointments and meetings
- teaching English in community centres and providing one to one home tuition
- giving talks and presentations on asylum seeker and refugee issues
- assisting with creative art and theatre projects
We are always interested in developing new volunteer roles. In the past we have developed new roles and activities for specific volunteers and are keen to continue expanding volunteering opportunities. If you have any specialist skills that you feel might be useful for our work that aren't listed here, please continue to apply to volunteer for the Refugee Council. When filling in your application form, please list your skills and give a brief explanation of the type of work you would like to do with the Refugee Council.
To find out more about specific opportunities, choose the office closest to you and click on the links below.
London
East of England
West Midlands
Yorkshire and Humberside
Be a Volunteer Fundraiser
If you would like to make a difference that counts, why not raise funds in aid of the Refugee Council. There are many fun and challenging ways to do this independently, without having to fill out a volunteer application form. Being a volunteer fundraiser is a great way to engage your family, friends and local community.
You can host a RefuTEA at your home, college or work. Why not do a sponsored challenge?
You are welcome to come up with your own ideas, activities or one-off events. You can read here about what other supporters have done to fundraise in aid of the Refugee Council – from cycling in Cambodia to a half marathon completed by residents at a care home. For more details on how to do your own fundraising for the Refugee Council click here. To receive a fundraising pack with awareness materials and plenty of fundraising tips email supporter@refugeecouncil.org.uk.
If you are interested in office-based fundraising experience, please search through our volunteer vacancies and complete an application form.
