Why Volunteer at Nottingham Refugee Forum?
Volunteers are at the heart of Nottingham Refugee Forum. Our incredible volunteers stand with local refugees and asylum seekers and gain invaluable skills and experience.
“There’s an ocean of need but I feel I can make a tiny bit of difference”
Our dedicated volunteers support many of our projects. We welcome volunteers from a range of backgrounds and are dedicated to help our volunteers develop.
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Things to Consider Before Volunteering
- Most of our volunteering roles require a minimum commitment of 6 months
- Many of our roles are available to people that want to improve their English skills but some roles may require a high level of English or existing IT skills
- Most of our roles require availability during office hours
- We have select volunteer recruitment periods, keep an eye on our website for any updates
How Do I Join the Volunteering Team?
Complete a Volunteering Application Form to apply for our current roles.
Interested in becoming an Interpreter? Complete an Interpreter Application Form on our Voices in Refuge website.
If you’re not interested in any of our current roles, complete a Volunteer Registration Form to receive updates on new volunteering opportunities.
Contact volunteering@nottsrefugeeforum.org.uk if you have any further questions.
“The best part of volunteering at Nottingham Refugee Forum were the clients, other volunteers that I worked with and the great sense of community”
Former Volunteer
Best practice in volunteering
We are extremely proud that we have, once again, been accredited with Investing in Volunteers, demonstrating excellent practice in volunteer management across the organisation. During the year-long process of self-improvement and assessment, we have updated key policies, clarified procedures, provided training for staff who manage volunteers and engaged volunteers in several consultations.
We are committed to:-
– Transparent recruitment and onboarding process
– Equal opportunities for candidates with protected characteristics, including immigration status (asylum seekers and refugees are especially welcome to volunteer!)
– Reimbursing volunteer expenses
– Having a dedicated staff member and trustee to support and represent volunteers
– Providing training and development opportunities for volunteers
– Volunteers joining key committees and working groups (alongside staff and trustees), depending on their interest and expertise
– Offering references and support letters to volunteers
– Celebrating volunteers’ achievements and contributions
What our volunteers say
A long-term volunteer made use of the safeguarding training opportunity to (confidentially) highlight examples they have had to deal with in the course of their volunteering. Through group discussion and guidance for trainer, they understood what they could have done differently before, and clarified their understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities. This proved to be very useful when they demonstrated their knowledge of safeguarding in a relevant job interview which they successfully passed!
“I enjoyed the interaction with the service users who genuinely seemed to appreciate someone listening to their concerns and caring about their situation. It felt like I was making a genuine difference or at least part of the process which would do so.”
“The staff have done a wonderful job of setting up a remote advice service and I am very proud to have been part of it. Great to learn new skills, e.g. taking part in three way telephone conversations with a client and an interpreter. Doing things I wouldn’t have imagined I’d ever do this time last year.”
