Responsible to: Chief Executive Officer

Context of Job: This role is within our team who support people seeking asylum, refugees and other diaspora communities.

A second part time post of Community Engagement Lead is also being recruited for. We are open to applications to both positions to create full time hours, if the candidate has the skills and experience for both roles.

We are an equal opportunities employer.

Multicultural Cumbria is a grassroots organisation committed to promoting inclusion, celebrating cultural diversity, and empowering ethnically diverse communities across Cumbria. Since its formation in 2017, we have built strong community connections through arts, education, food, and dialogue, creating a vital bridge between cultures.

We aim to enable, engage and empower diasporas to create a truly multicultural county; to break down barriers and promote cultures by sharing our similarities and celebrating our differences. This promotes a strong sense of identity for diasporas to make a positive contribution to Cumbria and its cultural diversity.

Multicultural Cumbria has a small staff team of 5 people, so this position is an opportunity to really contribute your ideas, energy, skills and experience with visible results.

Purpose of Job:

To work as part of the Asylum Seeker and Refugee support team, acting as primary liaison between staff and volunteers.

To develop strategies to support asylum seekers to volunteer with arts and culture organisations or other charities.

To support asylum seekers, refugees and other diaspora to develop skills, leading to better future employment outcomes.

To support people to volunteer with Multicultural Cumbria, developing and delivering on recruitment, induction, and training plans and celebratory programmes

To work with the CEO on developing volunteer role descriptions, policies and procedures.

To manage volunteer schedules to ensure that there is coverage for events and activities, with people placed in roles according to their skills and interests.

To maintain accurate records of volunteer numbers, work streams and hours contributed and volunteer profiles and contact information.

To reach out to and work with Syrian, Afghan and Ukrainian communities, asylum seekers and refugees of all nationalities, cultures and faiths and engagement with Cumberland Council’s Resettlement Team.

To increase capacity within Multicultural Cumbria to develop, expand and deliver cultural and community engagement activities and support for asylum seekers and refugees.

To work to the principles of welcome, inclusion and equity, promoting the well-being of everyone - a culture of mutual support and good community cohesion

Main Duties:

To support volunteers, many who will have English as a second language, achieve their volunteering aims which benefit the individual and the organisation they are volunteering for

Act as the main point of contact for volunteer questions and concerns

Monitor volunteer performance and provide feedback if necessary

To set up and maintain systems to record volunteer details including demographics, role, hours contributed and tasks undertaken

Work with partner organisations to support potential diaspora volunteers to access volunteer opportunities.

To recruit, train and support volunteers from the community to assist in our asylum seeker and refugee support programmes across Cumberland

To help the communities of Cumberland to welcome people seeking asylum, enabling integration and participation in the life of the communities.

To work together with other staff and stakeholders to agreed deadlines and budgets including the Asylum Seeker and Refugee Coordinators.

To learn about and contribute to our Asylum Seeker and Refugee Support Service and develop skills to enable Multicultural Cumbria to provide a flexible and responsive service

General Duties:

To promote community cohesion, inclusion and equity for all.

Attend meetings as necessary.

Represent Multicultural Cumbria and promote their ethos by working in a positive way.

Contribute to monitoring and reports.

Abide by all Multicultural Cumbria’s policies, including those around safeguarding, confidentiality and data protection.

Ensure that personal behavior demonstrates integrity, openness and honesty; and is anti-oppressive, non-judgmental and supports diversity.

Take responsibility for inputting and storing data, and compliance with GDPR.

It is the nature of the work that tasks and responsibilities are in many circumstances unpredictable and varied. Employees are therefore expected to work in a flexible way and tasks which are not specifically covered in their job description may have to be undertaken.