Time Commitment: Minimum of 1 morning or 1 afternoon in-person per week, for a minimum of six months; highly desired more than this! Ideally, a minimum time commitment of 6 months.
Volunteer reports to: Bridge Team Manager
Start Date: As soon as possible
Summary:
The Lisbon Project’s mission is to build a community that integrates and empowers refugees and migrants. The Bridge Team’s role in this is to support community members to get:
Integrated through increased understanding of their specific paperwork and
Empowered through more generalised workshops that increase knowledge of Portugal and their rights within it.
We aim to have 1:1 Bridge Team drop-in support available any time the Lisbon Project is open so that community members always have a warm and welcoming place where they can talk through their bureaucratic questions and be accompanied, equipped and encouraged as they work out the next steps they need to take.
Bridge Team volunteers are not experts and they do not “casehold” or take on ongoing responsibility for community member’s situations after the drop-in session. Most community members benefit significantly from simply having a native Portuguese speaker alongside them as they navigate basic bureaucratic processes but, where the administrative or legal situations are more complex, community members are signposted to more specialist services outside of the Lisbon Project. We are currently in the process of recruiting an ‘Expert Panel’ or a selection of experts to provide adhoc advice to volunteers as they respond and re-direct community members navigating more complex processes.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Become a part of the Bridge Team Drop-In timetable: attending the LP, wearing the team lanyard and making yourself available for community member drop-in sessions. Use LP time not sat with community members, to produce content for the AdminHub (community information platform about administrative processes.)
In drop-in sessions, work collaboratively with community members: exploring the administrative issues they are navigating and working out the next steps with them. Do this in a way that equips the community member with the knowledge, vocabularly, tools and confidence to undertake the same or similar processes by themselves in future.
Remain an active and communicative part of the team; supporting collective learning and development through:
Identification of monthly community workshop topics
Development of AdminHub content
Potentially presenting an informal information session (workshop) if they cover an area you are knowledgeable in
Ongoing evaluation and development of team processes and systems
Requirements:
Fluency in Portuguese and English is required; knowledge of other community languages is highly desirable
Qualifications, studies or experience relating to social work or law
Familiarity with Portuguese administrative systems highly desirable
Qualifications, studies or experience relating to social work or law highly desirable
Experience in intercultural communication and/or with communicating with people in vulnerable situations highly desirable
Required ability to work independently but in active communication with team members and supervisors
Highly desired experience of managing expectations and communicating boundaries clearly
Required commitment to serving migrant communities with care and compassion
Benefits:
Contribution to social impact: self-fulfillment and personal growth in pursuing a valuable cause.
Knowledge growth: learning about immigration related processes, contexts, and realities as well as other NGO related topics in Portugal.
Free tea and coffee!
Becoming a part of the LP team and community – its diversity of people, passions and foods!
We can’t do it without you! Thank you for being a part of our team.
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