Volunteering with the Refugee Council of Australia
The Refugee Council of Australia is a small organisation. It relies on the support of dedicated volunteers to maintain our vital work. However, there are only a small number of opportunities because we do not have many staff and have limited office space.
We do not work directly with refugees or people seeking asylum, so if you are interested in helping them directly, please consider volunteering with our members.
Who can volunteer?
Most of our opportunities to volunteer will be based in our Sydney or Melbourne offices, but we do take volunteers that can work remotely. Our aim is to recruit a diverse and dedicated team of volunteers. We especially encourage the following people to apply:
- people from refugee backgrounds or people seeking asylum
- people with language skills relevant to refugee communities
- people with specialist skills in communications (for example, WordPress and website development, graphic design, infographics), statistics, fundraising and administration.
- people who have good skills in research and policy analysis, including students.
What would we expect
For general volunteers, we generally require a minimum commitment of one day a week for at least six months of the year. We prefer people who can commit a regular day of the week but can be flexible.
What would you do?
Our general volunteers perform a wide range of tasks, including:
- helping us research and draft publications
- helping us write content for our website and bulletins
- attending member events and networks
- helping us organise events
- helping us gather and analyse data, including statistics
- helping us answer public enquiries.
People with specialist skills also help us with translating documents, designing our website and communications, and giving advice on areas within their expertise.
We currently have the following volunteering opportunities:
- Face to Face project volunteer. Our Face to Face refugee speaker program, which is largely targeted at schools, is looking for a volunteer to work on an evaluation report, update links to school curriculum and create promotional material for the program. Teachers or former teachers are especially encouraged to apply. This position can be carried out remotely.
- Graphic Designer. This an ongoing position/s as we have many projects that need graphic design. A student on placement could be catered for as well and they could work on a specific project if required.
Internships at the Refugee Council of Australia
As we have a small, largely part-time staff, we have limited opportunities for internships in our Sydney and Melbourne offices. From time to time, we may have capacity to take on one or two interns, depending on our priorities and capacity. Internships must result in formal course credit at a university, preferably an Australian university. We prioritise the following in our consideration of applications:
- People from refugee backgrounds
- Previous or current volunteers with the Refugee Council of Australia
- Universities with which we have an existing relationship
- Flexible internships that do not require a long-term research report
- Topics that are strongly aligned with our current policy priorities and staff expertise.
Applications must be provided well in advance to ensure that we have adequate time to review them, and include relevant university requirements, proposed start and end dates, information regarding the topic, and address any of the criteria for priorities indicated above. All applications should be provided through the link below, selecting the ‘Internship’ option in the form.
Apply for an internship with us
Volunteering with our members
Many of our member organisations rely on volunteers. Volunteering with our members offers real opportunities to work with refugees and those people seeking asylum.
Use the scroll bars on the right and the bottom to get more information. You can also limit, sort, download and view a record of a single organisation.
We are checking the information we have about organisations that offer volunteering opportunities. If your organisation is a member of the Refugee Council of Australia and would like to be included on this list, please email us to confirm your listing.
