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The Social Justice Commission of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa & Polynesia

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Volunteering with Refugee Services

By / 8 June 2009

Refugee services are currently in need of more volunteers. Perhaps this would be of interest to a Parish or home group?

“Refugee Services operates a unique programme which trains volunteers to work alongside quota refugees as they begin to settle into their new communities. The programme currently operates in the resettlement centres where we have offices: Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Porirua, Hutt Valley, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch.”

Our Volunteer Training Programme helps equip volunteers with the skills and knowledge and confidence needed to provide newly-arrived refugees with practical support, advocacy and friendship during the initial six months of their resettlement.

The work is challenging and involves commitment and responsibility but brings with it great rewards. Our volunteers come from every walk of life. If you enjoy meeting people from other cultures and would like to share your own; want to help refugees adapt to life in NZ; and have time to spend with a refugee, this could be the opportunity for you.

We operate an in-house training programme for volunteers at different times throughout the year in the different centres. The course is around 17.5 hours long and classes usually take place in the evenings or at weekends.

A broad range of topics relating to refugee and resettlement issues is covered including:

the refugee experience
the role of the volunteer support worker
refugee cultures
support services and resources for refugees and their support workers
refugee health & well-being and education

The programme is approved by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and is designed so that all support workers can qualify for our Refugee Services Certificate in Refugee Resettlement Support.

After attending the programme and acceptance interview each successful support worker is placed in a small team and introduced to a refugee individual or family. When the refugees arrive in their new communities support workers offer practical help and undertake to be in weekly contact for a six month period. We provide on-going support and supervision to all support workers.

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About us

This site is run by the Social Justice Commission of the Anglican Church.

We seek to nurture justice spirituality and imagination, and engage in advocacy in all areas of life, overcoming poverty and transforming violence.

We encourage people to think and live “justly”, and emphasise debate and action on local, national and global issues.

Although we are Anglican, our vision isn’t so much about being Anglican. It’s about living justly. Justice is about how you live your life, and being just where we are. Working together, we can all flourish.

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