Volunteering

Project Leader: Barbara Spreiz Dhliwayo Number of Volunteers: 222 (50 asylum seekers/refugees – 22.5%) Number of New Volunteers: 92

Project Description

Volunteering at Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum (NNRF) is an opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of asylum seekers and refugees in Nottingham. Our team of volunteers offer a warm welcome and support to those seeking safety in our city. We particularly encourage our clients to volunteer in order to gain experience, increase their social networks, improve their communication skills, and increase their confidence. We are immensely proud of our diverse, talented and committed team of volunteers - the heart and soul of NNRF!

Project Successes

We offered 37 training sessions and 3 interpreting courses; 243 volunteers and COI partners attended. Particular emphasis was put on safeguarding – over 100 volunteers have improved their understanding of safeguarding and are more aware of their responsibilities. Our team of volunteers has a diverse range of skills, talents and backgrounds. 41 languages are spoken by volunteers from 48 different countries across 6 continents. A snapshot of the volunteering team at the end of the financial year showed that NNRF benefits from about 500 hours of volunteering each week, or 26,000 hours per year – equivalent to 13.5 full time staff. In early 2022, we started the re-accreditation process for Investing in Volunteers, the quality standard in volunteer management, which we expect to obtain before the end of the year.

Plans and hopes for the coming year

• Achieving the Investing in Volunteers quality mark (again!) • Improving training, development and participation opportunities for volunteers • Celebrating and thanking volunteers more frequently than we did during the pandemic

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 from the trainer, they understood what they could have done differently, and clarified their understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities. This proved to be very useful when they demonstrated their knowledge of safeguarding in a successful job interview!

“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.”

“I’m still a relatively new volunteer, but I’ve certainly found volunteering at the NNRF incredibly rewarding! Everyone has been amazingly supportive, and my first experience of working remotely last week was a real eye opener about the incredible challenge you’ve all overcome to keep the Forum going during the lockdowns.” The top 3 things that make volunteering at NNRF attractive, according to one of our volunteers, are: 1. A dedication to helping people who have experienced the hostile environment and often continue to experience difficulties in their host country. 2. A willingness to work together. 3. Being allowed to have a degree of independence and initiative taking, whilst benefiting from the support of the organisation and its staff. This is particularly attractive for volunteers since it allows a balance of individual resourcefulness together with the support of knowledgeable and understanding supervisors. “

Appreciation: we would like to thank…

Volunteers – for their passion, commitment, patience and collaboration. Dave Hewitt – for support, advice and good communication with prospective volunteers. Staff members who look after our volunteers on a daily basis, making it a rewarding experience. Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service (NCVS), Nottingham Trent University and The University of Nottingham for being great sources of brilliant volunteers and promoting volunteering across Nottingham.