Job Title: Project Officer, Refugees for Justice

Salary: £24,696 Per Annum Pro Rata

Hours: flexible 21-25.5 hours per week (some unsociable hours)

Reports to: R4J Senior Project Manager

Contract: 18 months

Based: Glasgow

Deadline: 2 March 2022 at 10am

Interviews: Week commencing 7 March 2022

Citizens UK

Citizens UK is a people power alliance of diverse local communities working together for the common good. Our mission is to develop leaders, strengthen civic organisations and make change. Our 550 member communities are deeply rooted in their local areas and connect every day to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Through the method of community organising we enable people experiencing powerlessness to develop their leadership and come together with the power and strategy to make change. 

This leads to hundreds of neighbourhood improvements - from zebra crossings outside primary schools to renovated public toilets in cemeteries. And it leads to some of the biggest campaign impacts in the UK, such as winning over £1.5 billion of wages through the UK Living Wage campaign, securing a legal cap on the cost of credit to control exploitative lending, and ending the detention of children for immigration purposes. We enable local campaigns to grow into large-scale social change projects such as the Living Wage Foundation, Parents and Communities Together (PACT), and Sponsor Refugees, that form an integral part of our theory of change. The most prominent of these is the rapidly growing Living Wage Foundation with a network of nearly 9,000 accredited Living Wage Employers across the UK. 

Refugees for Justice

R4J sits within Citizens UK’s Together We Can team. Refugees for Justice (R4J) is a refugee-led campaign for justice, accountability, and change in the UK asylum accommodation and support provision system. The group was launched in the aftermath of the Park Inn Incident in Glasgow (26 June 2020) and the mishandling of asylum accommodation and support during COVID-19 pandemic that led the deaths, injuries, and physical and psychological harm on people in the asylum system and wider community. R4J uses community organising, independent inquiry, and legal action to challenge and change the UK asylum support and accommodation provision, including the use of detention-like institutional accommodation and associated conditions. Visit our website for more information: https://www.refugeesforjustice.com/

Purpose

• To achieve its overarching goals of Justice, Accountability, and Change, R4J conducts the following activities:

• Community organising and power building

• Legal Action

• Independent inquiry

• Campaigning and direct influencing work

The R4J Project Officer is a key post within R4J team ensuring that R4J’s work is supported by effective administrative systems and practice that contributes to the efficient and compliant delivery of the R4J workplan and budget and in line with relevant policies and procedures.

Main Responsibilities

Reporting directly to the R4J Project Manager, the post holder will be expected to manage their own independent workload, as well as support the broader team. The main responsibilities are outlined below:

Contribute towards achieving CUK and R4J project strategic objectives

• Provide administrative assistance to R4J Senior Project Manager and Advisory Board to ensure effective development and delivery of Citizens UK and R4J project strategic objectives.

Build and manage projects & achieve work targets

• Maintain and process project paperwork including funding paperwork, bookkeeping, recording invoices, payments, and budget.

• Manage project calendar to ensure timely delivery of reports, meetings, and other deadlines. Book and manage project level appointments in calendar.

• Work with the Citizens UK Finance to efficiently administer the R4J budget, income, expenditure and manage petty cash.

• Provide administrative assistance to R4J team in processing contracts, commissioning, partnerships, invoices, and other operational paperwork.

• Organise, store, and manage R4J information, documents, files, and data in line with GDPR and Citizens UK relevant procedures.

• Ensure compliance with all relevant procedures and regulations including Health and Safety, safeguarding, confidentiality and GDPR.

• Provide administrative tasks related to R4J projects including event organising, liaising with interpreters, legal representatives, clients, and other stakeholders.

Learning & expertise

• Support administrative tasks in relation to programme statistics and reports including in relation to programme monitoring and evaluation.

Develop and manage external relationships

• Manage R4J main programme mailbox and act as first point of contact for external general queries to R4J.

• Contribute to R4J networking and external meetings

Communications

• Manage R4J online infrastructure including internet/phone providers, Microsoft Office licence, staff and volunteer user accounts, SharePoint, zoom account.

• Support media and communication administration activities.

Develop and manage internal relationships

• Support R4J Programme Coordinator and volunteers with record keeping volunteer expenses and purchase of equipment.

• Participate in and contribute to CUK organisational team meetings

• Develop and manage effective work relationships and mechanisms between R4J and CUK relevant HQ teams e.g., finance and operations

Generate income and resources 

• Provide administrative support to R4J Senior Manager in relation to grants paperwork

• Work closely with R4J Senior Manager and Citizens UK Finance to maintain accurate payment and reporting schedule of all R4J grants

• Any other reasonable tasks as required by the line manager.

Person Specification (REQUIREMENTS: ESSENTIAL = E) DESIRABLE = E)

QUALIFICATIONS

• Degree or equivalent professional qualification (E)

EXPERIENCE

• Experience in an admin role within a busy and small team (E)

• Experience of creating\improving admin processes and organising data efficiently (E)

• Experience of drafting high-quality communications e.g. for social media, newsletters (D)

• Personal lived experience of the UK asylum and immigration system (D)

KEY SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

• Excellent time management skills, able to juggle a wide range of competing demands (E)

• Ability to take in and interpret information and present in a succinct manner (E)

• Understanding of UK refugee\migrant policy and campaign landscape (E)

• Excellent communication skills, both verbally and written, combined with the ability to liaise with a wide variety of individuals internally and externally (E)

• Ability to act on own initiative to introduce and develop new admin systems as appropriate (D)

• Strong attention to detail (E)

Advanced IT and MS Office skills, particularly Word, Excel and Outlook (E)

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

• A proactive approach to work with a ‘can do’ attitude and a flexible approach to demands (E)

• Confidence to work alone with little day-to-day supervision (E)

• A strong commitment to the work of R4J and Citizens UK (E) 

• An appreciation and respect for different communities; incl. faith groups and different cultures (E)

The successful applicant will be required to undertake a satisfactory Enhanced DBS check.