Kinyarwanda-Speaking Group Volunteer Refugee Newcomers

Kinyarwanda-Speaking Welcome Group Volunteer for Refugee Newcomers

Organizational

Description:

Together Project connects government-assisted refugees and refugee claimants with volunteers to build stronger, more integrated communities in Winnipeg.

Our Welcome Group Program serves newcomers that face significant challenges to successful integration in their new communities. These include language and culture barriers, health issues, unemployment, and the lack of social connections. Together Project provides a platform for community engagement to address these challenges, ensuring that it both complements the work of existing service providers and is tailored to the needs of individual newcomer families.

Volunteers will work to address specific priorities identified by their matched household, through which both newcomers and volunteers will also have an opportunity to get to know each other and build social connections. Together Project s work is supported by evidence-based program evaluation and research to inform and improve our impact. Together Project is a charitable initiative of the Make Way Shared Platform.

Volunteer Opportunity Details

Volunteer Opportunity

As featured in The Globe & Mail and the CBC, Together Project s Welcome Group Program matches volunteers with refugee newcomers for social and integration support over a period of 3-6 months. Volunteers will have the opportunity to meet with, and empower, refugee newcomers to the community. Together Project is delivering the Welcome Group Program in collaboration with IRCOM (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba).

Skills Required

• Kinyarwanda-speaking
• passionate about helping newcomers and making social connection
• organized
• sociable
• culturally sensitive
• patient
• interested in social work, immigration, and/or settlement
• open to using virtual communication tools (e.g. Whats App, Zoom, etc.)

Skills Gained/Related Careers

Volunteers will be assigned to their Welcome Groups and matched with refugee newcomer families based on availability, skills, location, shared interests, and family composition. We like to think there s a match for every kind of Welcome Group. Over 3-6 months, volunteers will work together as a group to address the priorities identified by their matched household; in this way both newcomers and volunteers have an opportunity to get to know each other over time.

As a volunteer, you can help newcomers with:

• practicing conversational English skills
• accessing and navigating services, like healthcare
• finding and applying to employment opportunities
• helping youth with school and extracurricular activities
• socializing and helping newcomers learn about Canada

Together Project provides volunteers with training, guidance, and interpretation/translation assistance to help each Welcome Group maximize its impact.

Age: 18-30, 31-54, 55+

Time Commitment:
Micro volunteering — flexible, short, web-enabled opportunities; most volunteers dedicate roughly 3-4 hours a month to their match over a 3-6 month period. Interactions can be online or in-person, as preferred. Individual time commitments are flexible, as activities can be shared among group members based on availability, interests, and expertise. Note that volunteer interest typically exceeds available opportunities, and it may take time to hear back from us.

Once we have accepted your application, a member of our staff will contact you via email to arrange for an interview.

Have any questions? Please contact:

Jennilee Austria, Communications and Program Outreach Specialist

Location of volunteer opportunity:
Winnipeg

• Assiniboine South
• Downtown
• Elmwood
• Fort Garry
• Inkster
• Point Douglas
• River East
• River Heights
• Seven Oaks
• St. Boniface
• St. James-Assiniboia
• St. Vital
• Transcona

Does opportunity require a criminal record check? Yes

Will cost be reimbursed? No

Does opportunity require a child abuse registry check? No

Opportunity is available to candidates that:
Group - small, family and friends

Speaks another language (other than French or English):
Kinyarwanda

Organization will provide: A letter of reference
Supervision
Training/Orientation

Address: B Suite 511, 428 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 0E2

Please note our team works a hybrid model; appointments are highly encouraged as we are not always in the office.

Volunteer Manitoba is located on the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Anisininew, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation. We acknowledge that the clean water we drink comes from Shoal Lake 40 first nation, and that our electricity is produced on treaty territory. Volunteer Manitoba respects the Treaties that were made on these territories, we acknowledge the harms and mistakes of the past, and we dedicate ourselves to move forward in partnership with Indigenous communities in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration.