Role: Community Support Worker
Location: Bolton
Salary: Competitive (Part time, 21 hours a week)
Status Fixed term, 3 years
Deadline: 20th July 2021 @5:00PM
Interview Dates: 21st-23rd July 2021
About Gateway Support Group (GSG)
Gateway Support Group (GSG) is a registered charity in England and Wales with charity number 1169183 (formerly a constituted community group); it is grass root-based organisation which was set up by members of the Gateway resettled refugees in Bolton areas to help newly resettled refugees and asylum seekers to integrate and settle in the UK. After facing a number of challenges, themselves and lessons learnt from their lived experiences, the founders of GSG realised it was appropriate to help the more vulnerable members of the community. Since its inception in 2011 the group was engaged in addressing the key challenges faced by these community members relying solely on part time roles and dedicated volunteers. Core activities include; community capacity building and training, literacy and numeracy classes for adults, after class & weekend learning support for children, sports activities and employability skills for the youth, translation and interpretation services, signposting and basic advocacy, as well as awareness’ programs on relevant cross cutting themes to address their needs and bridge the gaps.
Over the years GSG have accumulated experiences in grass root community engagement, project implementation, bottom-up organizational structure that have evolved to contribute in addressing both current and emerging community needs. We have successfully implemented multiple projects from different donors over the years, established active network with other organization and other service providers. The role of Community Support Worker (CSW) is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund fixed-term for 3 years.
Main Duties and Responsibilities of the Role:
- To support drop-in sessions
- To contribute to active community engagement
- Undertake personalise and individualise case follow ups
- Facilitate one to one and small community support group sessions
- To identify community skills, assets, issues and needs
- Liaise with other service providers that engage with the community
- Build confidence and capacity of women groups and support newly arrived refugee and asylum seekers
- Build links with other groups and agencies and help raise public awareness on issues relevant to the community.
- To develop community development initiatives that promote links between resettled refugees and the wider community.
- To promote the successful integration of resettled refugees through community initiatives that may include key factors such as health, employment, housing, education, and skills training.
- To be proactive in raising awareness of resettled refugees with agencies promoting best practice in supporting refugees and social services.
- To gather evidence about the impact of the project and to participate in review
- meetings to ensure that the project is effective and achieving its outcomes.
- To support community training and information sharing sessions
- To actively develop professional relationships and referral links with organisations that support refugees and asylum seekers
- To work with volunteers in a manner that effectively compliments the framework of community support.
- Seek to actively engage communities in making sense of the issues which affect their lives.
- Encouraging active community participation in activities
- Work an alternative day and/or evening of the week occasionally, if and when necessary for organisational or local needs.
- To prioritise workload and to be prepared to respond to emergency situations.
- To carry out any other duties of a similar nature to ensure the effectiveness of the project.
Person Specification
All essential criteria must be demonstrated in your application and will be questioned and probed further during interview.
Qualification, Knowledge, Skills and Experience
| Criteria | Essential | Desirable |
| GCSE level qualification or higher from any relevant course | ✔ | |
| Satisfactory DBS check and ability to work with children and vulnerable adults | ✔ | |
| Professional track record of working in community support roles | ✔ | |
| Knowledge of the local area and community knowledge | ✔ | |
| Understanding of how to improve service quality for the benefit of users | ✔ | |
| Working knowledge of health and safety practices | ✔ | |
| Understanding of the Risk Assessment process | ✔ | |
| Experience in working in multi-cultural and multi-lingual project based activities | ✔ | |
| Knowledge/experience of community participation techniques
|
✔ | |
| Knowledge of effective communication techniques and approaches suitable for different audiences with diverse language skills. | ✔ | |
| An understanding of the challenges facing the refugee communities and asylum seekers | ✔ | |
| Good awareness of health and safety and commitment to creating a safe environment for all. | ✔ | |
| Knowledge and experience of working with children and vulnerable adults | ✔ |
|
| To able to prioritise workload and be prepared to respond to emergency situations. | ✔ | |
| Experience in working with volunteers | ✔ | |
| Ability to create strong working partnerships with other organisations and community groups | ✔ | |
| Excellent verbal and written communication skills | ✔ | |
| Ability to relate to people from a wide range of backgrounds, with the skills to motivate and encourage them to take action | ✔ | |
| Experience in signposting clients to other more relevant services | ✔ | |
| Speaking Somali, Oromo, Kiswahili, Arabic or Amharic language | ✔ | |
| Ability to work as a part of a small team and effective team player in a group settings | ✔ |
How to apply
If this sounds like the right role and organisation for you, do send us your completed application and Equality/Diversity Monitoring form to programmes@gatewaysupport.org.uk by 20th July 2021 @5:00PM, for any inquiries contact us on 01204 774 220
Job specification and application form can be downloaded from below;
Please do not send CV
_Application form GSG doc community support worker Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form