What do I need to know?
A meaningful experience comes from finding the right organisation and opportunity, meeting your needs and being able to make a difference. This section contains some useful information that will help you along the way.
Useful information
Be Collective is our volunteer recruitment and management platform. It’s a free service to you and enables you to find opportunities based on your postcode, skills and interests. It gives you the opportunity to apply for roles, join organisations and record your journey on a social CV. The following guides will support you:
Organisations have an obligation to provide good practice in volunteer management however volunteers also have a responsibility to adhere to the policies and procedures within the organisation. During the recruitment and induction process how they involve, support, manage and recognise their volunteers should be made clear including the code of conduct, volunteer agreement and other policies and procedures relevant to your role and the wider organisation. These additional documents may also be useful in outlining how your organisation involves volunteers and supports them. Organisations have the opportunity to receive accreditation for their good practice and this takes the form of Investing in Volunteers (a UK standard) and Volunteer Friendly (Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland).
The links below are to publications that we believe may be of interest to you:
- Volunteers, Workers and Employees – the key differences
- Volunteers and The Law Information Sheet
- Volunteering and Expenses Information Sheet
- Volunteering and Insurance Information Sheet
- Volunteers Delivering Care – Food for thought
- Involving Children as Volunteers Factsheet
- Just Go For It – Volunteering for people with disabilities
- Leaving a Gift in your Will
- Family Volunteering Information Sheet
Other publications can be found here.
AccessNI is the system for the disclosure of an individual’s criminal history to help organisations make safer recruitment decisions.
Why is a check needed?
Organisations working with vulnerable groups (adults and children) need to apply good safeguarding practice and one important element of this is having robust recruitment and selection procedures.
If the role is eligible the organisation will ask you to complete an online form and provide relevant identification. Once the check has been returned the organisation will make a decision as to whether you can be offered the opportunity. These checks are undertaken every three years.
Useful publication: AccessNI – What you need to know
New to Northern Ireland?
This section contains useful information about volunteering in NI & instructions for how to search for volunteering roles that have both been translated into Arabic, Persian (Farsi), Somali, Tigrinya, and Ukrainian.
External Organisations
& Resources
This section contains useful information and links to other organisations and volunteer centres across the UK who specialise in working with this cohort – including links to external translations, templates and best practice guidance.
www.lawcentreni.org/get-legal-help/immigration/ provides advice & representation on immigration, asylum and trafficking law to members of the public,
www.lawcentreni.org/migration-justice-project/ includes resources such as a ‘Refugee Transition Guide’ in multiple languages and links to the Refugee and Asylum Forum.
Northern Ireland
Email: RSNorthernIreland@redcross.org.uk
Call: 02890 323055
WhatsApp: 07843 344601
Contact us for support
