Country: Israel
Closing date: 31 Jul 2015
The African Refugee Development Center (ARDC)is a grassroots, community-based, non-profit organization that was founded in 2004 by African asylum seekers and Israeli citizens, in order to assist, protect and empower African refugees and asylum seekers in Israel. To date, the ARDC has served over 10,000 refugees and asylum seekers from Eritrea, Sudan, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast. Since January 2014 alone, the ARDC assisted 1000+ clients on matters relating to visa issues, relocation, refugee status determination, higher education, language courses, tutoring, and psycho-social therapy.
The Asylum Application Assistance Team:The object of the project is to ensure that asylum seekers in the State of Israel have greater opportunity to realize their human right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution through promoting a fair and just asylum application process. Main activities include - establishing proof of nationality for non-detained and detained asylum seekers eligible for group protection; renewing work visas; assisting individuals apply for refugee status; filing appeals and legal proceedings; providing psychological assistance; advising on deportation and voluntary resettlement; broadly distributing information to refugee community; monitoring development of asylum regime; instituting strategic litigation to promote community-wide policy change; publishing reports on findings and recommendations; disseminating information; advocating before UN; strengthening ties and cooperation with authorities.
Refugee Status Determination is the procedure that determines whether those seeking asylum fall within the definition of a refugee in need of protection in accordance with international law. The process requires an asylum seeker to submit a written explanation for his or her application, followed by an in-depth interview, research into the conditions of his or her country of origin and a decision as to whether that person meets the legal criteria for refugee status. ARDC assists applicants through every phase of this difficult process. Please note we are a paralegal organization, not a legal organization. We help the asylum seekers with their procedures at the Ministry of Interior, but we do not have any lawyers at the ARDC.
Main Responsibilities
- Management of all Refugee Status Determination cases.
- Performing ongoing volunteer on-the-job-training, in amongst others, International refugee law and the Israeli asylum procedure.
- Coordinate weekly RSD team meetings.
- Supervise a changing team of volunteers.
- Act as a liaison between volunteers, clients and translators.
- Collect project statistics and compose monthly successes/developments/challenges narratives.
Qualifications
- Management experience
- Background in law
- Strong organizational skills, including the ability to manage multiple schedules and prioritize with limited resources
- Fluency in conversational and written English. Fluency in conversational and written Hebrew, Arabic and French an advantage
- Computer software and hardware literate, including different client databases
- Strong interpersonal communication skills
- Ability to collaborate with government officials and other local organizations
- Personal laptop required
Time Commitment:35 hours a week, Sunday-Thursday 11am - 6pm
- 22 weeks from 23 August 2015 - 21 January 2016
Please note start dates are not flexible.
Reports to: Project Manager
Please note all ARDC internship positions are unpaid. We do not provide accommodation, travel or health insurance.
How to apply:
Please fill in the application form (available at this link) and send with your CV to volunteer@ardc-israel.org . Please save your documents as PDF and label as follows:
CV - First name, Surname CV (e.g. John Smith CV)
Application Form - First name, Surname Form (e.g. John Smith Form)