Placement Team Support (Youth Engagement - SafeMates, London)

Placement Volunteers at the British Red Cross are highly valued for the skills and energy they bring. We aim to provide our placement volunteers with an insight into the daily workings of the world’s largest humanitarian organisation. They will have access to relevant in-house training and development opportunities during their placement with possible ad hoc opportunities to get involved in other areas of activity.

Our placement volunteers will help make a great contribution to the work of the British Red Cross and will be responsible for achieving specific agreed objectives within one of our various departments.

The expected start date for the work experience is 7 April 2025.

This placement will last a maximum of 12 weeks volunteering up to 2-3 days each week. The volunteering hours are negotiable to balance your needs and what can be achieved in the role.

The work experience location will be the British Red Cross office in London (EC2Y 9AL).

The British Red Cross is a volunteer-led humanitarian organisation that helps people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. We enable vulnerable people at home and overseas to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their own communities. And when the crisis is over, we help people recover and move on with their lives.

We are looking for a volunteer to support our national SafeMates steering group. The volunteer will lead on creating resources using Canva to engage project volunteers and promote the project externally to partner organisations.
You will have a real responsibility and place in the department, bringing some of your skills and experience to the role; you will also have the chance to develop workplace skills. You will be supporting the development of this exciting programme that offers support to young people when they need it most.

While we don’t offer voluntary internships, we are happy for you to describe yourself as an intern on your CV, if you feel that would be helpful.

SafeMates is a youth led project providing safe hubs for young people to receive practical and emotional support from their peers. Hubs are delivered at universities, conferences and festivals. The project has run since 2018.
We are recruiting a volunteer to provide support creating resources for our national steering group. You will become part of the Safe Mates team supporting steering group members to produce resources to engage our volunteers and promote the project externally.

You will take the lead on adapting content written by the steering group using Canva to develop engaging resources such as Zines. Projects may include a Volunteer handbook for use on shifts and an external Zine advertising the project to potential partners. You will have the opportunity to participate in the steering group inputting into how the project develops, and identifying new areas for development.

Typical tasks may include;

• Using Canva to produce an internal volunteer handbook
• Producing an external Zine to advertise project to external stakeholders and potential customers
• Working with trainers to review and update training resources in line with learner feedback
• Researching updated statistics for training resources
• Attending monthly steering group meetings on Sunday evenings
• Communicating with wider steering group to gather input and feedback on tasks
• Providing support to other Youth Engagement projects as required.

We would like volunteers who have/are;

• Good verbal and written communication skills - Essential
• Experience using Microsoft applications e.g. Word, Powerpoint – Essential
• Confident using digital creation tools such as Canva – Essential
• Able to work remotely
• Ability to be independently motivated as well as work as part of a team
• Good project management skills.

Bursary Scheme

The British Red Cross offers a bursary scheme to those placement volunteers from low-income households. Eligibility will be determined through a separate application process open to all short-listed candidates. All British Red Cross volunteers are entitled to out-of-pocket reasonable expenses.

For this scheme we are defining low-income households as:

Inside London: Living with family or partner £25,000 or under. Living independently £22.500 or under

Outside London: Living with family or partner £18,500 or under. Living independently £16,500 or under

Young People and this role

Our placement volunteer opportunities are open to people at different stages of their career, aged 15 or above. Whether you’re student, a recent graduate or someone with more experience looking for a career change, we would be happy to hear from you.

Anyone can volunteer with the Red Cross from the age of 15. An individual risk assessment, parental consent and safeguarding considerations will be required for those aged 15 – 17. The nature of the activities specific to your intern opportunity may mean that you need to be 18 years or older.

Diversity

We welcome applications from people of different backgrounds, experience and circumstances. We seek to ensure that our organisation and our services are relevant and accessible to all, with equality, diversity and fairness at the core of what we do. We invite applications from individuals regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or political belief and are committed to promoting fair participation and equality of opportunity for all of our applicants.

The British Red Cross is committed to being inclusive, with a diverse workforce. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible diversity of backgrounds, cultures and experiences – including disabled and ethnic minority candidates. We value fresh perspectives and insights gained by involving and welcoming people from the widest possible diversity of background, culture and experience. This is to contribute to the breadth of experience we need to respond to people in crisis.