Our Language Cafes are friendly and informal weekly sessions where we invite everyone to chat in English and learn from each other about living in the UK. So far we have had over 25 different nationalities, aged be-tween 20 to 70+, with a variety of professions and educational levels. Every person attending our sessions is invited to enjoy an informal and welcoming environment that promotes tolerance and integration. Cafetistas come to learn about Aberdeen, meet people who share their circumstances and meet volunteers who would encourage them to improve their English and learn more about the UK. Every week we speak about a different topic or run an activity to encourage cafetistas to improve their language and personal skills and integrate into their community, whether in Aberdeen or Aberdeenshire. *What are the benefits of being our volunteer at the Language Cafes: *You will learn about different cultures and use your personal and life skills to interact and help people who are settling in an unfamiliar environment. * You will exercise your existing capabilities and knowledge on varied topics whilst learning about new subjects and cultures. *You will learn about creative ways in which you can engage, encourage and motivate people. * You will have a positive and long lasting impact on cafetistas as well as in your community by supporting an environment of tolerance, respect and open interaction. *You will learn and practise your leading and problem solving skills as well as your creativity and adaptability. *We would like to invite volunteers who can: *Attend at least two language cafes every month over an extended period of time. This helps to support consistency and creates a solid relationship with our cafetistas and with GREC. * Research and share information with our cafetistas. * Act as moderators and lead activities with other volunteers and cafetistas during our sessions. * Create a welcoming environment by tolerating and respecting every-one attending our Language Cafes. * Ensure that everyone is given an opportunity to communicate and share their opinions during the sessions. We acknowledge our volunteers as the true foundation of the Language Cafes. A fantastic opportunity to help – with all help greatly appreciated. For more information please get in touch with Adriana via email at: language-cafe@grec.co.uk or tel.: 01224 595505.

Forth Valley Welcome are a charity who work to support Syrian Refugees who have been re-settled in Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire. Their mission is to welcome re-settled families, and support them to integrate within their new community. Their work spans various activities - from assisting with ensuring homes have what families require, to supporting them access healthcare, providing social opportunities, and much more! Volunteers are integral to all activities within the organisation, and they always welcome interest for the following roles: Home Visitor: Forth Valley Welcome match Home Visitors (previously called befrienders) with each of the Syrian families being resettled across the two council areas. Home Visitors support the families to learn English, involve them in activities with their own families, take them shopping and help them understand information coming out of children’s school bags. Fundraiser: Join their small fundraising team who develop and implement the FVW fundraising strategy and research and write fundraising applications to appropriate trusts and foundations. Fundraising Events: This role has two main parts: volunteers can be part of the core team that plans and coordinates fundraising events and/or be an Assistant Events person who helps out from time to time as events across Stirling and Clackmannanshire Material Needs: Help manage donations of clothes, toys, bedding etc so Forth Valley Welcome can enhance the quality of a refugee’s life by supporting and promoting their welfare. External Relations: Designing, printing publicity materials to raise awareness of Forth Valley Welcome; help keep Facebook account active and post interesting content; liaise with partnership organisations to help organise outings for the families Snack and Chat Event: Help organise and run the monthly ‘Snack and Chat’ events where Forth Valley Welcome bring the Syrian families together for information and social events. Volunteer jobs range from 30 mins to a few hours; welcoming families, setting up the hall, kitchen duties, tidying up and supporting the families to supervise the children. Language and Life Skills: Liaises with council teams, other charities and Forth Valley Welcome befrienders to support English language learning, literacy, volunteering and employment opportunities Forth Valley Welcome also have volunteers who help out with driving family members to appointments, policy development, monitoring and evaluation and various other ways. If you have a skill/interest that is not covered in the above roles, please do get in touch as they are always keen to adapt and involve keen individuals, whether a formal role exists or not.

Volunteering Matters Overview At Volunteering Matters we believe everyone in the UK should have the opportunity to thrive, so we bring people together to overcome some of society’s most complex issues through the power of volunteering. We partner with communities to overcome adversity, tackling social isolation and loneliness, improving health, developing skills and opportunities. And because we’re a national charity, we do this at scale, sharing our expertise and building partnerships to make an even bigger impact. We turn local knowledge and energy into action and progress, building stronger communities and a better future for all. Project Overview Our Family Supporters Edinburgh project offers practical and emotional support to families across the South East and South West localities of Edinburgh, empowering them to face a range of life challenges. We recruit, train and match dedicated, local volunteers to help families every step of the way, spending 1-1 time together on a personalised set of goals chosen by the family, for the family. We can help in many ways, such as improved living standards, budgeting, healthier eating, better school life and behaviour, access to health and wellbeing aid, as well as introducing parents to community resources, to name a few. So far, thousands of families across the UK have benefitted from our service and we are now delighted to extend the programmes reach to families in Edinburgh. Who can volunteer with us? Our volunteers are locally based people with an understanding of the challenges that families are facing. Aged 18+, each volunteer brings different life experiences and skills that they can use to help the family they are matched to, offering support on a weekly basis, usually for 6-9 months at a time that suits everyone. They build a strong relationship based on trust and mutual respect, acting as a friendly face who listens and cares about the family. All volunteers are interviewed, trained to the highest standards and undergo disclosure checks before being matched with a family. What can we offer volunteers? As well as the sense of achievement that comes through supporting a family, our volunteers will have the opportunity to learn and develop new skills, attend social events with other volunteers and enhance their employability. Certificates are provided upon completion of induction training and at the end of the commitment, with project staff happy to provide references for future studies or employment.

The role of the one to one ESOL tutor will be to plan and deliver appropriately levelled English lessons for individual students who do not have English as their first language, meet with students for 1 - 2 hours once a week during school term time at DIWC, provide literacy support where appropriate, gather regular feedback and review progress and development of student with project staff, and work closely with project staff to source appropriate materials. The crèche costs are £2 per session for volunteers. DIWC ARE UNABLE TO OFFER ESOL VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES AT WEEKENDS OR IN THE EVENINGS.

Dundee Carers Centre supports disabled people and carers from Black and Minority Ethnic communities. We are looking to recruit volunteers who have multi-lingual skills to help out with various activities. In particular, we would be keen to recruit volunteers who can communicate in Cantonese, Urdu and Punjabi. BME volunteers will take part in a range of different activities that the Centre runs. These may include: awareness raising, helping at regular group events and outings, and providing information and other support, e.g., advocacy work, filling out forms, contact with other organisations, etc.

As a Polish support work volunteer/ translator you will gain work experience in supporting Polish clients whom have been referred to our service. You will support the client to attend the service during their 4 week trial period, to help them feel more at ease and comfortable. You will be able to meet new people and support clients to engage in the activities within the premises. You will advocate on behalf of Polish speaking service users making sure staff and other clients understand their wishes. This will help the client to integrate into the service and improve their communication and language skills. In this role you may be requested to support English-speaking clients too.

Great opportunity to develop leadership, writing, communication, management and marketing skills and to be part of the vibrant community of young theologians and to make a contribution to the enterprise that matters! We need your help in: • Maintaining effective internal communications within the organisation • Coordinating events • Planning and implementing promotional campaigns • Overseeing the social media strategy • Fundraising A fantastic opportunity to assist a brilliant group/charity. All help makes a difference and is greatly appreciated. For more details please contact Dr. Olga Sevastyanova, Chairperson at email connect@orthodoxresearchgroup.com or tel.: 07884971624.

Citizens Rights Project is focused on providing information about the EU Settlement Scheme, which involves application process for the settled or pre-settled status for EU/EEA/Swiss nationals, and their family members, living in the UK. We are looking for community leaders, caseworkers or local organisers with experience in social work or similar (i.e. citizens rights, community development, cultural integration and diversity, migrant issues, vulnerable individuals and communities, etc.) who would like to volunteer with us. Your role will be to provide information and advice about the EU Settlement Scheme, and assist eligible Eu/EEA/Swiss community members with the application process. As our volunteer you will: - learn about the EU Settlement Scheme - receive free training and OISC Level 1 (limited to EUSS) accreditation - acquire experience providing 1-2-1 advice under supervision of an experienced immigration adviser - provide language and technological support in making applications to the EU Settlement Scheme - work closely with vulnerable EU/EEA/Swiss community members with complex needs and assist them in the process of securing their legal rights in the UK - join the network of organisations who support European communities in the UK We offer volunteer placements to willing and eligible candidates who can dedicate a few hours a week of their time. The placements are open to anyone with right to reside in the UK, and is not limited to UK and other EU nationals. However, speakers of other European language as well as English are especially welcome to join the programme. We especially look for candidates from Scottish Borders, Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Western Islands, Orkney, Shetland and Highlands. For more information visit www.citizensrightsproject.org Find us on Facebook EURightsProject and Twitter CitzRights.