About Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA)

CRSA is an independent national charity working at the forefront of civil society efforts to establish a community refugee sponsorship program that expands and improves Australia’s humanitarian migration program.

CRSA is a partner to the Department of Home Affairs’ new Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP), which will provide settlement support to 1500 refugees over 4 years through community sponsorship.

In delivering the CRISP, CRSA leads the mobilisation, screening, training, monitoring and support of community groups around Australia who will support the refugee participants throughout their first year in Australia.

About the Community Liaison Officer Role

The Community Liaison Officer will play a pivotal role in the implementation of the CRISP by being the primary point of contact within CRSA for both community supporter groups and refugee participants of the program.

Reporting to the CRISP Program Manager and working closely with all other members of the CRSA team, the Community Liaison Officer will be principally engaged in:

• Assessing and screening groups of Australian community members for involvement in the CRISP, including assessing the capacity of community supporter groups to provide settlement support, and the viability of groups’ proposed settlement plans.
• Establishing contact with refugees offshore to conduct an initial assessment of needs.
• Re-establishing contact with refugee participants on their arrival in Australia to provide a warm welcome, explain the program and ensure their needs are being met.
• Maintaining regular contact with refugee participants throughout their 12 months in the program to provide support, answer questions and ensure they’re receiving adequate support from their community supporter group.
• Maintaining regular contact with community supporter groups to provide support, answer questions and monitor their performance.
• Providing settlement advice, coaching and support to community supporter groups.
• Mediating any challenges that might arise between refugee participants and their community supporter groups.
• Contributing to the development and delivery of training to community supporter groups.
• Developing information sheets and other tools to assist community supporter groups to provide practical settlement support to refugees eg. fact sheets, FAQs, checklists, etc.
• Supporting the evaluation of the CRISP by administering surveys and conducting interviews with community supporter groups and refugee households.
• Maintaining high quality, timely and accurate documentation of all work undertaken.
• Providing monthly reports on program data and trends, challenges and highlights.
• Providing general support to the development, implementation and continuous improvement of the CRISP.
• As a member of a small team, you may be required to perform other tasks to support CRSA’s work.

Selection Criteria

Essential characteristics for our ideal candidate:

• Experience in community liaison, community development or similar roles.
• Experience in delivering settlement services to migrants or refugees.
• Understanding of common challenges faced by people with refugee backgrounds who are newly arrived in Australia.
• Understanding of the key settlement outcomes for refugees throughout their first 12 months in Australia and beyond.
• Understanding of the Australian service sector, including how to access essential government services (Services Australia, Medicare, etc) and support services (family violence, mental health, etc).
• Experience in coaching / mentoring.
• Experience in delivery of social programs.
• Strong digital literacy with experience working with databases, digital surveys, CRMs.
• Excellent communication skills, including with people with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
• A confident lateral thinker with strong interpersonal, mediation/negotiation and problem solving skills.

Other Details about the Role

• The position will ideally be based in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. However, exceptional candidates in other locations may be considered.
• The position may be part-time (3 days per week minimum) or full-time, depending on the preference of the successful candidate.
• The position will involve after hours work (5pm - 9pm) a minimum of one day per fortnight.
• The position will involve a hybrid work arrangement ie. working from a CRSA office 2 days per week (minimum), and working the remaining days from home.
• This is a contract position for 2 years, with potential for extension in the future.
• Remuneration will be governed by the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry (SCHADS) Award; classified at SCHADS Level 4, though this may be negotiable depending on the successful candidate’s level of expertise.
• Some weekend work may be required (no more than 12 days per annum).
• Travel interstate and to regional areas may be required.

A position description is attached.