• 0.8 FTE (4 day per week) position.
• Contract position until 30 June 2025, with potential for extension.
• Based in Sydney or Melbourne, depending on the successful candidate’s location.

About Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA)

Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) is an independent national charity working at the forefront of civil society efforts to expand and improve Australia’s humanitarian migration program through community sponsorship of refugees.

CRSA is a partner to the Department of Home Affairs’ Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP), which enables groups of ‘everyday Australians’ to welcome and support refugees to settle in their local communities.

In implementing the CRISP, CRSA leads the mobilisation, screening and training of community groups around Australia, matches them with refugee households identified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as being in need of protection, and monitors and supports community groups and refugee participants throughout the twelve-month period of support.

About the Community Liaison Officer Role

The Community Liaison Officer plays a pivotal role in the implementation of the CRISP as the primary point of contact within CRSA for community supporter groups and refugee participants of the program.

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

• Conducting needs assessments with refugees offshore, which will inform their settlement location within Australia and which community supporter group they are be matched with.
• Assessing and screening groups of Australian community members for involvement in the program, including assessing the capacity of community supporter groups to provide settlement support, and the viability of groups’ proposed settlement plans.
• Maintaining regular contact with community supporter groups around Australia to provide settlement coaching, support and guidance and to monitor their performance.
• Maintaining regular contact with refugee participants throughout their 12 months in the program to answer questions and ensure they’re receiving adequate support from their community supporter group.
• Mediating challenges that arise between refugee participants and community supporter groups.
• Identifying risks or gaps in settlement support and collaborating with/coaching community supporter groups and refugee households to access additional supports as required (eg. family violence, mental health, child safety and wellbeing).
• Contributing to the development and delivery of training to community supporter groups.
• Developing resources to assist community supporter groups to provide practical settlement support to refugees (eg. fact sheets, FAQs, checklists, etc).
• Maintaining high quality, timely and accurate documentation of all work undertaken.
• Providing feedback on program data, 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 include:

• Experience in community liaison, community development, case work or similar roles.
• Experience in delivering settlement support to refugees or migrants in Australia.
• Understanding of common challenges faced by refugees who are newly arrived in Australia.
• Understanding of key settlement outcomes for refugees throughout their first year in Australia.
• Understanding of the Australian service sector, including how to access essential government services (eg. Services Australia) and support services (eg. mental health, family violence services).
• Experience in coaching, mentoring, capacity building or supervision.
• Strong digital literacy with experience working with databases, digital surveys, CRMs.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and mediation/negotiation skills, including with people with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
• A confident lateral thinker, able to problem-solve and work autonomously.

The successful candidate will be required to provide a National Police Check and Working with Children Check and must be legally entitled to live and work in Australia.

People with lived experience as a refugee, and/or proficiency in a relevant community language are strongly encouraged to apply.  

Other Details

This position:

• Is a 0.8 FTE (4 day per week) position.
• Is based in Sydney or Melbourne, depending on the successful candidate’s location.

• Will work from a CRSA office two days per week (minimum) and other days from home.
• Will involve after hours work (5pm - 9pm) a minimum of one day per fortnight.
• Some weekend work may be required (no more than 12 days per annum).
• Is a contract position until 30 June 2025, with potential for extension in the future.
• Is remunerated under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry (SCHADS) Award and classified at Level 4 (may be negotiable depending on successful candidate’s expertise).

How to Apply

Please click 'Apply Now' to submit your cover letter (addressing the selection criteria) and resume.

A position description is attached.