Thank you for your interest in volunteering with the Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre Ltd. (“HKRAC”). HKRAC provides free legal advice and representation to asylum-seekers who seek refugee status with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”) in Hong Kong. We also generate awareness regarding refugee rights and advocate for the protection and promotion of those rights.

In order to carry out our mission, we recruit, train, and supervise skilled volunteers to assist our organization’s work. There are many areas that you can get involved in to make the most of your experience and expertise. These include:

• Intake
• Casework
• Interpretation
• Fundraising & Development
• Events Planning
• Press & Publicity
• Information Technology

Intake

Intake Volunteers are responsible for fielding our drop-in sessions, which are held every week on Wednesdays and Thursdays between 2-5pm. Intake sessions involve registering new asylum-seekers, conducting intake questionnaires, providing general information regarding the UNCHR’s refugee status determination process and making referrals on behalf of asylum seekers.

Casework

Refugee Caseworkers are responsible for screening asylum seekers who are earmarked for representation and/or for providing full representation to clients.

Screening involves interviewing asylum seekers for 5-10 hours, conducting research on the asylum seeker’s country of origin and preparing a comprehensive report recommending whether HKRAC representation is warranted.

Full representation involves interviewing clients, conducting research, preparing a testimony and legal submission and attending UNHCR interviews. Refugee Caseworkers must be able to commit for 5 to 10 hours a week for a minimum of 6 months.

Interpretation

Interpretation is critical to the work of our organization. We have represented speakers of 37 different languages. Finding skilled and available interpreters on a case-by-case basis will always remain a challenge. We organize regular community interpretation training sessions for providing interpretation services for refugee legal aid. Please let us know if you are interested in being an interpreter or know of anyone who might be willing to help.

Development & Fundraising

Development & Fundraising Volunteers work closely with the Executive Director and Director of Development on all HKRAC Development related activities. These include fundraising strategies, capacity building, strategic development, donor relations, events-planning and networking.

Press & Publicity Committee

Press & Publicity Volunteers will develop and promote the organization’s brand. This will include creating promotional materials and fact sheets, building up press contacts and creating press packets, and raising awareness about the rights and needs of refugees.

Information Technology (IT)

The HKRAC was recently the recipient of new technology from the Clinton Global Initiative. IT Volunteers will help HKRAC leverage its technology. They will also assist the organization in website development and maintenance.

Interns

Interns will generally carry out the tasks set out for Intake Volunteers and Refugee Caseworkers. In addition, Interns may assist with projects pertaining to organizational development, outreach, IT support and training. Interns are required to commit full time for a minimum of 3 months.

Compulsory Training

Generally, attending an HKRAC training weekend is compulsory for volunteers interested in doing Intake or Casework. Training weekends are held three times a year in January, May and September.

Our training weekends are tentatively scheduled for June  2010 and September 2010.