What is a Research & Campaigns Volunteer?
Research and Campaigns volunteers work alongside our staff and volunteers to:
- Identify common, or unfair, problems that our clients come for help about
- Understand the cause of the problem, how it affects clients, and what change would solve the problem
- Help to raise awareness of the problem. This might involve creating materials (newsletters, posts for social media, or articles for a newspaper) which could be used to explain the problems to others
- Help to organise a campaign with the aim of getting the organisation (local or national government, landlord, employer, etc.) that is causing the problem, to change the way they do things. This could mean meeting with the organisation, person or elected body, writing to them or holding an event
- Carry out research into how certain issues affect clients in our area. This might involve doing a survey with clients to find out how a change in a benefit is affecting them
Research and Campaigns volunteers may also be asked to attend external events to pursue a campaign, network with Research and Campaigns from other Citizens Advice centres, or to participate in ongoing training
What’s in it for you?
- Be challenged in a regarding volunteer role
- Becoming a part of a friendly and dedicated team
- Meeting people from all walks of life and making new friends
- Using existing skills and developing new ones
- Enjoying new experiences
- Learning something new every day
- Supporting your local community
- Be treated equally and receive great free training
We will train you to…
- Collect evidence from our database and analyse it prior to submission to our national team
- Plan, execute and evaluate local campaigns
- Understand who makes the decisions that affect us at national and local level
- Get a campaign across in the media
- Keep up to date with important issues by attending the appropriate training and by essential research
This role will suit?
Over 18’s who have good communication, maths and IT skills who will need to:
- Commit to the Aims and Principles of the Citizens Advice service and respect views, values and cultures that are different from their own
- Understand why confidentiality is important
- Be open and approachable
- Show an ability to work as part of a team and recognise their own limits and boundaries as well as having a positive attitude to self-development and assessment
- Sift through information and extract what is relevant
Extra Information
Place: Yeovil
Time: Preferably one or more 4-hour sessions per week but can be flexible.
Who to contact: June Carty. Telephone 01935 847675 or email June@citizensadvicesouthsomerset.org.uk
Training: Training is free and is a mixture of self-study, hands-on experince and classroom based activities.
Expenses: Out-of-pocket costs between home and the local office will be paid.
This role is purely voluntary and this arrangement is not meant to be a legally binding one or an employment contract.