Social Worker – Streetwork Programme At Lighthouse Relief

Department: Emergency Response

Location: Athens

Start date: 01/11/2021

Duration: One year contract (2 months probationary period)

Reports to: Emergency Response Coordinator

Leads & Supervises: N/A

Context

LHR is a non-religious, non-political, non-profit humanitarian organization with the mission of providing immediate crisis response, as well as long term relief, for the most vulnerable groups in a dignified, respectful and empowering manner.

Today, Lighthouse Relief is focused on providing psychosocial support to vulnerable groups in Greece, and on providing support to refugees and asylum seekers experiencing homelessness in Athens through our Streetwork Project. Our mission is to provide dignified immediate and long-term relief to those experiencing displacement. We use a sustainable, participatory and holistic approach, that is driven by those we serve.

LHR’s Emergency Response Streetwork Programme supports refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants experiencing homelessness or living in precarious conditions, by understanding their individual needs through a holistic approach, providing them with non-food items and food items, and with information and guidance to link them with the services that can support them in their specific situation, including medical care, legal aid, and shelter. LHR’s team also provides case management for complex cases, in collaboration with partners in Athens.

Position Summary

The Social Worker will play a vital role in the Streetwork team. Together with the Emergency Response Coordinator (ERC) and the Officer (ERO), they will establish safety protocols and ensure that they are being followed and updated. The Social Worker will lead the case management, referral pathways, and follow up cases with people being supported and other stakeholders. They will support the streetwork team if needed during daily outreach and other types of support. They will attend the team meetings and together with ERO, ERC and the Intercultural Mediators (ICMs), will make decisions for complex cases.

The Social worker will communicate important information to people being supported and will contact them in order to make decisions which might affect their legal, health, social and general situation, always taking in consideration the best interest of the person. Coordination with ICM Arabic and Farsi will be crucial for the development of the role. The social worker will work closely with ERC having clear communication, coordination, and cooperation.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and facilitate case management, perform assessments of cases, and provide referrals
• Assess and define referral pathways in order to provide holistic support to cases
• Identify and monitor vulnerabilities
• Engage with actors/people being supported/cases and follow up
• Update referral list every three months and contact stakeholders
• Together with ERC and ERO will deliver the induction for new staff and volunteers
• Monitoring & Evaluation: Collect data for the different SW services and update the Streetwork trackers; track the progress of people being supported
• Lead the Streetwork shift if necessary

Qualifications

Required

• Minimum age 25 years
• Professional experience working in Greece with refugees, asylum seekers, displaced persons and vulnerable groups
• Able to work legally in Greece
• Ability to adapt to a multicultural context and work cross-linguistically
• Valid driving license for manual transmission
• Excellent level of English, both written and spoken
• Proven ability to work well in a high pressure environment, in a professional way
• Proven leadership skills in high pressure situations
• Experience in mental health settings
• Strong communication skills
• Good working knowledge of MS Word and Excel or similar
• Active listener
• Ability to work with individuals who have difficulty expressing their needs
• Problem solving, critical thinking and decision making skills
• Attentive to detail, being organized and driven by the need to deliver results for people being supported
• Ability to compromise, negotiate and work well with others
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills
• Willingness to work on an irregular schedule
• Valid work visa for the Schengen area

Desired

• Languages: Greek, Farsi, Arabic or French are a distinct advantage
• First aid qualification
• Prior work experience with an NGO in an emergency setting
• Cultural awareness
• Candidates who are already in Greece preferred

As the responsibilities listed here cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities