The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international organization with a mission to accompany, serve and advocate on behalf of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons. Founded in November 1980 as a work of the Society of Jesus, JRS is today found in 57 countries, providing assistance to refugees in camps and cities, individuals displaced within their own countries, and other forcibly displaced people. Our main areas of work are in the field of education, emergency assistance, healthcare and social services.
Jesuit Refugee Service Bosnia and Herzegovina (JRS BiH), a local non-profit humanitarian association, is seeking to recruit a Cultural Mediator/Interpreter on a 6 month probationary (with the possibility of indefinite) term contract to assess the needs of refugees and migrants, and to develop actions, practices, and services for the unaccompanied minors staying in the JRS safe house in Sarajevo.
The number of required positions is 1.
Location: Sarajevo
This document outlines the qualifications required for the post as well as the job description.
Terms and conditions
The post is a full-time post, starting from the 1st of June 2023.
Qualifications
Applicants must:
- understand the role of a faith-based organization in humanitarian work and ensure its mission and values are envisioned in all the activities
- be willing to work with and for people from diverse cultures
- have the ability to work in a team
- knowledge of English/Pashtu/ Urdu/ Farsi, and other migrants-spoken languages.
- Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language strongly recommended
- have work permit in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- have desirable work experience in the same or similar jobs
- have willingness for dynamic work
- have responsibility, kindness and helpfulness
Previous experience working with refugees, migrants and/or asylum seekers will be considered an asset.
Job description
| Position Summary | The main responsibility of the Cultural mediator is the support beneficiaries of Safe House established for the most vulnerable categories of refugees and asylum seekers. Communication and translation are the main tasks of any cultural mediator’s work, enabling meaningful exchange and helping to build trust. The three-way communication that occurs between cultural mediators, beneficiaries and other team members (such as psychologists) is an extremely important triangular relationship that helps beneficiaries to access and benefit from essential services. In order to achieve results, trust must be built between the cultural mediator and the beneficiaries. Cultural mediators are often the first point of contact that people have with mental health services. The mediators are often able to facilitate a more adequate and earlier understanding of needs and prevent mistakes from being made or avoid missed opportunities for timely access to care and services. |
| Key Responsibilities | Creating a relationship of trust with the staff and the beneficiaries. Translating everything that is needed for the daily functioning of the safe house, like staff’s instructions, house rules, doctor/psychologist’s documents, etc. into the beneficiary’s mother language Helping JRS staff to understand specific aspects of the beneficiary’s culture. Exchanging with other cultural mediators and all JRS collaborators in order to approach each person in the best possible way. Guaranteeing confidentiality, impartiality and neutrality. Actively participating in all parallel activities related to the health and social assistance of beneficiaries, including information and advocacy activities. Other tasks in agreement with the manager of the Safe house, psychologist and social worker. |
| Regularly report to the Country Manager Participate in formation programs useful for his/her responsibilities |
Application and selection process
Applicants are to submit a letter of application and motivation (not longer than 2 pages) and detailed Curriculum Vitae (not longer than 3 pages) by Thursday ? May 2023 to email address vedran.mihic@jrs.net .
Shortlisted candidates will be required to attend an interview and undertake a number of tasks before a final decision is taken. All candidates will receive the answer to their application by …
