Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic organisation, at work in more than 50 countries, which has a mission to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and displaced people. Established by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1980, JRS is a worldwide network of associates and institutions of this Catholic religious order. It serves refugees, offering them practical and spiritual support, according to their humanitarian needs, regardless of their beliefs.
Who can join JRS?
JRS seeks volunteers and staff who share its vision of accompanying refugees and who are prepared for its complex tasks. JRS volunteers and staff may be lay persons, Jesuits or members of a religious congregation. JRS seeks specialists in education, counselling, rehabilitation, management and related fields, and especially with experience in training others. There are also needs for people with technical skills, especially in communication, law, agriculture and small-scale development work.
What qualities does JRS require?
In addition to the obvious desire to serve refugees and asylum seekers, human maturity, considerable flexibility of temperament and a capacity to understand refugees and their circumstances without losing objectivity, these five qualities are essential:
- commitment to training others,
- capacity for teamwork and community living,
- acceptance of a simple lifestyle,
- openness to share in a faith journey,
- precise professional expertise to offer.
| JRS Europe, Communications Officer |
| The Communications Officer is a new position in the JRS Europe team. The main task is to develop and implement a communications strategy for JRS Europe that is initially linked to our advocacy activities. The Communications Officer comes with a sound experience in strategically defining messages, audiences and communications targets. He/she builds on the JRS experiences of accompanying forcibly displaced persons across Europe and is able to transform them into manageable communications projects for a network. The Communications Officer is responsible for developing internal and external communications tools such as newsletters, websites, news releases and public events. He/she is also the main media contact for JRS Europe in Brussels and is assisted by a media intern. In the initial period the Communications Officer will collaborate with an external consultant on strategy and an internal advisory group that secures sufficient input from JRS offices around Europe. It is important that you have gained a first working experience at a strategic level and that you have acquired relevant experience over a minimum of five years. At a later stage we would like to link communications also to our fundraising efforts. |
| JRS Europe Media Assistant |
| JRS Europe seeks a Media Assistant (twelve month internship position) to be a part of the Policy and Communications team. S/he will undertake a critical function in the implementation of the JRS Europe mission, as summarised below. The main role of JRS Europe is to submit field-based experiences, research and policy recommendations to the EU institutions. This entails regular contacts with our country office staff as much as frequent meetings with Members of European Parliament and European Commission officials, representatives of the United Nations Refugee Agency, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, and Brussels-based civil society organisations with a pan-European mission. In addition, JRS Europe undertakes communications work with media in Brussels and around Europe in the form of press events, journalist interviews and outreach and the publication of internal and external newsletters. |
