We’re looking for people to join our new
Lived Experience Advocates Group
July 2025
Introduction
We're setting up a group of people who can represent other refugees and people seeking sanctuary who take part in our Local Welcome groups across the UK.
The group will be involved in making decisions, with the Local Welcome team and trustee board. It will help us keep learning about how we can engage refugees and people seeking sanctuary more in our work.
We’re looking for people who:
Have lived experience of being a refugee or person seeking sanctuary.
Believe in our mission, vision and values and are committed to helping us live up to them.
Who we are
If you become an advocates group member, you’ll be working with:
4-6 other people who have experience of being a refugee or person seeking sanctuary.
Our friendly board of five trustees, three of whom are Local Welcome leaders and members themselves.
Our 4 core team members who lead and run the organisation on a day-to-day basis.
The commitment
Location: Remote (online, from home)
Pay: This is a voluntary (unpaid) role, but expenses (like travel costs) relating to your role will be paid.
Time: 2-4 hours per month. Meeting times will be decided by the founding members of the group.
Length: We would like advocate group members to be part of this group for at least a year so we can benefit from your knowledge and expertise. You can be reappointed for longer after this.
Role details
As an advocates group member, you’ll be:
Meeting with your fellow group members regularly to propose and discuss changes and improvements to Local Welcome’s service (for example, how might we recruit more people with lived experience as Local Welcome leaders?).
A ‘critical friend’ to Local Welcome - putting forward honest feedback and new ideas. This will help us become a better organisation for people with lived experience to be a part of.
Working together to decide how the group should run, and how we can make sure Local Welcome listens to you and learns well.
The Lived Experience Advocates Group will be made up of members from across the UK, so meetings will be held online via video call. Therefore, you will need reliable internet access, and a smartphone.
What you’ll get in return
In order to support your success as a member of the advocates group, we will:
Provide you with training related to your role
Cover any expenses relating to your role. For example, if we held an in-person event, we will pay for your travel. When we meet in person, we plan to always have a meal together too.
By taking part as an advocates group member, you will be able to offer and develop your own unique skillset. You’ll also have some opportunities to learn new skills from other group members, our trustee board and team.
We’ll be starting to work with our advocates group and learn together during our 10th year as an organisation, which will bring more interesting opportunities!
How to apply
If you're interested, please email Celia Mellow: celia@local-welcome.org
We are a values-led organisation, always striving to learn and be better. Accessibility is really important to us - diverse and powerful communities can’t thrive without it. Therefore, if there’s anything we can do to support you in becoming an advocates group member, please contact us so we can see how we can help you participate.