Arts & Recreation Program Manager

Lifting Hands International is looking for a Arts & Recreation Manager to start in March 2023 in Greece with a minimum six-month commitment.

About Us

Lifting Hands International operates a community center in Serres, a small city about an hour away from Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. We work with a population of 1000+ refugees at the local camps, providing regular aid distributions and a range of psychosocial support programs.

Role Profile

The Arts & Recreation program provides recreational activities and classes with a trauma- and culturally sensitive community-led approach, for and with camp residents. The program is divided into an open space for recreational activities and socialization and a schedule of sports, yoga, fitness, art, and music classes. The main participants of the program are teenage boys and adult men, with a high involvement of community volunteers.

Main Responsibilities

• Managing the day-to-day running of the space and activities;
• Confidently leading and supporting a team of visiting and community volunteers and ensuring respectful collaboration and communication within the team;
• Leading weekly Arts & Rec meetings and preparing each week’s activities;
• Providing program introductions, training, and bi-weekly individual check-ins for visiting and community volunteers;
• Supporting the professional and personal development of community volunteers and encouraging their leadership in classes and activities;
• Working closely with the Community Engagement Manager to develop training and strategies to better support the team of community volunteers;
• Assessing the needs of program participants and community members and involving them in the planning of activities;
• Ensuring the team of visiting and community volunteers have access to teaching resources and supporting them to generate new ideas and find inspiration in their work;
• Working closely with other program’s managers to ensure intersectional needs of different age groups and genders are being met;
• Attending and contributing to weekly leadership and team meetings;
• Monitoring and Evaluation of the Arts & Rec program; overseeing the overall development while following the vision plan of LHI and adjusting structures to the current situational needs and requests;
• Tracking of attendance, budget, necessary investments, and changes needed to ensure the quality of the program; work with other LHI leadership to monitor and evaluate program impact;
• Referring safeguarding concerns and occasionally collaborating with external actors.

Essential Criteria

• Min. commitment of 6 months
• Quick thinker, proactive, motivated, open minded, easily adaptable to a fast paced working environment
• Previous experience in teaching yoga, fitness, art, music or sports
• Confident and strong leadership skills
• Familiarity with trauma-informed principles and experience working with vulnerable groups and/or trauma survivors
• Have excellent communication skills, experience working in a team with members of different backgrounds and across language barriers
• EU/ international driving license.

Desirable Criteria

• Knowledge of Arabic, Farsi, French and/or Kurdish
• Degree in Social Studies, International Development, an Arts or Recreation-related field, or similar
• Potential to stay on the team for 6-12 months

We Offer

• Free shared accommodation
• Five day work week + full week break after every 6 weeks of work
• Monthly reimbursement (starting from 450 euros per month)