Junior Young Friends (JYF) Coordinator

Dated: 27January 2013

Job Description

JYFs are young people in school years 9, 10 and 11, normally being aged 13-15.

The JYF Coordinator is responsible for making sure an annual national gathering for JYFs happens. Meetings may request help from the JYF Coordinator inguiding and supporting their JYF activities.

Responsibilities

  • Annual JYF Camp:
  • Ensure a JYF Camp happens each year
  • Seek, consider, and accept offers of hosting/organising future camps from Monthly Meetings.
  • Provide guidance and support to organisers of each JYF camp, especially for Monthly Meeting or organising committees less experienced in running JYF camps
  • Encourage the organising committee/leaders to ensure a camp epistle, and Meeting for Worship for Business Minutes are produced.
  • Ensure an organising committee/leadership team report isproduced at/after each camp
  • Maintain and improve a ‘Guide to Organising JYF Camps’ to retain and build on knowledge generated by each organising committee
  • Maintain a set of supporting documents for organising JYF camps, including previous camp flyers, enrolment forms, budgets, epistles, and camp reports
  • Communicate with Meetings about the needs of their JYFs
  • Report to Yearly Meeting annually on the work of the JYF coordinator. This report could includefrom that year’s JYF gatheringextracts from the epistle, minutes, reports, and significant issues, the previous camp budget, any financial matters, and the location and hosts of future campsplus any contact with local meetings.

Skills/personal attributes

  • Familiarity with most aspects and processes of Quaker life in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
  • Communication skills

Additional skills may include:

  • Experience in working with teenagers
  • Experience in interacting with parents of teenagers
  • Experience in organising/leading JYF camps
  • Awareness of child protection and safety issues
  • Awareness of issues of gender and age where appropriate.

Term of appointment

Three years minimum.

Workload

The workload in this role varies over the calendar year. Key dates and time commitments are:

  • Before date at the end of January given by YM Clerk: submit the annual report to Yearly Meeting for inclusion in Documents in Advance – 3 to 5 hours
  • At least 6 months ahead of the gathering:ensuring an organising committee has been established for that year’s camp – 4 to 6 hours
  • Till the gathering: supporting the camp organising committee – varies from 10 to 30 hours depending on the experience of individuals in that committee
  • After the gathering:debrief with camp organisers/leaders – 2 to 6 hours
  • Before the end of the year: following up to ensure documents and reports are provided by the camp organisers: 2 to 3 hours
  • During the year: communication with Meetings on supporting their work with JYFs – 8 to 20 hours (or more if the JYF Coordinator has capacity and inclination)