Screening and Intake Officer

**Innovative Human Rights NGO Seeks**

**AAM Screening and Intake Officer / Interpreter Coordinator in Kuala Lumpur**

**About Asylum Access**

We are human rights advocates who support forcibly displaced individuals and communities as they reclaim their rights, agency and power. Our unique combination of legal empowerment, policy advocacy and global systems change creates conditions in which refugees can live safely, move freely, work legally and go to school. Our work transforms the traditional approach of endless humanitarian handouts to a sustainable solution that honours refugees’ freedom, dignity and autonomy, and equips them to make choices about their own lives.

Asylum Access’ global team and family of local civil society organisations advocate to make human rights a reality for refugees throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. Our national organisations are led and staffed primarily by community members in those countries, and there is strong mutual trust and respect between us and our clients. On the international stage, we work with established institutions to shift the global system to better uphold and promote refugees’ human rights. We can help catalyse and lead systemic transformation because, uniquely among NGOs in the refugee response sector, we focus exclusively on rights and governance.

**Department Description**

The AAM Legal Services team provides legal aid to refugee clients through individualised legal assistance, community outreach and advocacy initiatives. The team works to identify those with heightened vulnerabilities, assist individuals and communities in navigating the UNHCR process, as well as provide information on their rights and responsibilities under certain domestic laws and policies. Through its legal empowerment activities and advocacy tools, the team seeks to encourage systemic change and increase access to rights for forcibly displaced individuals and communities in Malaysia.

**Position Description**

The Screening and Intake Officer / Interpreter Coordinator is a member of AAM’s Legal Services team. As Screening and Intake Officer, the incumbent will assist the AAM office and all departments as a frontline staff in managing and processing incoming Service Request Forms (SRFs) across the following languages: English, Burmese, Urdu, Somali, Persian, Arabic and Malay. The role is to effectively engage, screen, assess and coordinate responses to individuals who contact AAM for assistance in a timely manner. As Interpreter Coordinator, the incumbent will be the lead in recruiting, training, and coordinating AAM’s interpreters. This will include ensuring AAM’s interpreter services remain of high quality through monitoring and capacity-building, where necessary. The incumbent will spend approximately 90% of their time for Screening and Intake duties, and 10% of their time for overseeing AAM interpreters.

**Key Responsibilities**

**As Screening / Intake Officer (90%)**:

- Review and process all Service Request Forms (SRFs) received by AAM to identify actionable cases for onwards referral and further action using established office processes;
- Liaise with AAM interpreters as necessary for the translation of SRFs in the language of clients and prospective clients;
- Conduct client intake and screening interviews, assessing needs, identifying vulnerabilities and referring cases to the relevant service providers as necessary;
- Provide accurate information to clients and prospective clients on AAM’s services;
- Set adequate expectations regarding AAM’s scope of services and waiting times;
- Provide general advice to clients on UNHCR processes and/or other service providers;
- Liaise with relevant teams on case-specific concerns, as required;
- Inform clients and prospective clients where AAM cannot assist, explaining why where appropriate, identify other organisations who may be able to assist, and redirect to these organisations accordingly;
- Where directed, draft partner referral submissions for individual cases requiring UNHCR intervention or support;
- Undertake necessary case management practices, including maintaining database records and keeping detailed notes of all casework activities on RIPS and other recording tools;
- Ensure all administrative processes and tasks are completed to the necessary standards;
- Maintain a basic level of knowledge of UNHCR processes, in order to process cases effectively at AAM;
- Maintain a basic level of awareness of political and social circumstances in clients’ countries of origin (COO), in order to process cases sensitively at AAM;
- Attend and contribute to team meetings as required;
- Adhere to the Nairobi Code of Ethics, and AAM Code of Conduct, policies, and manuals;
- Work collaboratively and in coordination with the other team members in different departments;
- Other duties in relation to the above, as required by the supervisor.

**As Interpreter Coordinator (10%)**:

- Ensure AAM’s interpretatio