• Norwood Forum

Lambeth TechAid: volunteers sought

Lambeth TechAid is a grassroots, unpaid group of volunteers. Their aim is to help address the digital divide in their borough by collecting and restoring unwanted smartphones, tablets, laptops and all-in-one computers, and providing them to people in need through local schools and community organisations. Please see the About Us and FAQs pages of their website to find out more about the organisation.

They are recruiting volunteers both for our Management Team and Publicity Team as well as roles in our other work groups. They particularly encourage individuals from black and other minority ethnic groups to join us at every level of our organisation. To succeed in their aims, they must successfully reach out into every section of our diverse community, both to collect reusable technology and to meet the needs of those with little or no access to it. This requires a diversity of experience, background, skills and knowledge, and a willingness to work collaboratively and to learn from each other. 

Roles needed

They need people in their management team with experience of volunteer coordination, project management in a voluntary organisation, and running publicity campaigns. Barring unforeseen changes, they ask those joining to commit to working with them for at least 3 hours per week, for a minimum of 3 months. Individuals who have hands-on experience or who would like to gain experience in any of these roles are welcome to complete this form. They aim to respond within 3-5 days. 

Similarly, individuals who would like to contribute to the work of any of the work groups below are encouraged to complete the same form

Current work group structure

  1. Technical: remove data and update donated equipment
  2. Transport: collect and deliver devices where needed between donors, tech volunteers and the distribution team or recipient organisations
  3. Donations: coordinate donations and assign them to the technical team
  4. Distribution: liaise with community organisations, and respond to & fill requests for devices
  5. Publicity: manage social media and other means to maintain a steady flow of donations and volunteers into TechAid, utilising
  6. Website & database maintenance & development
  7. Management: lead and coordinate the work of the various groups and the organisation as a whole, generally meeting online weekly. Members of the Management Group take an active role within at least one of the other groups as well as participating in overall management and weekly online meetings. Going forward, this team also will formulate a future vision for Lambeth TechAid beyond the summer and early autumn.