Conference on Multifaith and Wider Community Engagement in Refugee Sponsorship

The Multifaith and wider community engagement in refugee sponsorship conference took place in Cologne on May 25, 2022. Organised in partnership with DiCV Caritas Cologne, it provided the opportunity for relevant multi-stakeholder actors to exchange and share best practices on broadening engagement beyond Christian faith-based groups, across different faith groups as well as secular actors.

The conference was attended by over 50 actors from Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the UK and Germany representing lead sponsors or supporting organisations, local volunteer sponsor groups and sponsored refugees as well as strategic stakeholders such as the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and grassroots initiatives active in Cologne.

The following topics are covered by the report:

• Inter-faith and local community engagement

• Diversifying and strengthening sponsoring groups

• Refugee participation in sponsorship schemes

• Operational frameworks for safeguarding

• Welcoming initiatives, housing and matching of refugees with volunteers in the context of Ukrainian arrivals

Some key lessons learned include:

• Engaging different faiths and the wider local community in community sponsorship makes programmes more efficient and sustainable over time

• Multi-stakeholder partnerships and more diverse sponsoring groups help to smooth out the sponsoring process

• Migrant- and refugee-led associations should be at the heart of programmes, from their conception over monitoring implementation up to evaluating outcomes