Policy Recommendations for Enhancing Community Sponsorship Programmes in Europe: Key lessons from cross-country evaluations

Community sponsorship and complementary pathways in Europe have provided a humanitarian response to the global refugee crisis since 2016. By engaging local communities and leveraging their support, these approaches facilitate the integration of refugees into their new communities. In 2021, as part of the Share QSN project, the Share Network, together with its strategic partners, commissioned evaluation research to gather meaningful insight about Community Sponsorship programmes in six European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain). Qualitative data were collected from 159 individuals involved in the sponsorship programmes of 16 different localities from November 2021 to June 2022.

This series includes five thematic policy briefs from key issues that emerged from the evaluations:

• Key challenges impacting the programmes at the governance level: improving sustainability in the long term

• Pre-departure phase, matching between refugees and volunteers and managing expectations

• The arrival phase: providing essential resources and services and structural integration

• Challenges in the phase-out and end of programme

• The intitial impacts of the programmes in their hosting communities