Fostering Community Sponsorship Across Europe

This study centres around the growth of community sponsorship programmes in Europe, and was jointly conducted by Caritas Europa and ICMC Europe. Based on the outcomes of the SHARE Community Sponsorship Working Group, the report examines a number of critical questions for the future of community sponsorship. How sponsorship schemes can create additional safe and legal admission pathways for refugees? To what extent sponsorship programmes can enhance social inclusion? What practical arrangements and partnership frameworks are needed for quality-control mechanisms which ensure the well-being of sponsored refugees? The report answers these questions and more in the following five sections:

1) Community sponsorships within the context of increased protection needs globally;

2) Implementation of three different approaches to community sponsorship in European countries;

3) How social cohesion is fostered through community sponsorship;

4) Analytical- and future perspectives; and 

5) Recommendations for policy and practice