Community Outreach & Engagement Coordinators
Fostering Meaningful Refugee Participation in Community Sponsorship
About the Programme
Building on the previous work of the Share Refugee Advisors to foster meaningful refugee participation in community sponsorship and identify advocacy priorities, the Share Network has brought on board five Community Outreach & Engagement Coordinators*.
These coordinators raise awareness and actively engage refugee and migrant communities in community-led welcome and sponsorship schemes, whilst conducting research on what motivates them to engage in the programmes.
*remunerated position
All Coordinators are refugees or migrants with strong ties to local networks, and in some cases, head refugee-led organisations. They are positioned across five countries—Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Portugal—where sponsorship schemes are well established and coordinated.
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A gap remains in the inclusion of migrants and refugees within the community sponsorship ecosystem. Guided by the principle of 'nothing about us, without us,' peers are now at the forefront of addressing this.Description text goes here
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There is still limited understanding of what motivates refugee and migrant communities to engage in sponsorship, and how they envision their role within it.
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Fostering closer collaboration between grassroots refugee and migrant organisations and established civil society organisations engaged in community-led welcome and sponsorship.
Meet Our Coordinators
Ahmad Wali Ahmad-Yar
Belgium Coordinator
Ahmad Wali is a postdoctoral researcher at the Brussels Institute for Social and Population Studies (BRISPO) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, focusing on international migration and migrant integration. He serves as president of the Umbrella Refugee Committee in Belgium, representing nine community-based, refugee-led organisations across the country. Ahmad Wali is also secretary-general of the Network of Afghan Diaspora Organisations in Europe (NADOE) and conducts research as part of several Horizon 2020 projects. He holds a PhD in sociology and previously worked as an interpreter for UNHCR. As a native of Afghanistan, Ahmad Wali brings profound personal insight to his advocacy work for refugee participation in policymaking.
Masooma Torfa
Germany Coordinator
Masooma is a consultant and co-founding member of Female Fellows, currently based in Germany. She holds a PhD in refugee migration and labour market integration of refugees in Germany from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, alongside a master's degree in economics, a diploma in development management from Germany, and a bachelor's degree in economics from Kabul University in Afghanistan. Masooma brings extensive professional experience from development projects with the United Nations Kabul Office and USAID in Afghanistan. In the field of international migration, she has worked on policy advocacy, labour market integration, and empowerment of migrant women with numerous institutions including the European Commission, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), the European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM), Advocate Europe, and Female Fellows. Her recent publications focus on private companies' engagement in refugee labour market integration in Germany, as well as Afghan and Syrian refugees' integration opportunities and challenges.
Angham Younes
Ireland Coordinator
Angham was part of the first family to arrive in Ireland under the Community Sponsorship Programme in December 2018, and a founding member of the first community sponsorship group formed in Ireland. Since then, she has been an active advocate in supporting refugees, specifically promoting the community sponsorship programme as the best pathway for integration, with particular focus on women's empowerment and intercultural exchange. Angham has participated in numerous activities, workshops, and information sessions nationwide through the Irish Refugee Council, Open Community, and various refugee support organisations and NGOs. She has also engaged at the EU level through the Share Network's Refugee Advisor Programme and served as a peer researcher and co-author in two academic social studies with UCD and Limerick University examining the community sponsorship experience in Ireland.
Abdourahamane Diaby
Portugal Coordinator
Born in Ivory Coast, Abdourahamane arrived in Portugal in 2007 as an asylum seeker. An economist by training, he has been the founder and president of ARP - Associação dos Refugees in Portugal since 2010. As a human rights activist specialising in refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced persons, he has collaborated extensively with Portugal's High Commission for Migrations, various government bodies, municipalities, and European and African institutions. Abdourahamane has served on the board of AACE - Associação Africa Cultura Evolution and was a founding member of ADYNE - African Diaspora Youth Network in Europe. For ten years, he has been part of the Maria Rosa Foundation's expert team, contributing to the COMPARTE project for refugee participation in public policy design.
Yohannes Sisay Molla
Italy Coordinator
Yohannes is an Automation Engineer and refugee advocate who came to Italy as a refugee student through the UNICORE project, pursuing a Master's degree in Automation Engineering at the University of Bologna. Since becoming a UNICORE beneficiary, he has remained committed to giving back, actively promoting the project and contributing to its expansion across Italian universities, helping it reach more than 250 beneficiaries to date. In 2025, he co-founded the UNICORE Student Association to build unified support systems for peer mentorship and alumni engagement. Since 2019, Yohannes has been a dedicated member of ERUGSA (Eritrean Refugee University Graduates and Students Association), where he serves as an advisor supporting refugees through education, leadership development, and advocacy, reaching over 50,000 refugees through coordinated outreach campaigns.