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.

The programme aims to address these main issues:

  • 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.

  • There is still limited understanding of what motivates refugee and migrant communities to engage in volunteer-led welcome initiatives, and how they envision their role within it.

  • 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 Vrije Universiteit Brussel, focusing on international migration and integration. He is president of the Umbrella Refugee Committee, representing nine community-based, refugee-led organisations across the country. He is also secretary-general of the Network of Afghan Diaspora Organisations in Europe. As a native of Afghanistan, Ahmad Wali brings profound personal insight to his advocacy work for refugee participation in policymaking.

As part of his role, he will present the Belgian community sponsorship to the different refugee-led organisations and activists part of his network. He will do so through

  • Social media outreach in multiple languages

  • Printed materials in key community locations

  • Public speaking engagements.

Masooma Torfa |

Germany Coordinator

Masooma holds a PhD in refugee migration and labour market integration of refugees in Germany from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. She is a co-founding member of Female Fellows, a refugee-led organisation that focuses on migrant women’s empowerement through buddy and mentoring programmes. In the field of international migration, she has worked on policy advocacy on labour market integration, and empowerment of migrant women with numerous institutions including the European Commission. 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.

As part of her role, she will raise awareness on buddying and mentoring programmes among her vast network of migrant and refugee communities, with the aim of recruiting them to become mentors and support other newcomers. She will do so by

  • Hosting live-events in collaboration with local grassroots organisations

  • Social media outreach in multiple languages

  • Flyer distribution and posters.

Angham Younes |

Ireland Coordinator

Angham was part of the first family to arrive in Ireland under the Community Sponsorship Programme in December 2018.
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, access to housing and intercultural exchange. She has participated in numerous activities, workshops and informative sessions with local NGOs and was part of the Share Network’s Refugee Advisor Programme.
Additionally she 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.

As part of her role, she will raise awareness and mobilise mostly Arabic speaking volunteers in Ireland for community sponsorship.

She will do so through:

  • Multilingual social media posts

  • Reaching refugee-led and grassroots organisations across the country

  • Flyering and posters in key locations

  • Hosting an online event with former CS group members and interested persons from migrant and refugee communities.

Abdourahamane Diaby |

Portugal Coordinator

Born in Ivory Coast, Abdourahamane arrived in Portugal in 2007 as an asylum seeker. He is the founder and president of Associação dos Refugees . Additionally, he has served on the board of Associação Africa Cultura Evolution and was a founding member of the 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.

As part of his role, he will use his vast network to:

  • Reach organisations and persons through different grassroots and high-level communication channels

  • Organise in-person events, dinners and concerts where beneficiaries of CS are invited

  • Host a series of online events.

Yohannes Sisay Molla |

Italy Coordinator

Yohannes is an Automation Engineer and refugee advocate who came to Italy as a refugee student through the university corridor project UNICORE, 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. In 2025, he co-founded the
UNICORE Student Association to build unified support systems for peer mentorship and alumni engagement. Additionally, he is part of the Eritrean Refugee University Graduates and Students Association, where he serves as an advisor.

As part of the project, he will reach a diverse set of refugee and migrant communities through:

  • Social media campaigns

  • Distribution of printed materials in key locations

  • Online storytelling event

  • Creation of an informative video.