Building on the Community of Practice, the Share QSN+ project, co-funded by the European Union, improves the integration outcomes of refugees in Europe by expanding, strengthening, and sustaining community sponsorship (CS) programmes, while bringing together a consortium of actors in Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy and Spain who are all experienced in refugee integration and are currently implementing community sponsorship programmes in their national contexts.

The project uses a multi-stakeholder, grassroots and bottom-up strategy fostering refugee participation, bringing all grassroots sponsorship stakeholders and the lessons they are learning to the EU level. The project is in close alliance with UNHCR’s Third Country Solutions for Refugees: Roadmap 2030 as well as the EU’s Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027.

Where?

The project is implemented in five countries - Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, and Spain- where our network members have community sponsorship programs in place.

Why?

QSN+ Objectives

Expand and diversify the base and constitution of community sponsorship actors to encompass a larger number and more diverse set of actors across a wide geographical scope, including in rural areas;
Increase the quality of community sponsorship support while innovative models of community sponsorship are built and shared through centralising, adapting, and translating existing training materials and toolkits as well as the roll-out of training sessions adapted to local needs;
Establish European and national-level coordination to better implement reflections and actions on community sponsorship that align with the broader development of safe and legal pathways, streamlining the voice and active participation of refugees, host communities, and other key actors throughout the project.

How?

QSN+ Activities

Best practice exchange in EU and national workshops on sponsorship topics, including sponsorship in rural areas, labour market integration of sponsored refugees, adapting sponsorship to emergencies such as Ukraine and Afghanistan, and the ethical engagement of refugees.
Training and capacity building of lead sponsor organisations and volunteer sponsors adapted to localised needs.
Raising awareness through activities with supporting actors, grassroots sponsors, local authorities and refugees that build leadership and inspire both new and experienced actors to get involved.
Celebrating sponsorship by gathering grassroots stakeholders from across Europe for a conference to celebrate the unique contributions of local communities, volunteers, and refugees and bring the voices of those directly involved in sponsorship to the EU policy level.
Developing national strategies and frameworks by holding multistakeholder partnership meetings, bringing together stakeholders on the national level to strengthen sustainability and coordination of the safe pathways.
Rolling out a Monitoring, Recruitment and Retention strategy to broaden the engagement and diversity of lead sponsors and volunteers.

Main Beneficiaries

The Main beneficiaries of the project are lead sponsors, governments, host communities, sponsorship groups, sponsored and resettled refugees.

For more information about the SHARE Network, please visit https://www.share-network.eu/

Established in March 2012 and led by the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) Europe, the Share Network provides a platform for mutual exchange and learning amongst European, regional and local actors to foster welcome, inclusion, and integration of newly arrived migrants and refugees in Europe and support the development of legal pathways to protection.

1.2. Quality Sponsorship Network Plus QSN+