Rethinking Community Sponsorship: Share Network Webinar explores Volunteer Mobilisation and the Role of Naming
25 September 2024
On September 23rd and 24th, the ICMC Europe and Share Network hosted a two-part webinar to unpack how communities across the world are innovating, adapting, and expanding their sponsorship efforts. The event, part of the Share Quality Sponsorship Network Plus project, brought together stakeholders from across the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia to discuss best practices, challenges, and innovative approaches to sustaining community sponsorship initiatives.
The workshop was divided into two focused sessions:
Day 1: Mobilisation, Recruitment, and Retention (MRR) Strategies
The first day tackled the challenges of recruiting and retaining volunteer sponsors while diversifying engagement. Drawing from experiences across Europe, Australia, and Canada, keynote speakers and panelists shared innovative practices such as:
Targeted Campaigning: Using localised outreach to attract new volunteers.
Diaspora Engagement: Mobilising communities with shared cultural or national ties to refugees.
Creative Housing Solutions: Addressing housing barriers through grassroots networks and leveraging underused resources.
Participants exchanged ideas on mobilising untapped communities, like private companies and educational institutions, and addressing systemic challenges such as burnout and administrative hurdles.
Webinar attendees also tackled a sensitive issue: the need to balance immediate humanitarian responses with the long-term integration of refugee families.
Screenshot from the sessions
Day 2: ‘Named’ Sponsorship in Complementary Pathways
The second day explored the concept of ‘naming’ in sponsorship, which enables sponsor groups to nominate specific individuals or families for resettlement. This approach fosters stronger community connections and is often used in humanitarian or skills-based pathways.
Highlights included:
Policy Challenges and Opportunities: Discussions on how naming can enhance integration and expand protection spaces in Europe.
Case Studies: Examples from Italy, Ireland, and Germany showcased how named sponsorship has been used effectively to support LGBTQI+ individuals, professionals, and vulnerable groups.
Participants examined how naming could complement traditional refugee resettlement models and emphasised the need for policy alignment to address legal and administrative barriers.
Amid the practical discussions, inspiring stories emerged. In Paderborn, Germany, a local sports club formed a sponsorship group to welcome a Somali family. The chairman, Verani Kartum, himself the son of immigrants, saw it as a way to give back and welcome others to the community that had once embraced his family. “Sports transcend language and culture,” he said. “It’s a way to connect as equals.”
In Italy, sponsored families who felt embraced by their host communities have now become sponsors themselves—proof of the lasting impact of creating a sense of belonging.