Since the first community sponsorship scheme was launched in the UK in 2016, sponsorship programmes have developed in highly diverse national and regional contexts and much expertise has been gathered by various sponsorship actors. Across Europe, Christian churches and faith-based organisations from both Protestant and Catholic background have been at the heart of making community sponsorship a success. 

What are, in 2022 and seven years after the launch of the first sponsorship initiative in Europe, the lessons learned by relevant stakeholders? What role have faith communities and faith-based organisations played in the growth of community sponsorship and can they continue to play in the future? 

This Conference on Multifaith Community Engagement taking place in Cologne on May 25th, 2022, will bring together practitioners from different religious and non-religious backgrounds for an exchange of best practices developed by faith based actors with a special focus on practices in multi-faith and wider community engagement in community sponsorship. The conference is co-organised by ICMC Europe/Share network and its partner DiCV Cologne, the local archdiocese's Caritas association, within the framework of Share’s Quality Sponsorship Network (QSN) programme. The conference will provide for an opportunity to exchange not only on changes needed for broader and more sustainable community engagement across different faiths as well as secular actors, but also on challenges and opportunities arising from differences in beliefs and cultures within existing sponsorship initiatives.