Training societies to welcome refugees: opportunities and challenges of scaling up community sponsorship in Europe.

In Europe, where community sponsorship has gained momentum in the recent years, research and policy developments in this field are still quite limited. In this context, it therefore appears to be relevant to address a few topical questions related to the design and implementation of these models. First, since community sponsorship engages individuals and groups of individuals which will be called “sponsors” in refugee inclusion efforts, it can be assumed that these persons are central actors in these programmes. In this regard, existing research has shown that to be effective, sponsors require vetting, training and ongoing guidance and support. There is still however limited work and literature available on how these procedures are carried out in European programmes. Since the sustainability of such schemes has been considered to largely rest on sponsors’ willingness to participate and their ability to carry out responsibilities , this research will thus attempt to tackle the fundamental questions of how sponsors are in practice selected, vetted, trained and supported in seven European countries where sponsorship is currently implemented. Secondly, it appears relevant to explore what are the current opportunities for scaling up community sponsorship programmes in Europe, with different configurations and wider engagement from the public sector and host communities. In this framework, it has been considered crucial to investigate what are the core elements that should be included in the design of these models that could contribute to their sustainability, but also what are the challenges that could potentially prevent their possible expansion. The thesis is divided in three chapters. The first chapter introduces community sponsorship in the broader framework of durable solutions, resettlement and complementary pathways for refugees. This chapter relies on the study and review of academic literature on the subject, documents and briefs produced by UN Agencies, European institutions, NGOs, and other publications issued in the framework of sponsorship programmes, such as evaluation reports and policy notes. The second chapter explores practices put in place by civil society organisations related to the recruitment, training and support of sponsors. The chapter begins with an introduction on the methodology of the research, which rests for a significant part on interviews, followed by a section dedicated to the selection of sponsors. Here, the thesis will present what are the recruitment practices currently applied by organisations, including a focus on sponsors’ commitment, eligibility criteria and application procedures, and specific paragraphs on vetting procedures and the nature of sponsors’ motivations when applying to join the programme. The section on training maps the different experiences regarding content and methodology, and attempts to identify best practices and possible gaps to be filled moving forward. In the next section, there is a focus on the role of civil society organisations in supporting sponsors in the different programmes, with some insights on how challenges and tensions in the sponsor-sponsored relationship and with the broader host community have been dealt with. The third chapter delves into the possible ways forward. It will thus explore whether organisations involved in the implementation of community sponsorship in Europe are currently working on a possible replication or expansion of the model in their country. The final part of the chapter will be dedicated to what should be the ideal functions of public authorities at the national and local level, both of them representing fundamental stakeholders for a successful roll out of these schemes.