The growing support for sponsorship programmes comes as policymakers and other stakeholders increasingly perceive the value of involving receiving communities more directly in welcoming and supporting the integration of refugee newcomers. While such programmes have existed in Canada for decades, it is only in the past eight years that they have been introduced in Europe, including in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. As of mid-2023, nearly 20 countries worldwide operated sponsorship initiatives.

The MPI study points to several factors that can hamper sponsor recruitment, including limited networks, extensive sponsor requirements and cumbersome application processes. Retention, on the other hand, can be harmed by lack of support for executing difficult tasks, among other factors.

Relying on findings from surveys and interviews conducted in three case-study countries (Belgium, Germany and Ireland) as well as evidence from some other countries operating sponsorship programmes and lessons from private hosting efforts that emerged following displacement from Ukraine, the report examines strategies that programmes could and in some cases already use to overcome obstacles. It suggests different ways to enhance the capacity and preparedness of sponsors, including through lowering participation barriers, improving support structures, giving sponsors greater say in matching with refugees and broadening outreach to attract more — and more diverse — sponsors.

"To sustain and expand sponsorship initiatives, significant investments are needed to raise awareness of them, enhance their appeal to potential sponsors and build out the support structures necessary to help sponsors succeed in and enjoy their role — and ideally encourage them to repeat it in the future", the report concludes.

This MPI Europe study is part of the Building Capacity for Private Sponsorship in the European Union (CAPS-EU) Project, which aims to build the capacity of European, national, and local governments and nongovernmental stakeholders to design, implement, sustain, and scale up community sponsorship programs for refugees.

For further information, please visit this webpage and read the full study above.