Community sponsorship is touted as one of the solutions to the grave global refugee situation as a means to support plummeting resettlement numbers, improve integration and change hearts and minds in Global North asylum states (Bond and Kwadrans, 2019). One of the Global Compact on Refugees’ four objectives is expanded access to “third country solutions” through resettlement and complementary pathways, a suite of controlled avenues to refugee admission which includes community sponsorship. ¹ In Europe, the fallout of the 2015 migrant and refugee crisis has driven a search for innovative approaches to refugee protection, including significant interest in the development of community sponsorship schemes in European Union (EU) member states.

While the term “community sponsorship” has no uniform definition, the essence of the concept is shared responsibility between civil society and the state for the admission and/or integration of refugees (European Commission, 2018, 37). Community sponsorship has been described as “programmes where individuals or groups of individuals come together to provide financial, emotional and practical support toward reception and integration” of refugees (UNHCR, 2019a, 8). ² While there is no substantive difference between the terms, the Canadian approach is often referred to as “private sponsorship,” while “community sponsorship” is usually used in European countries, possibly to avoid negative connoations associated with privatisation of public functions.

Community sponsorship originated in Canada 40 years ago and has led to the resettlement of more than 327,000 refugees in that country (Bond and Kwadrans, 2019). A rich level of scholarship on the Canadian model now exists, ³ covering the risks and opportunities posed by the private-public nature of community sponsorship, the principle of additionality (Labman, 2016; Hyndman et al., 2017; Ritchie, 2018), integration outcomes for sponsored refugees (Hynie et al., 2019; Kaida et al., 2020), the profile and experiences of sponsors (Macklin et al., 2018), and the exportability of the Canadian model to other jurisdictions (Kumin, 2015; Lenard, 2016; Ugland, 2018).

This contribution joins recent scholarly interest in “active” refugee admission policies by honing in on the rapid development of community sponsorship models in Europe (Welfens et al., 2019). In recent years, programmes have been piloted or established in Germany, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom. At the first Global Refugee Forum, held in December 2019, Belgium, Malta and Portugal pledged to explore pilot community sponsorship models (UNHCR, 2020). Broader interest in community sponsorship is reflected in a 2018 European Commission feasibility study (European Commission, 2018) and individual scoping studies undertaken in Denmark (Tan, 2019), France (European Resettlement Network, 2018) and Sweden (Tan, 2020).

This contribution addresses three primary questions. First, it seeks to define the concept of community sponsorship as it is currently practiced and suggests a number of elements fundamental to the concept. While this analysis includes a mapping of current community sponsorship models in Europe, it also includes a normative claim to maintain the focus on community sponsorship on providing refugee protection. Second, as little work currently exists mapping and analysing how jurisdictions adopt community sponsorship models (see, exceptionally, Fratzke, 2017; Bertram et al., 2020), this paper investigates how the recent emergence of community sponsorship in Europe can inform policy transfer in new jurisdictions. The paper uses the literature on transnational policy transfer to understand how to assess the uptake (or not) of community sponsorship models in new European jurisdictions. The contribution is thus interested in which conditions or factors render the uptake of community sponsorship models more or less likely. Finally, the paper identifies a number of legal and policy challenges facing the future development of community sponsorship in Europe.

This contribution proceeds in five sections. First, the article defines the concept of community sponsorship as both a form of resettlement and a complementary pathway, its broad scope thus offering flexibility but also potential confusion. Second, the article grounds the discussion within policy transfer literature, outlining how community sponsorship has rapidly emerged as an example of transnational policy transfer. Third, it takes stock of community sponsorship models in Europe, tracing the emergence of pilot and permanent models since 2015. Fourth, the article analyses how community sponsorship may become a viable policy option in other European states, as a form of transnational policy transfer. Finally, the article looks to what the future may hold in the development of community sponsorship models in Europe.

From the outset, it is worth defining community sponsorship as precisely as possible, as the concept has been “rather ill-defined” (European Commission, 2018, 1) and is best understood as an “umbrella” term encompassing several different modalities (Hueck, 2019). This section firstly demonstrates how community sponsorship models straddle the categories of resettlement and complementary pathway, before setting out several core elements of the concept.

Policy transfer is widely understood as “a process by which knowledge of policies in one political system” are used in the development of similar features in another (Dolowitz and Marsh 2000, 5). The recent spread of community sponsorship from a solitary, longstanding practice in Canada to multiple European jurisdictions is a classic example of policy transfer. More specifically, the voluntary uptake of community sponsorship models may be conceptualised as a form of “lesson-drawing” between jurisdictions (Rose, 1991).

In terms of the quality or intensity of policy transfer from one jurisdiction to another, Dolowitz and Marsh identify four different gradations of transfer: copying (direct and complete transfer); emulation (transfer of the basic ideas with adjustments for different circumstances); combinations (transfer of policies and programs from several different jurisdictions); and inspiration (policy in one jurisdiction is used as an intellectual stimulus, but the final outcomes do not actually draw upon the original). Non-transfer is also an option, where policymakers find that an idea is unworkable for technical or political reasons (Dolowitz and Marsh, 2000).

While national governments play a uniquely important role in community sponsorship, given their sovereign prerogatives to control migration, the proliferation of community sponsorship is in fact a case of transnational policy transfer, involving a multitude of state and non-state actors. Government actors influencing community sponsorship in Europe policy range from the supranational European Commission, national governments (notably the Canadian government, with its “exporter jurisdiction” advocacy Reynolds and Clark-Kazak, 2019) and municipal governments. Non-state actors in this context include international organisations, international and national NGOs and civil society, notably faith-based groups. In particular, UNHCR, the GRSI, Amnesty International and Caritas have emerged as “transnational transfer agents,” advocating for community sponsorship across jurisdictions and, in some cases, playing important operational roles in the rollout of programmes (Stone, 2010). Perhaps most notably, the GRSI established a European office in 2020 in Brussels to advocate for the uptake of further community sponsorship schemes.

Ghezelbash, in his work on policy transfer on deterrence policies in the migration context, synthesises reasons for transfer into three broad categories: efficiency; prestige; and coercion (Ghezelbash, 2014; Ghezelbash, 2018, 20). Applied to community sponsorship, efficiency here potentially refers to establishing new legal channels to protection and/or improving integration outcomes, depending on the model. Of course, a states’ reasons for establishing new legal pathways to admission can vary between increasing protection space to establishing more control over their borders, including at the expense of the right to seek asylum (Hirsch et al., 2019).

With respect to prestige, the prevalence of community sponsorship at the Global Refugee Forum is notable, with both pledges and good practice examples showcasing existing and planned community sponsorship models. Other less positive motivations may also be observed. For example, Australia’s Community Sponsorship Program only supports refugees who are “job-ready” with “functional English” and sponsors exorbitant costs related to visas, administration and integration (Hoang, 2017, 74).

European governments are no longer drawing solely on the Canadian experience. As Bertram et al have recently argued, direct copying from Canada to other jurisdictions is unlikely to succeed, while “an adaptation approach to lesson-drawing and policy transfer seems to be more suitable since it usefully adjusts a policy for contextual differences” (2020, 254). No longer is Canada the only “exporter” jurisdiction, rather European governments can draw on “proximate transfer” models to import community sponsorship (Stone 2004, 552).

The following provides a snapshot of European community sponsorship models, demonstrating the rapid rise of the concept and range of objectives and modalities across jurisdictions. ⁵ In 2013, a comparative study on best practices on the integration of resettled refugees found no community sponsorship models in the EU, while by 2020 pilot or permanent community sponsorship models were in place in Ireland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom (Papadopoulou et al., 2013).

Since 2015, when the arrival of spontaneous asylum seekers reached unprecedented levels in the EU, there has been significant interest in community sponsorship (Solano and Savazzi, 2019). The crisis brought both a surge of interest in controlled admission among policymakers and an outpouring of civil society groups helping asylum seekers and refugees (Fratzke, 2017, 3). In May 2015, the European Agenda on Migration identified safe and legal pathways as a priority (European Commission, 2015) and, in 2017, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) launched a pilot project on community sponsorship with interested EU states (EASO, 2018). A 2018 European Commission feasibility study found that “sponsorship could contribute to meeting the goal of promoting safe and legal channels of admission” (2018, 11). A recent Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) Action Grant funded projects launching new or developing existing community sponsorship schemes.

Momentum around community sponsorship is not limited to the European crisis. The 2016 New York Declaration calls for new and expanded resettlement and complementary pathways, including community sponsorship. ⁶ In the margins of the New York Declaration, the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative (GRSI) was created with a mandate to “encourage and support the adoption and expansion of refugee sponsorship programs around the world.” As noted above, the 2018 Global Compact on Refugees calls for expanded access to resettlement and complementary pathways (Carrera and Cortinovis, 2019). In June 2019, UNHCR released its Three-Year Strategy (2019–2021) on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways, which envisages the drastic scaling up of resettlement and complementary pathways globally, including community sponsorship (UNHCR, 2019b). At the Global Refugee Forum in December 2019, at least nine state pledges relate to existing or new community sponsorship programmes (UNHCR, 2020).

Germany’s Federal Länder Sponsorship Scheme (FLSS), in place between 2013 and 2018, was a family reunification programme focused on Syrians that admitted 23,500 persons. The scheme was criticised for placing onerous requirements on sponsors, with sponsorship lasting up to 5 years (European Commission, 2018, 130), and restricting the rights of sponsored refugees.

Between 2015 and 2018, Portugal implemented a temporary community sponsorship scheme to assist in meeting its relocation targets. ⁷ More than 1,500 people were admitted under the model, with sponsors taking on responsibilities for 18 months in relation to accommodation and other support services. Sponsors were community organisations matched with refugees by the state (European Commission, 2018, 28). At the Global Refugee Forum, the Portuguese government pledged to explore the establishment of a new pilot “inspired by the Canadian experience and the movement of other countries that adopted it, namely in Europe” (UNHCR 2020).

In 2016, the Humanitarian Corridors project began in Italy as a protection-focused response to the horrific death toll in the central Mediterranean, where Italy is the primary destination state. Smaller scale models were launched in France in 2016 and Belgium in 2017. Humanitarian Corridors is a complementary pathway coupling admission and integration of refugees by faith-based organisations under memoranda of understanding with central governments (Ricci 2020). The model involves almost complete devolution to faith-based organisations. Beneficiaries are nominated, screened, granted an entry visa, apply for asylum upon arrival and are provided reception and integration support by faith-based organisations, who bear all costs related to integration. Since its inception, Humanitarian Corridors has sponsored around 3,000 people (Collyer et al., 2017).

The United Kingdom’s Community Sponsorship Scheme (CSS) was launched as a strand of the country’s resettlement quota in 2016. The initial focus of the CSS was on improving integration, with refugees referred by UNHCR for resettlement. Sponsors must be registered charities and provide financial and social support for 1 year and housing for 2 years (European Commission, 2018, 60). Between 2016 and 2019, approximately 400 refugees were sponsored under the Scheme. Initially, the CSS resettled refugees within the UK’s quota but from 2020 the Scheme is additional. An initial evaluation found the scheme was functioning well, despite some start-up challenges (Phillimore and Reyes 2019).

In March 2019, Community Sponsorship Ireland (CSI) was launched. The scheme is focused on providing protection and supports refugees identified by UNHCR for resettlement within the quota of the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, though the government has committed to additionality in the medium to long-term. The CSI aims to resettle 50 refugees during the initial development phase. During this period, infrastructure will be developed to allow for the programme to be scaled up for the full implementation phase. Sponsors provide social and financial support for 18 months and housing for 2 years (Department of Justice and Equality 2019).

In 2019, the Basque region piloted a small community sponsorship project within Spain’s National Resettlement Program. The Basque regional government bears all financial costs, with sponsor groups formed and supported by the Ellacuria Foundation and Caritas providing housing and operational support. The pilot sponsored five Syrian families (29 people) referred for resettlement by UNHCR, with sponsor groups providing social support (Manzanedo, 2019). At the first Global Refugee Forum, Spain pledged to expand the programme to 500 sponsored refugees in the Basque region and other Autonomous Communities by 2022 (Manzanedo, 2019).

Most recently, the German NesT programme, launched in May 2019, is additional to the state’s resettlement program and was designed jointly by UNHCR, civil society and the government to expand protection and improve integration. Refugees are selected from UNHCR resettlement referrals and are granted refugee status before admission. The pilot sponsors 400 refugees, with sponsors (termed “mentors”) responsible for providing integration support for 1 year and housing for 2 years.

In sum, there is an emerging base of practice on community sponsorship of refugees, in Europe and globally. A number of trends can be observed. First, existing and recent programmes may be roughly divided into the two categories outlined in the previous section: community sponsorship as a tool to expand or improve resettlement (Germany’s NesT model, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Spain); and community sponsorship as an autonomous complementary pathway (Humanitarian Corridors in Belgium, France and Italy, and Germany’s FLSS).

Second, despite significant variation with early models, more recent models are more focused on the provision of refugee protection. Germany’s FLSS, for example, was sponsored family reunification, while the new NesT scheme targets refugees referred for resettled by UNHCR. Equally, Portugal’s programme was focused on intra-EU relocation, while the recent Spanish and Irish models are more resettlement-focused. This renewed focus on the protection of refugees is welcome.

Third, the question of additionality is becoming increasingly complex. While a couple of European sponsorship models are outright additional to the state’s resettlement quota, Humanitarian Corridors has provided a safe and legal pathway to protection for 3,000 refugees since 2016, in addition to Italy’s annual resettlement programme of 1,000 places, other programmes have been within the resettlement programme on the basis of “additionality in principle.” The United Kingdom CSS, for example, started out within the state’s resettlement quota, with the government subsequently pledging additionality at the Global Refugee Forum (UNHCR, 2020). While ideally community sponsorship schemes should be additional to existing resettlement programmes from the outset, pragmatic considerations may require that initial community sponsorship models take place within existing resettlement quotas. In such cases, a shift to additionality in the short to medium-term must remain a focus.

The emergence of the varied and multiple European community sponsorship models, outlined above, point to community sponsorship being adopted on the basis of emulation and combination. European governments are no longer drawing solely on the Canadian experience when considering and designing community sponsorship programmes. Rather, European policymakers adapt the overarching concept to the national context, drawing on the experiences of jurisdictions geographically proximate and at similar policymaking stages.

The development of community sponsorship in Europe stands at a key juncture. Can the momentum created in the wake of the 2015 crisis, the Global Compact on Refugees and nascent European models translate to widespread policy transfer in accordance with the protective core of the model? This final section identifies a number of challenges to the development of community sponsorship in Europe and suggests how to address them.