Webinar: Meet a local. A Nordic model of community sponsorship for refugees

Community sponsorship programmes aim to support integration of refugees into the new community. At this webinar, you will hear about recently launched pilot programmes in the Nordic countries.

Time: 6 Mar 2024 kl 14:00-16.00 (Finnish time)

Place: online

The Nordic countries have a tradition of organizing resettlement of refugees as a state-run and -sponsored scheme, involving municipalities during the reception and integration phase. The societal model is anchored in a system of free access to social welfare, housing, health care and education.

Community sponsorship builds on the idea, that local volunteers and organizations can add to government-assisted integration support and play a central role in welcoming refugees. It supports the integration by engaging citizens and local communities in providing emotional, financial, and practical help to newly arrived refugees. The volunteers are committed to foster inclusion and self-sustainability of refugees but do not have to contribute financially.

Recently launched pilot programmes in the Nordic countries are designed for quota refugees within the national resettlement programmes, and in the case of Sweden also for spontaneously arrived refugees with residence permits. Read more about community sponsorship at UNHCR Representation for the Nordic and Baltic countries. Webinar raises awareness, shares practical experiences, and discuss the Nordic model of community sponsorship. Speakers are from from organisations and municipalities involved in community sponsorship and similar initiatives in the Nordic countries, as well as from a Danish partnership programme Venner Viser Vej.

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Kohderyhmät: hyvinvointialueet, julkinen hallinto, kunnat, järjestöt ja yhteisöt, yliopistot ja korkeakoulut