Why are you as a community undertaking this initiative?
Sponsorship is a serious commitment not only for the year of official sponsorship, but it is a lifelong commitment to welcoming and embracing diversity in your community. Alternative motives such as religious conversion or media publicity are not appropriate reasons for undertaking private sponsorship.
Are your community members and volunteers willing and able to
commit to years of involvement and support?
The official sponsorship commitment is a year long, but settlement, integration, and support are often longer processes.
How do you view the people you are sponsoring?
The goal of sponsorship is the eventual resettlement and integration of newcomers to your community. This means that while they may have arrived with very little or nothing, the newcomers are people, and they require support and capacity building so that they can take control over their lives again. The relationship you have with your families/individuals should primarily be friendship and community support; they should be treated foremost as people rather than dependents or charity cases.
Are you in a position to create transparent expectations?
It’s extremely important that you not only clarify your own goals and purpose as a community for yourself, but that you share your expectations with the newcomers you’re welcoming into your community. If you can, reach out to the newcomers before they arrive through skype, social media, etc, and begin to create a relationship then.
Part of this process is the sharing of resources and expectations. Provide them with some tools for becoming
familiar with English, or engage in beginning tutor sessions online, if possible. The situation of each family/individual may make such endeavors impossible, but try your best to keep lines of communication open even in
this early phase of the process. Find out what documents the family already has, and what is missing. The
process is greatly eased if you have this information at the beginning.
If you have the ability to communicate well with the newcomers before their arrival, start to introduce not only yourselves, but also your environment. Show them pictures of your town and community, and give them some idea about what the culture is like.
It can be difficult to communicate with the families prior to their arrival, depending on their circumstances, access to internet resources, and logistics. If you are going through a Sponsorship Agreement Holder, talk to them about contacting the family before arrival in order to begin the process of creating connections as early as possible.
Does your community have the financial resources necessary for sponsorship?
For a guide to the estimated costs of sponsorship, please refer to Refugee Sponsorship Training Program.
How are you going to organize as a group?
The committee model has proven to be a beneficial and effective way of approaching volunteer organization in order to reduce a burn out effect. This requires individuals to step up as leaders for each committee, and a team of volunteers to contribute to each committee.
Sponsorship is a serious commitment not only for the year of official sponsorship, but it is a lifelong commitment to welcoming and embracing diversity in your community. Alternative motives such as religious conversion or media publicity are not appropriate reasons for undertaking private sponsorship.
Are your community members and volunteers willing and able to
commit to years of involvement and support?
The official sponsorship commitment is a year long, but settlement, integration, and support are often longer processes.
How do you view the people you are sponsoring?
The goal of sponsorship is the eventual resettlement and integration of newcomers to your community. This means that while they may have arrived with very little or nothing, the newcomers are people, and they require support and capacity building so that they can take control over their lives again. The relationship you have with your families/individuals should primarily be friendship and community support; they should be treated foremost as people rather than dependents or charity cases.
Are you in a position to create transparent expectations?
It’s extremely important that you not only clarify your own goals and purpose as a community for yourself, but that you share your expectations with the newcomers you’re welcoming into your community. If you can, reach out to the newcomers before they arrive through skype, social media, etc, and begin to create a relationship then.
Part of this process is the sharing of resources and expectations. Provide them with some tools for becoming
familiar with English, or engage in beginning tutor sessions online, if possible. The situation of each family/individual may make such endeavors impossible, but try your best to keep lines of communication open even in
this early phase of the process. Find out what documents the family already has, and what is missing. The
process is greatly eased if you have this information at the beginning.
If you have the ability to communicate well with the newcomers before their arrival, start to introduce not only yourselves, but also your environment. Show them pictures of your town and community, and give them some idea about what the culture is like.
It can be difficult to communicate with the families prior to their arrival, depending on their circumstances, access to internet resources, and logistics. If you are going through a Sponsorship Agreement Holder, talk to them about contacting the family before arrival in order to begin the process of creating connections as early as possible.
Does your community have the financial resources necessary for sponsorship?
For a guide to the estimated costs of sponsorship, please refer to Refugee Sponsorship Training Program.
How are you going to organize as a group?
The committee model has proven to be a beneficial and effective way of approaching volunteer organization in order to reduce a burn out effect. This requires individuals to step up as leaders for each committee, and a team of volunteers to contribute to each committee.