It was wonderful to discuss the purpose and power of community sponsorship at our events in Melbourne and Sydney last week.
While there were so many highlights, several insights shared by our speakers particularly resonated with the CRSA team and members of the audience. Those of note being:
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Community sponsorship depoliticises the issue of refugee resettlement, creating greater space for compassionate solutions
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The community sponsorship model is a versatile tool for governments. In addition to supporting national responses to global crises, sponsorship can diversify settlement locations, build more tolerant and socially cohesive societies, encourage civic participation and combat loneliness.
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Community sponsorship engages a diverse array of people with differing political ideologies, but who nonetheless share a common interest in welcoming newcomers. Whether they are faith groups, veterans, diaspora groups or progressive activists, sponsorship programs are politically resilient due to their appeal across the political spectrum.
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More in Common’s public opinion insight work points to five key factors that build public support for refugee resettlement: control, competence, contribution, community, and compassion. Community sponsorship delivers on all of these elements and enlarges the political space for other forms of resettlement. While we know progressive voters are usually on board with refugee resettlement, More in Common’s research also found that 29% of people who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 would be open to sponsoring a refugee.
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In promoting sponsorship programs, we need to harness the ‘power of invitation’. As well as inviting new people to become involved, we should highlight the voices of sponsors who can speak powerfully to how they personally benefitted from their sponsorship experience, while also asking newcomers to share their experiences.
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Philanthropy plays a very important role in building the community sponsorship movement. In Canada, the US and Europe, philanthropic investments have made a significant impact in growing and sustaining successful programs. For example, investments in storytelling, communications and advocacy are needed to enable the community sponsorship movement to achieve its full potential, as well as the provision of seed funding and emergency funding to assist local sponsor groups in doing the welcoming.
As we celebrate the Australian government’s decision to make the CRISP a ‘permanent and valued feature’ of Australia’s humanitarian migration program, we have an ambitious vision for a large, robust and multi-faceted community sponsorship movement in Australia. In the years ahead we hope to see this approach not only contribute additional places for refugees but also enable members of our community to be able to support newcomers in the context of emergency humanitarian intakes (e.g. recent arrivals from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Gaza); ‘named’ refugee sponsorship (where sponsors can nominate who they wish to support); as well as labour and education pathways for refugee workers and students.
If you are interested in viewing Tim Dixon’s slides, Professor Jennifer Bond’s presentation, or any of the other event recordings, you can access them in this folder.