Erika Löfgren, Senior Durable Solutions Associate at UNHCR’s Representation for the Nordic and Baltic Countries, spoke at the launch event in the Stockholm suburb.
Erika Löfgren from UNHCR speaking at the event. Photo: © UNHCR/Helena Lagercrantz
On 7 February, UNHCR attended the launch of a community sponsorship pilot program in Danderyd, a suburb of Stockholm. The program is the first one in Sweden and seeks to match newly arrived refugees with already established Swedes who can serve as an entry-point into Swedish society from day one. The pilot program is funded by the Stockholm County administrative board and run by Danderyd municipality in close cooperation with the local NGO En Utsträckt Hand (An Outstretched Hand). UNHCR has supported the project since the beginning of the process.
The event was well-attended by residents who came to learn about the program and how to become a welcome guide for newly arrived refugees. Erika Löfgren, who is a Senior Durable Solutions Associate at UNHCR’s Representation for the Nordic and Baltic Countries and oversees community sponsorship programs, spoke at the event, along with representatives from the Canadian Embassies in Stockholm and London respectively, as well as from Danderyd Municipality and En Utsträckt Hand.
Erika Löfgren explained the importance of such programs:
“Human encounters are key to physical and psychological well-being, and to feel included in the new society. For newly arrived refugees, this can also lead to faster integration into society, and that they find work and learn the language faster. Involving civil society organizations and private individuals in integration also helps create more welcoming societies and a better understanding for the situation of refugees.”
She went on to elaborate further regarding UNHCR’s role in the program:
“UNHCR has been actively advocating for the community sponsorship model in Sweden. The result of our 2020 feasibility study and dialogues with different stakeholders showed that the original model needed to be adapted to the Swedish context. We are now seeing that model in the pilot project in Danderyd, where UNHCR has been actively supporting the process from the start, as well as in Mora municipality in the Dalarna region where another pilot is underway.”
Johanna Larsson, project manager for Danderyd’s community sponsorship program, said the following:
“We hope to be able to match all newly arrived refugees with local welcome guides from day one in Danderyd, and we are facilitating a course for those who want to become volunteers, while simultaneously informing all refugees about what they can expect from their welcome guides. Additionally, we will also offer a wide variety of different activities for those involved. Everything is centered around speeding up integration and making the lives of our new residents easier.”
Kajsa Marsk Rives, chairperson of local NGO (En Utsträckt Hand):
“Our goal is to help our new neighbors to get the best possible start here in Danderyd. For example, we organize language cafes, help facilitate contact with authorities and healthcare services, and help with job applications. Furthermore, we also arrange different activities like museum visits, gardening, or just organizing social events.”
Community sponsorship is a model for integration which emphasizes the importance of involving the local community. Citizens and local civil society organizations will assist the state- and municipality-facilitated refugee reception through providing cultural, emotional and practical support to newly arrived refugees. Adapting to a new country can be hard due to cultural and language differences and a lack of networks and access to the labor market but providing refugees with community welcome guides can help overcome these difficulties. While Swedish integration systems have traditionally not involved civil society organizations in a systematic way, community sponsorship has been a popular model for helping refugees integrate into their host societies in other places, such as Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Will there be more such programs in the future? Erika Löfgren is optimistic:
“We are very happy about the great cooperation with Danderyd and Mora municipalities that are now also cooperating with each other. Several other municipalities have shown interest in the concept and in initiating pilot projects. We hope that the pilot projects in the two municipalities will inspire more to get started.”
In order to read more about community sponsorship, please follow this link.
To read the feasibility study conducted by UNHCR, see this link.
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