A comparison of community sponsorship and government-led resettlement of refugees in the UK: Perspectives from newcomers and host communities

This research was conducted by Mahdy Alraie and Hannah Collins under the supervision of Dr Andrea Rigon at University College London (UCL), in partnership with Citizens UK and as part of their MSc in Social Development Practice. It explore two schemes for resettling refugees in the UK from the perspectives of the refugees and the host community. Using a multi-dimensional framework to analyse the process of integration we compare community sponsorship with government-led resettlement. We found that the level of social support in community sponsorship allows for refugees and host communities to better access all dimensions of integration because of the additional support refugees have in navigating the health, housing and education systems. Community sponsorship is a huge undertaking for any community group but it offers a community the opportunity to flourish through an active engagement with diversity. In government-led resettlement we argue that an increase in collaboration between community groups and local councils could enhance the integration process