SHARE

Share is an 18-month project financed by the European Commission’s AMIF fund under the lead of ICMC Europe and in partnership with Caritas Austria, Caritas Europa, Caritas International, Institut Français des Relations Internationals, MigAfrica, Consorzio Communitas, The Dutch Council for Refugees, Jesuit Refugee Services Romania, Jesuit Refugee Services Portugal and Caritas Diocese Salford. The project started on 1 February 2018 and ends on 31 July 2019.

The SHARE Integration project builds the capacity of experienced, new and emerging resettlement countries in Europe to support reception, early settlement and integration for resettled, relocated (and privately sponsored) refugees. The SHARE Network, developed between 2012 and 2015, will serve as a foundation from which the action will build upon and strengthen partnerships, provide resources and facilitate best practice exchange. The action will ensure interconnectedness, coordination and information-sharing between pre-arrival and post arrival actors to ensure adequate planning for arrivals and to address multi-level governance challenges, such as refugee placement mechanisms and distribution keys. SHARE Integration will also promote the “Mainstreaming Plus” approach to ensure that services for (vulnerable) refugees are incorporated in the (local) overall integration framework. Through national actions, research and European best practice exchange, the action will engage in new partnerships, including private citizens, churches, diaspora organisations, universities and other actors, to welcome newcomers. SHARE Integration will particularly highlight the experiences of and partnerships in smaller cities and towns (less than 200,000 inhabitants). In order to strengthen reception and integration planning in smaller communities, SHARE Integration will support and promote new tools for social change, volunteering, language learning, employment and cultural orientation, provide training and establish a Working Group on Mainstreaming of Special Needs and Private Sponsorship to provide for a common framework and strategic guidance in these areas.

Caritas Europa’s role in this project will be to work with our member organisations to collect and share their promising practices related to refugee integration in general and to refugee resettlement in particular. In cooperation with ICMC, Caritas Europa will:

• Participate in and contribute with integration expertise to the Mainstreaming+ Working Group led by Caritas International Belgium. This Working Group will determine areas and benchmark standards for a training curriculum to be piloted by partners in each participating country.
• Caritas Europa will provide expert input and recommendation (based on experiences from its network) to the curriculum training relevant to receiving and integrating resettled refugees.
• Caritas Europa will contribute to raising visibility on the issue of resettlement and the outputs of this project related to refugee resettlement. For instance, Caritas Europa will promote and distribute the Language Anchor toolkit developed by the Committee of the Regions to assist organisations and their volunteers, provide language support for adult refugees. Caritas Europa will also collect from within the Caritas network at least 2 examples of refugee reception in smaller municipalities for the SHARE Magazine, SHARE webpages, to post at: www.resettlement.eu or social media. A minimum of 2 articles with 3 photographs are expected.
• Caritas Europa will co-organise with ICMC two round-table meetings on the topic of private sponsorship in order to build capacity of local communities and churches in offering protection to refugees in need. A summary report will follow from these meetings and be widely disseminated.
• Caritas Europa will draft and deliver the publication: “Preparing communities to sponsor and integrate refugees”, including advocacy tools, collecting feedback and input from the above Working Group, publish and distribute the report.
• Caritas Europa will also co-host with ICMC the SHARE Skills Day. Together, the two organisations will co-develop the conference programme, coordinate event management and logistic (venue, hotel, catering, etc.), provide expert content input and identify and reach out to local and national actors, while also coordinating the communication and promotion of the event in collaboration.
• Caritas Europa will contribute best practice examples (in writing) on reception/integration of resettled refugees from within the Caritas network and have this included in the SHARE Skills Share Day Brochure (to be prepared by ICMC). This same example may be presented at the SHARE Integration Marketplace during this final conference.
• Finally, Caritas Europa will carry out the interim and final monitoring and evaluation reporting required of any EU-funded project.

This project contributes to Caritas Europa’s Strategic Framework objectives related to:

Goal I.2: National governments and European institutions guarantee in their policies the human dignity and human rights of people migrating.
Strategic Outcome I.2.1: European countries have responded to humanitarian needs of people migrating in and to Europe and putting the person and their rights at the centre of European Union and Council of Europe migration and mobility policies;
Strategic Outcome I.2.2: European and local societies have implemented welcoming, sustainable integration policies and measures for refugees, internally displaced people and migrants; and
Strategic Outcome I.2.3: European countries have implemented a coherent Common European Asylum (and reception) System, consistent with human rights and international law.