The experiences of refugee sponsorship programs, which have a four-decade track record in Canada and more recently in other countries, can prove informative as policymakers and other stakeholders develop, scale, and adapt complementary pathways to protection for refugees. In particular, there is a growing focus on how education, humanitarian, and economic and labor pathways can serve as complementary routes to protection for refugees and how sponsorship can support, complement, or adapt these pathways.

An expert panel comprised of international and regional policy specialists, practitioners, advocates, and researchers will discuss the connections between refugee sponsorship and complementary pathways in an event sponsored by the University of Ottawa Refugee Hub and the Migration Policy Institute.

This webinar is part of the Refugee Hub’s Research Colloquium on Refugee Sponsorship, run in partnership with the Institute for Research into Superdiversity at the University of Birmingham and the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University. Over the course of 2021, the Colloquium is bringing together leading scholars and experts to examine key questions about the study and practice of community-based refugee sponsorship. As new programs and models develop, it is an important moment to take stock of existing knowledge, critically re-examine assumptions, and chart a forward-looking agenda for knowledge creation and critical inquiry.