Poland is hosting one of the largest population of refugees from Ukraine in the EU – almost one million. The mobilization of Polish society to welcome Ukrainian refugees has been unprecedented with 77percent of Poles involved. Whilst signs of ‘reception fatigue’ have been observed, these spontaneous efforts showed potential for developing more sustainable Community Sponsorship inspired initiatives in Poland.

With such high numbers of refugees, and existing systems no longer responding to their needs, longer-term integration solutions are needed. The new political context provides an opportunity for developing such solutions, with more openness for dialogue shown by the government, and a pressing need to put in place solid migration policy by 2025.

The project aims to contribute to more structured, long-term integration approaches inspired by Community Sponsorship. To realise this goal, it sets three objectives:

• Strengthen the capacity of Polish CSOs in Community Sponsorship
• Support existing welcoming efforts 
• Inform migration and integration policy at the local and national level

Three partners collaborate with Pathways International on the project: Homo Faber in Lublin, Nomada in Wrocław, and Polish Migration Forum in Warsaw. All partners are leaders in the field, experienced in welcoming refugees and have been working collaboratively with Pathways International to put Community Sponsorship on a map in Poland. The project is joined by Porticus, which support two more partners: KIK (the Catholic Intelligencia Club and Asosiacion for Creative Initiatives - Ę).

Throughout the project, Pathways International will be implementing a set of exciting activities such as engaging in crucial policy consultations processes, working with local authorities and government officials to improve current integration models, collaborating with the broader civil society, including the influential Migration Consortium, and running curated learning initiatives reaching a broad spectrum of strategic stakeholders.