Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. As a community sponsorship volunteer you must be alert to safeguarding concerns so that you are able to recognise, respond and report in a timely, efficient manner. The following video, developed by Reset, provides specific guidance on how to talk to families about safeguarding. The Reset Safeguarding Awareness E-Learning is available for all…
Group management
Useful links | Group management
Forming a group
In order to manage your group and ensure that tasks are delegated fairly and appropriately, it will be helpful to establish roles for group members. Community Sponsorship groups have organised themselves in different ways and it is important that you find what works best for you, but we do advise against overloading one person with too many…
Learning about the Prevent programme
Your safeguarding policy includes sections on radicalisation and organised crime. To learn more, you can access free e-learning training on Prevent from the Home Office’s website. This takes about 45 minutes and requires a good internet connection. It largely focusses on students in secondary school and college education, however the learning can easily be applied…
Managing Risk
We don’t want to pretend that Community Sponsorship comes without challenges. Everything you do is about working with people, and this isn’t always an easy task! Reset are on hand to help you navigate challenges as they happen, however, groups may find it useful whilst they are planning their applications to consider how they will…
Managing volunteers
Community Sponsorship groups are made up of active, highly committed volunteers. You may be meeting each other for the first time, or you may have known each other for a long time. Either way, it’s likely that this will be the first time that you will have worked with one another in this way. We know that building…
Managing your group safely
There are some key things to think about when you start organising your group. We have outlined some of the measures that you will need to put in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your group members. You need to give careful consideration to all of these measures because the safety and wellbeing…
Media toolkit for Community Sponsorship groups
Raising awareness of your work is going to be essential in recruiting volunteers and raising funds to support your Community Sponsorship project. This guide outlines some key things to think about when starting out. If you are working with a Lead Sponsor organisation, make sure you discuss with them if there is any guidance they…
Safeguarding briefing
Safeguarding is about protecting others as well as yourself from harm. As part of your application, the Home Office will expect you to submit a safeguarding policy. If you have another organisation acting as your Lead Sponsor, they can assist you with this, and may require you to follow their own safeguarding policy. The Home…
Safeguarding E-learning
Our Safeguarding Awareness E-Learning is available for all Community Sponsorship group members. This training course has been designed for Community Sponsorship groups preparing to welcome a refugee family. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. As a community sponsorship volunteer you must be alert to safeguarding concerns so that you are able to recognise, respond and report in a timely,…
Setting and managing expectations in Community Sponsorship
Volunteers come to sponsorship from many different backgrounds and belief systems. They may have very specific and personal expectations of how the process will unfold and what the support they will provide to the refugees they are welcoming will look like. Preparing to sponsor, before an application is submitted can potentially involve long searches for…
Setting your budget
As part of your resettlement plan you will need to design a budget. This is because you need to have an idea of the costs involved in supporting a resettled family when you are deciding what kind of support your group can offer. Having an idea of the costs will also help you to plan your…
Supporting Volunteer Well-being
Reset worked with Dr Andia Papadopoulou, a Clinical Psychologist, to put together these resources in order to provide some information about supporting your well-being in the Community Sponsorship context. Supporting refugee families can be emotional and draining especially if a safeguarding concern arises. As empathy is at the core of helping and supporting others in…
Communicating with a family following arrival
Community Sponsorship is all about communication, whether between you as a group or you and the family you support. Ensure a strong structure is in place at the outset following arrival and regularly review if this is working. Make sure you have regular communication between your core group members ahead of the family arriving and in…
Defining boundaries and your support
It may seem a little strange to set boundaries on the way in which you work with refugees. Afterall, you got into Community Sponsorship in order to provide practical support to those arriving in the UK. However, spending time defining the way in which your group will operate and what a refugee family can expect…
Reaching out to other organisations
As part of your Community Sponsorship application, you will be doing lots of research into the services and organisations in your area that may be able to provide advice and support to the family you are supporting. As a Community Sponsorship Group, you aren’t expected to be experts on every subject, instead, you need to…
Record keeping
When you are supporting a refugee family to build a life in the UK, your Group will need to keep records on some of the work that you carry out to support them. It’s important to find a system that is manageable and appropriate for the task at hand. This resource suggests which records to…
Your Group
When you begin planning, it’s really important to spend time thinking about how your group will operate. You may find that you have a large number of people involved in your community sponsorship overall, but that you have a core group of members who are fulfilling specific roles based on their skills, availability and expertise….