The Global Gathering for Sponsorship brings together the greatest global experts in the field of community and private sponsorship, taking place annually. This year Lisbon was the city chosen to host the event and ComUnidade, as a partner and implementing entity of the program in Portugal, supported its development, in collaboration with the organizers Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative and Amnesty International.
Between the 7th and 9th of November, the Global Gathering brought together actors from all over the world involved in sponsorship and community welcoming, in an environment of mutual care, support and creativity. It is an opportunity for partners and organizations to reconnect and make new connections, share learnings and co-create solutions. This is a unique opportunity to explore how we can unlock the potential of community sponsorship and community-led fostering.
The event focused on topics such as monitoring, relations with government entities, mobilization and diversity of sponsors, named sponsorship, changing narratives and support centered on well-being. The ComUnidade team presented the journey taken to implement the community sponsorship program in Portugal, from planning and development to its implementation. The achievements made at national level with the establishment of the first community sponsorship program in Portugal, as well as the development of the latest route under named sponsorship, were widely praised and celebrated by the organizers and all participants. We left the Gathering with the conviction and certainty of carrying out a well-done, structured and efficient job that managed to achieve the foreseen objectives in an effective and sustainable way. Once again, this event allowed all of ComUnidade's work to be placed on an international level, being recognized as a model to follow.
The Global Gathering brought together more than 130 participants from more than 23 countries on four continents, making it the largest and most diverse meeting to date. The highly attended event managed to develop the next steps in mobilizing and empowering communities to respond in a capable, efficient and concerted way to the humanitarian call of international protection, throughout the world.
