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SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS
Managing the expectation of refugees and other people in need of international protection who participate in sponsorship programmes and education or labour complementary pathways is a key element of those programmes’ success. Effective expectation management involves helping individuals and families develop a clear understanding of how a programme will work, what support and access to social services they will have, and what life will look like in their new homes—for example, whether they will settle in a big city or in the countryside, and what kind of assistance and opportunities will be available to them there. Beneficiaries should also be assisted with setting realistic expectations for when and how they will transition out of the programme (e.g., when financial and other forms of support will end; how sponsors/volunteers, employers, or educational institutions will support their growing self-sufficiency during the transition; and what forms of non-programme-based assistance will be available to them after the programme).
Evidence points to a number of challenges related to insufficient expectations management in sponsorship and complementary pathways programmes. For example, lack of knowledge about a sponsorship programme’s operations (e.g., where beneficiaries will settle and what supports they will receive) can generate frustration among beneficiaries and tensions between them and their sponsors, hampering the settlement process and possibly even resulting in a breakdown of the sponsorship relationship.
To mitigate those risks, government agencies, civil-society organisations, and other actors involved in these programmes’ implementation have developed and tested a range of expectation management tools and practices. These include predeparture orientation programmes, prearrival video calls between beneficiaries and sponsors, informational materials, post-arrival meetings between beneficiaries and supporting organisations, and online communication channels. When designing such tools, settlement agencies and the nongovernmental organisations involved in these programmes should carefully consider what information to provide, how to convey it, and at which point in the settlement process to do this. Getting this right can help to maximise the impact of expectation management activities and the programme more broadly.