About us
The Network
United in providing accommodation in flatshares for refugees all over the world.
Refugees Welcome International is the umbrella organisation for all Refugees Welcome organisations located in Europe, South America, and Australia. The network is united by its shared mission to provide private accommodations for refugees all over the world, with the aims of fostering exchange between refugees and locals, combatting discrimination and prejudice, and supporting refugees and asylum seekers in the establishment of local social networks.
We strive towards an open society where solidarity and equality are respected as a matter of course and refugees are welcomed accordingly. We as an association represent a global force that criticises the accommodation of refugees in camps and advocates for humane living conditions for displaced persons worldwide. Our structure as an international network enables the sharing of accumulated knowledge between country chapters and fosters international collaboration and solidarity in the sphere of refugee housing.
Refugees Welcome International is a sub-project of the German association Mensch Mensch Mensch e.V. located in Berlin.
The countries we’re active in
Sharing Knowledge
We first started providing accommodation for refugees in flatshares in 2014, and since then our reach has continued to expand. Now working in 12 countries around the world, we have gathered valuable knowledge in order to provide bottom-up, context-specific, and individually suited accommodations for refugees. We are more than happy to share our knowledge with you in solidarity on this issue. If you are interested in learning more about our operations, please email us at hi[@]refugees-welcome.net to schedule a workshop or consultation appointment.
If you’re currently doing research on this topic and looking for academic papers, please have a look in our Zotero group, linked here. When accessing the website, you will need to create an account and request access to the group. There Matteo Bassoli and Clément Luccioni, with the support of Refugees Welcome International have collected documents. Aiming at maximal exhaustiveness, the bibliography is the product of a systematic literature review (Bassoli and Luccioni, 2023) based on the PRISMA approach. The dataset included 75 documents. The URBES research team implements a similar procedure screening post-2020 publications and keeps the dataset updated. Refugees Welcome International provides a vast amount of grey literature, along with dissertations and other works produced by national chapters or activists.
Our Demands
As an international network, we strive for humane living conditions for displaced persons and demand a united response by global decision makers to ensure the following:
- Safe and appropriate accommodation
We demand safe and appropriate accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers. We believe that all displaced persons have a right to housing that meets safety standards and individual needs. No refugee should be subject to stigmatisation, discrimination, or marginalisation in their search for humane and stable housing.
- A dignified life and agency
We demand agency and dignity for all displaced persons, including the right to a living situation that provides access to education, job opportunities, and the freedom to direct one’s own course.
- Local participation and long-term community building
We demand access to participation in the local society for displaced persons, which includes providing refugees with the necessary resources to access humane living conditions and open channels for participation in local municipalities.
How it all started
In the fall of 2014, a refugee living in Berlin moved into the spare room in Mareike Geiling and Jonas Kakoschke’s flatshare, an act that sparked the establishment of our first country chapter under the name Flüchtlinge Willkommen. The organisation quickly gained local momentum, and soon activists across Europe began contacting the German branch in the hopes of establishing their own teams. In 2015 the umbrella organisation Refugees Welcome International was born as a sub-project of the German association Mensch Mensch Mensch, and every year since then the network has continued to grow, bringing the flatshare model of refugee housing to more and more countries around the world. Refugees Welcome International now comprises 12 individual organisations providing accommodation to displaced persons in 3 continents, and we aim to continue expanding over the next several years.
Our Contribution to the SDGs
In 2015, the United Nations outlined 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targeting social, ecological, and economical sustainable development worldwide. Fulfilment of these goals will require collaboration between numerous global actors – among them organisations, corporations, and private individuals – in order to meet all 17 by 2030.
Refugees Welcome International is committed to contributing to this global sustainable development. Our work strives in some capacity towards all 17 SDGs, but aligns most closely with the following three:
SDG 10 – Reduced Inequality: Reduce inequalities within and among countries
We advocate for inclusionary and just policies that ensure humane living conditions for displaced persons worldwide. Our country chapters work daily to provide displaced persons with safe and suitable accommodations with local hosts, thus helping newcomers to establish a local social network that can support them in finding job opportunities or accessing education. Direct contact between locals and displaced persons diminishes the prejudice and stigma that the latter face, thus working towards a reduction of inequality and a more inclusive society.
SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Inherent to the development of sustainable cities and communities is access to adequate housing for all inhabitants. As an alternative to refugee camps and other exclusionary accommodation practices, flat sharing with locals fosters direct exchange and participation in communities, while ensuring that personal preferences are observed and privacy respected. Through these actions we strive to ensure inclusive and safe accommodation in cities and communities for all.
SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.
Refugees Welcome International was established to promote solidarity across borders and is built on the underlying belief that collaboration strengthens the work we do. Through the establishment of country chapters across the world and partnerships with other peer organisations, we strive for the collective achievement of our goals on a global scale.
More information on the Sustainable Development Goals can be found on the official website.
Team
SMARANDA KRINGS
General coordination of the network
SAM TABAKHTORY
Representative of the network
in Germany
www.zusammenleben-willkommen.de
ISABEL LADRON ARROYO
Representative of the network
in Spain
www.refugees-welcome.es
ANJALI CLAES
Representative of the network
in France
www.refugiesbienvenue.com
TOBIAS LOHSE
Representative of the network
in Sweden
www.refugees-welcome.se
NATALIA BORYSLAWSKA
Representative of the network
in Poland
www.refugeeswelcome.pl/rejestracja-pokoju
MATTEO BASSOLI
Representative of the network
in Italy
www.refugees-welcome.it
ANNA LARCHER
Representative of the network
in Austria
www.fluechtlinge-willkommen.at
STEPAN VASHKEVICH
Representative of the network
in Czech Republic
www.uprchlici-vitejte.cz
ANNA TURNAI
Representative of the network
in Hungary
www.artemisszio.hu
SUSANA COSTA
Representative of the network
in Portugal
www.refugees-welcome.pt
ISHARA SAHAMA
Representative of the network
in Australia
www.refugeeswelcome.org.au
ANNA-LENA ROPPELT
Social Media Management for the network
SVENJA HUNDSDÖRFER
Social Media Management and academic research for the network
OLIVER MEURER
Social Media Management for the network
MAYBE YOU?
Want to get involved? Write to us at hi[@]refugees-welcome.net