A project of the European Union’s Directorate General of Migration and Home Affairs (DG Home) led by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society (IFRC), financed by the EU’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and implemented in 9 Red Cross national societies including the Irish Red Cross.
Pledging your home: A spotlight on Irish hospitality for those displaced from Ukraine
Background on Hosting in Ireland
The international armed conflict in Ukraine has led to the displacement of over 7 million people across Europe. A significant number of these people have sought shelter in neighbouring countries like Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, while others have moved onward to countries in Western Europe.
Since the early days and weeks of the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, private hosting emerged in Ireland as a form of solidarity with those fleeing. There are many different avenues for Irish residents to do so. Independent volunteers and local civil society organisations were actively collecting names and pledges from residents around the country via their own networks and posts on social media. Many met arrivals from Ukraine at airports and transported them directly to their Irish hosts.
The main avenue for people to pledge their homes was via the Irish Red Cross and its “Register of Pledges.” The ROP, a web-based portal established in 2015 for Irish residents to pledge accommodation (spare rooms or vacant properties) to the refugees displaced by the armed conflict in Syrian, became a natural vehicle in response to the Ukraine conflict.
About Safe Homes
This unprecedented solidarity from European residents, and with it, the experiences of those who host and were hosted, was the focus of the IFRC Safe Homes programme. It was implemented in 9 member states from via their National Red Cross Societies: Belgium, France, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
The objective of the Safe Homes programme was twofold: to offer suitable and safe accommodation to people displaced from Ukraine and to identify and collect good practices in the support provided to hosts and guests by National Red Cross Societies. As such it had two key components: a project to implement private hosting schemes and support those that already existed, and a programme to understand how the different schemes active in the 9 partner countries functioned, including through the experiences of hosts and guest beneficiaries. Some partner countries participated in both components and others, typically those with an existing private hosting scheme in place like Ireland, participated exclusively in the research component.
The project will culminate in three key products:
- Key lessons gathered from hosting people displaced from Ukraine in private homes: Lessons from the Safe Homes Programme: Hosting as an option to accommodate people who have lost their homes – Positions – Red Cross EU Office
- A step-by-step guide to implementing a hosting assistance programme to people affected by crisis
- A compilation of case studies, developed within the Safe Home Programme, which sheds light on the experiences and insights gained from hosting assistance programmes and initiatives implemented in eight countries – Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, France, and Slovakia.
Safe Homes Ireland & Methodological Overview
The Irish Red Cross’s Safe Homes programme was mainly research-focused. The research began in earnest in August 2023, was used in a series of IFRC internal reports since then, and culminated with the publication of the report Pledging your home: a spotlight on Irish hospitality for those displaced from Ukraine end of May 2024. It comprised of a 3-person team housed within the Migration department of the Irish Red Cross—a Programme Manager, a Research Lead, and a Research Assistant. An original research structure and approach was designed in July 2023 by the two researchers, inline with research conducted in other Red Cross National Societies, and subject to two ethical reviews.
The methodology used comprised a mixed-method approach. It combined quantitative data on pledges with survey data and qualitative data obtained through interviews, focus groups, and observations. In keeping with the Safe Homes programme themes, it focused primarily on the following areas: matching and placement of displaced people into pledged accommodation, their ongoing needs and supports, integration, and longer-term accommodation trajectory—more details on the research methods in the report Pledging your home: a spotlight on Irish hospitality for those displaced from Ukraine.
Researchers also assisted with two IRC-led public awareness campaign – Open Home, Open Heart and the wall art campaign at Liberty Hall.
The Wall Art concept was further developed in cooperation with Irish Rail resulting in a mural depicting imagery conveying the importance and need for shared safe homes for refugees who come to Ireland. The imagery used is playful and reflects integration in a unique manner. The mural is positioned on the platform wall in Tara Street Rail station in the centre of Dublin City.
Safe Homes Events
The Safe Homes Ireland team participated in IFRC Safe Homes workshops and public events across Europe to share findings from the research in the partner countries and develop collective findings for the key reports. These were:
- Qualitative Data workshop, Warsaw, 24-26 October 2023
- Belgian Red Cross Safe Homes Lessons Learned workshop, Namur, 24 November 2023
- Budapest Safe Homes Regional Lessons Learned event, 31 January – 2 February 2024
- From Emergency to Preparedness for Future Welcoming Initiatives, Brussels, 24 April 2024.
On 5 December 2023, the Irish Safe Homes researchers held a national-level lessons learned workshop in Dublin, bringing together 52 participants from across government departments, local authority representatives, civil society organisations, activists from the Ukrainian community, hosts, and delegations from the IFRC Europe and Red Cross EU offices.
