Pairity’s mission is to address the twin challenges of promoting and measuring refugee integration through community sponsorship programs.

We achieve this by combining a unique matching system, end-to-end programming support, and scholarly research. We provide organizations with a method for harnessing the demand from everyday people to play a role in helping refugees, and to scale pathways for refugee resettlement.

Objective Matching

Pairity is based, in part, on lessons from Canada’s private sponsorship model, which has contributed to integration, social cohesion, and positive attitudes toward refugees. Pairity’s Executive Director, Craig Damian Smith, has extensive experience in both scholarly research and refugee matching. In 2016 he co-founded Together Project in Toronto, which connects volunteer groups with under-serviced refugee newcomers.

Our matching criteria is based on demographic and preference-ranking surveys, and preference-matching algorithms, with the purpose of making the best possible matches across whole of populations, and prioritizing participants’ preferences. 

Building Evidence

Pairity’s programming centres on generating data, allowing us to move beyond anecdotal evidence and to show how community sponsorship models can lead to better refugee integration and social cohesion with receiving communities.

Using best practices from social science – including randomization, control groups, and objective matching criteria – means we generate context-specific evidence, a comparative dataset, and a responsive matching algorithms.

We believe evidence about relationships between sponsorship and integration outcomes is crucial to scale community sponsorship.

While anecdotal evidence abounds for the positive impacts of social ties on integration, well-designed interventions among specific cohorts are lacking. Pairity aims to fill this gap.

Scaling Globally 

After our successful pilot program in The Netherlands, we aim to scale to communities throughout Europe, the U.S., Canada, or anywhere interested in the promise of community sponsorship.

Our adaptable platform was designed to be cost-effective and easy to implement, with low barriers for participation. It empowers organizations, volunteers, and newcomers.

Implementation relies on the expertise and capacities of established local partners. We offer consultations with experts in programme development, volunteer recruitment and training, and working with refugee communities.