Seven new partner NGOs at the borders of Europe
The selected organizations
The seven organizations were chosen for their tremendous commitment to improve the lives of refugees and their drive to fight injustice and human rights violations. For a year, the Dutch Council for Refugees provides financial and practical support to strengthen the organizations. The selected projects encompass a variety of initiatives, including supporting and assisting accompanied minors within the reception system in Spain, advancing capacity for trauma-informed support in Greece, enhancing fundraising and communication capabilities for future sustainability in Cyprus, Poland, and Italy, and establishing a system for competency development among the organization's leadership in Malta.
An overview of the eight organizations and their projects:
Diaconia Spain is an NGO and social action platform with a mission to assist vulnerable people in the community, including asylum seekers, refugees and victims of human trafficking, providing shelter, legal aid, and integration support to families and individuals. Across 7 regions, and 12 locations in Spain, Diaconia provides 500 reception places for asylum seekers and refugees.
Through its Step Up Fund project – 4Children - Diaconia aims to develop and implement a Children's Action Plan that will help them better to support and assist accompanied minors within the reception system. The ultimate aim is to enhance the participation and protection of refugee children and contribute to their growth and safety.
Defence for Children Greece: works to secure a just and viable future for all children present on the Greek territories, with a specific focus on children on the move, whether unaccompanied or with their families. The organisation provides direct legal services and support to children in need. It also advocates for better protection. Support includes psychosocial assistance, mentorship, and ensuring access to housing, healthcare, and education.
Its Step Up project Exelixis is aimed at advancing its capacity for trauma-informed support. Many of the displaced people that DfC Greece is assisting those who have severe trauma from their experiences at home and en route. Through the project, a complete training cycle will be developed and implemented for staff and focal persons in refugee communities. The training will ensure that their legal counselling and other support will be more trauma-sensitive and will prevent retraumatization.
Caritas Cyprus is a grassroots, charitable organisation dedicated to helping those living in poverty, the oppressed, and the vulnerable. 95% of the people and families the organisation currently serves in Cyprus are refugees or asylum seekers. It has been providing wrap-around case-management services; delivering humanitarian assistance (food, medicine, diapers and household items); and serves as a one-stop-shop for those in need of information to gain access to social welfare, medical care, housing or employment.
Through the Step Up Fund, Caritas Cyprus, will work on its fundraising and communication capacity to ensure future sustainability of the organisation. The project will entail a series of trainings on tools for graphic design, donations management, crowdfunding and donor mobilisation. In addition, an action plan and best practices manual will be developed. The project will also include developing database-sections for fundraising monitoring, reporting and story-telling purposes.
Federación Andalucía Acoge Spain is dedicated to creating a plural and inclusive society that guarantees equal rights and opportunities for all people residing in Spain. The federation is currently made up of 9 associations, operating 21 centres for asylum seekers and refugees – serving thousands of people with legal, social and integration services each year throughout the region of Andalusia and in Melilla.
The federation has increasingly observed mental health challenges among people seeking international protection, as a result of traumatic experiences. Therefore, its Step UP project is aimed at improving mental health support for asylum seekers and refugees, through a series of staff trainings, by establishing internal mechanisms for dealing with mental health crisis situations, and the role of psychologist within it, and by collecting data and evidence to advocacy for coverage of mental health care by public institutions and resources.
Fundacja Kocham Dębniki was founded at the beginning of 2022 by local citizens in the city of Krakow to assist refugees from Ukraine seeking shelter in Poland. The organisation operates a community centre that has support thousands of refugees so far with basic necessities, psychosocial and childcare support, in addition to integration and language classes and hosting community events and workshops.
With its Step Up project, the organisation will develop and implement a community- focused communication & fundraising strategy. Throughout the year, communication and fundraising plans and materials will be developed, tested and rolled-out with the ultimate aim to secure the long-term viability of the organisation and the refugee and host communities they build and support.
The Italian Council for Refugees (CIR): is an independent humanitarian organisation established in 1990, upon the initiative of the UN, with the aim of providing for and safeguarding the rights of asylum seekers and refugees arriving in Italy. The legal department of CIR provided legal assistance to refugees and asylum seekers. The social department of the organisation operates in six reception centres throughout the country, where it assists refugees to access social welfare, housing and to achieve socio-economic autonomy through vocational training and job placement.
In view of the hostile environment in Italy towards non-profits and refugees, and decreasing access to services, CIR’s Step Up project ‘Growing Up’ is aimed at creating secure and sustainable funding. The project aims to do so through training and counselling of staff by a fundraising expert, in addition to updating fundraising tools and the creation of a sustainable fundraising plan.
Spark 15 Malta: is a grassroots, youth-driven, refugee-led organisation that aspires to foster an inclusive, fair, and welcoming environment for refugees within Maltese society. Spark 15 is led by volunteers and operates programmes centred around advocacy, sports, social events, and education, for example provided digital literacy and English language classes.
Its Step Up project is geared towards creating a system for competency development of the organisation’s leadership. Through a series of train-the-trainer workshops and a buddy-system between leadership and new volunteers, skills and plans will be developed on communication and advocacy, and organisational and financial management, with the overall aim to improve the ability to advocate for the rights and well-being of displaced communities.