Supported projects
#LeaveNoOneBehind offers a platform for local and solidarity projects – fast support guaranteed. Thanks to your donations, we have been able to support over 100 partner organizations in their important work since 2020. The projects are often actively run by refugees themselves or the organizations actively support those seeking protection in solidarity.
On this page you can find all the initiatives and organizations that have been supported so far.
All projects
BASE UA
BASE UA was founded by activists and journalists in the wake of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and focuses primarily on evacuation from the most heavily embattled areas of the country. BASE UA is one of the last organizations to bring people threatened by the Russian invasion to safety from Bachmut, Lysychansk or Severodonetsk. But BASE's work does not stop at evacuation: People should receive sustainable support. Among other things, two camps were organized with children and young people who had to flee the war. There they received art and trauma work.
Aegean Boat Report
Illegal pushbacks are a daily occurrence at European borders. In order to take action against them, they need to be well documented and collated. The Aegean Boat Report reports 24/7 about incidents at the borders and thus enables quick help and monitoring of "border officials''. One practice the Aegean Boat Report has been able to highlight many times: Refugees who had already reached the bottom of Lesbos are picked up by masked men, often abused, kidnapped and abandoned in the open sea on maneuverless "life rafts." There they drift until the Turkish coast guard picks them up and brings them back to Turkey. Documenting them and gathering the information is critical. Because good information not only ensures that helpers can be on the scene faster in emergencies, good information is also the best weapon against cover-up attempts by governments and their coast guards. The Aegean Boat Report has thus become an essential building block in the work of NGOs in the Aegean. Through its work, emergencies are noticed more quickly and people are rescued.
Blindspots
Blindspots helps wherever people are forgotten by the media, politics and the public. They bring the "invisible spots" of Europe into the focus of social discourse and strengthen existing aid structures. On the Bosnian-Croatian border, in the Velika Kladuša region, refugees are stuck in patched-up improvised shelters, where they are exposed and unprotected from the wind and weather. This means life-threatening cold in winter, with temperatures as low as -20 degrees. In addition, they are often robbed, beaten up and illegally pushed back by border officials. Blindspots therefore organizes stoves and firewood for the people. They build doors, windows and solar panels on the provisional huts and provide access to drinking water and hygiene facilities. They also document the inhumane and illegal violence at the borders to raise public awareness. Their work is more important now than ever in winter and can save many people from dying of cold.
Wir Packen’s an
Wherever refugees suffer under the European border regime and have to sleep on park benches, under tarpaulins or in the woods, you can find the pink boxes full of relief supplies from "Wir Packen's an". Many people have almost forgotten the pictures from the Polish-Belarusian border last year. Refugees stuck in the forest between two border strips and in the face of thousands of officers of the Polish border police. At the time, “Wir Packen's an” was one of the few organizations that managed to deliver relief supplies to the people on the ground. People are still stuck at the border, and “Wir Packen's an” is still delivering relief goods: Hand warmers, sleeping bags, thermal pants and much more. Not only on the Belarusian border, but also, for example, on the Ukrainian border with Moldova. In a feat of strength, reception stations including six sanitary containers with showers and toilets were provided in this forgotten region within a very short time.
Liebe im Karton
"Liebe im Karton" e.V. or Lovebox is a volunteer Christmas package delivery campaign that has been distributing gifts to vulnerable children in Germany, Europe and the so-called Middle East since 2016. In addition, they organize year-round deliveries of relief supplies to crisis regions, including Ukraine, to support local people and rebuild destroyed structures. Together with their active network partner "Netzwerk Ziviler Krisenstab", they have been managing the coordination and logistics of more than 6,500 pallets of urgently needed relief supplies to Ukraine since February 2022.
Human Rights Legal Project
The Human Rights Legal Project (HRLP) is a legal aid organisation that combats human rights violations against refugees in Greece through legal representation, advocacy and public relations work and takes action against the criminalisation of refugees at the EU's external border.
SOS Balkanroute
For years, the situation of people fleeing across the so-called Balkan route has been getting worse and worse. Closed borders, illegal and violent pushbacks, as well as completely inadequate conditions in the Bosnian camps deprive the protection seekers of their rights and often put them in life-threatening situations. SOS Balkanroute is committed to helping people who have almost completely disappeared from the news and has been organizing collection drives and donation transports along the Balkan route since 2019. They also provide medical care and have built up a network of helpers along the Balkan route.
No Name Kitchen
The independent movement No Name Kitchen was founded in 2017 by volunteers and people on the move and supporting people in search of a better life along the Balkan and Mediterranean routes. Since day one, the activists have placed great emphasis on ensuring that all actions are based on the needs, suggestions and feedback of the people on the move. Volunteer teams are stationed at border crossings where people fleeing face long journeys and violent rejections. There, they are trying to combine humanitarian and political measures to equip people with resources for self-protection. No Name Kitchen provides access to medical care, food, and clothing while denouncing border abuses to raise awareness and advocate for policy change.
Sea-Eye
Nearly 25,000. That's the grim number of people who have officially drowned in the Mediterranean since 2014. Not through "boat mishaps" or "accidents," but through political calculations that have made the Mediterranean the deadliest escape route in the world. With the end of state-run sea rescue, a void has been left in the Mediterranean that NGOs have been trying to fill for years. Sea-Eye is one of the sea rescue organizations active on the deadliest escape routes. Sea-Eye searches for people in distress at sea and who are struggling against drowning. Sea-Eye's actions are a response to the failed migration policies of the European Union, which refuses to accept its responsibility for the thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean.
ROSA Rolling Safespace
An estimated 1 in 5 women experience sexual violence while fleeing, although the number of unreported cases is believed to be much higher. The people behind Rolling Safespace want to change that and have converted a truck into a Safespace, which they use to travel from camp to camp in Greece to give women a safe place to go. In and around the truck, there is medical counseling, workshop offerings (from self-defense to knitting), discussion groups on body-related topics, and childcare. The women are safe and can escape the camp for a short time. The team works according to an intersectional and postcolonial approach and closely with the women on site. The refugee women find a supervised conversation room, basic medical care, and various sports and exercise activities. Donations ensure the daily maintenance of the Safe Space and funding for the crew.
Community Center Lesvos
Our Community Center on Lesvos has become a versatile center and popular place in the immediate vicinity of the camp. In order to give the residents in the camp the possibility to do their laundry, six washing machines and twelve dryers were purchased. Thus, among other things, the anti-scratch mite program is supported on site. In addition, there are many other services such as a women's space, a kindergarten, and a distribution center where donations in kind in the form of clothing and hygiene items are distributed to the camp residents. There is also a gamer space and lounge area.
STELP
STELP e.V. is a non-profit organization from Stuttgart and supports in crisis areas with a network of volunteers, partners and sponsors through fast and direct access to food, sanitary products, clothing and clean water. With projects on three continents, STELP's long-term goal is to sustainably improve the lives of people in need by helping them to help themselves. For LeaveNoOneBehind, STELP e.V. provided rapid emergency aid in Camp Lipa after a fire broke out there. On site, they provided people with necessities including sleeping bags, blankets, cooking pots and food packages. At the same time, STELP has increased capacity for teaching on the ground in Lesvos in cooperation with the School of Peace and delivered more than 500 tons of relief supplies to Ukraine and the embattled areas. Donations and funding is used to finance further aid transports and to purchase urgently needed relief supplies. Besides, STELP is working specifically on the immediate evacuation of people from Ukraine, which is directly funded by the grant.
Human Plus
Human Plus is a non-profit organization that provides humanitarian aid around the world. In Iran, Human Plus has been funding legal fees, security deposits, medical assistance, safe shelters and support for relatives as part of an emergency relief program since the start of the revolution. In addition, the repression of Kurdish minorities is escalating in some provinces. The images that get through are heartbreaking. Human Plus organizes emergency aid for the purchase of medicine and food in order to not leave the Kurdish people in Iran behind.
Vitsche
Vitsche is an association of young Ukrainians in Germany. Vitsche organizes protests, cultural and educational events, helps refugees and organizes humanitarian aid for Ukraine. By providing funding, it was possible, for example, to realize a joint peace march with the Syrian community.
Just Action – Samos
On the Greek island of Samos, refugees are completely isolated from the villages and towns of the island: high security fences, surveillance cameras and security forces turn the place into a prison. Since April 2020, Just Action activists' free food supermarket on the Greek island of Samos has been supporting the local, as well as the refugee community with food packages and hygiene items. In addition to the food parcels and hygiene items, Just Action Samos volunteers cover the cost of the bus tickets that the refugees need to get from the camp to the food distribution. The goal is to ensure food security for all those in need on the island, while building more resilient structures to ensure future access to food for all people on Samos.
LeaveNoOneBehind Soforthilfe
As part of the emergency relief, team members from our #LeaveNoOneBehind team on the ground in Lesvos went shopping together with the people from the new Moria camp in order to meet individual essential needs of the people in the camp while bringing maximum self-determination and dignity to the people. Together we bought a variety of goods in the form of food, hygiene products, electric heaters, blankets, clothing and the like for and with the camp residents.
Low-Tech with Refugees
Low-Tech with Refugees was created to help refugees on the Greek island of Lesvos to develop and build creative technical solutions that are useful in everyday life. At the heart of the work is the operation of the Low-Tech Makerspace on the premises of One Happy Family, which houses a bicycle, wood, metal, and electronics workshop. In addition to providing tools and materials, the focus is on sharing knowledge and building skills. Their headquarters are in Briançon, France and they operate other sites there as well as in Marseille to work with refugees.
Azadi Project
The Azadi Project, is a program that offers self-help based on therapy, coaching techniques and strategies through weekly group sessions with skilled staff. In this setting, women are free to share stories, fears, anxieties, or conflicts with other participants or simply listen to the other participants. These sessions aim not only to alleviate the emotional and psychosocial stress that many refugee women suffer from, but also to actively build and promote self-esteem among the women.
Lesvos Solidarity
Lesvos has become a test center where EU governments and institutions test harmful asylum and migration policies and practices. It is crucial to document and denounce the harmful effects and consequences of these policies and practices on the lives of the people of Lesvos and to strengthen their voices from the root. In the current context, the Lesvos Solidarity Movement seeks to expand its advocacy and outreach efforts. This project aims to support the Lesvos Solidarity Movement in its efforts to combat these inhumane policies by ensuring better coordination between key actors on the ground and building proactive strategies and collaborations across Europe.
Boat Theater Group
People sometimes live for years in refugee camps without any perspective and under the most precarious circumstances. In order to confront the lack of hope and perspective, a group of refugees on Lesvos founded the "Boat Theater Group". 14 people come together regularly in this group to develop creatively and rehearse. In August 2021, the group performed their play for 10 days at the LeaveNoOneBehind Warehouse next to the camp, creating a place of encounter and art alongside the horror of the camp. In the meantime, the project has moved to Athens.
Legal Centre Lesvos
In 2021, the practice of so-called "pushbacks", in which protection seekers are picked up either at sea or on land and forcibly repatriated, which is contrary to international law, reached a completely new quality. Refugees who had already reached the soil of Lesbos are picked up by masked men, often abused, kidnapped and abandoned on maneuverless "life rafts" on the open sea. Refugees, who are subjected to this violence rarely have access to lawyers or options to receive information about their rights. The Legal Center Lesvos fights against this and receives people directly after their arrival to provide them with legal support. This year alone, over 500 people were registered and brought into the regular asylum process. This protects refugees from further legal violations. In addition, the organization was one of the few to manage to bring two cases of human rights violations to the European Court of Justice.
Clowns without Borders
Clowns without Borders regularly visit Lesvos for a few days and try to improve the situation of the children on site. The volunteer Clowns without Borders take into account the special situation of the children with refugee experience and consider both the respective cultural backgrounds and the difficult living situation in the refugee camps on Lesvos.
Little Lotus
The Little Lotus Learning Center is an unusual educational institution. They work with refugee children in the town of Mytilene and follow the approach of learning through play, interaction and creativity. Daily activities are provided to give the children not only structure, but also something to look forward to each day. Little Lotus Learning Center is a safe place for children and a place of kindness, support, encouragement and joy. Since the opening of our Community Center, Little Lotus has been running the kindergarten in it.
WIR – Water Is Right
The supply of clean water is the very basis of life. But in more and more countries, global crises and the climate crisis are making a water supply increasingly difficult to obtain. The Water is Right Foundation supports the realization of the right to clean and abundant water and adequate sanitation and hygiene - in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Donations ensure reliable access to clean and adequate water for more than 250,000 people in Haiti and on the African continent.
FENIX Humanitarian Legal Aid
The violence against refugees at Europe's external borders escalates further and further. Human rights violations have become a daily occurrence, and refugees almost never have access to lawyers or information about their rights. Fenix challenges this through their work: Refugees receive free legal advice and representation as well as protection and support for mental health issues. Fenix works with a holistic approach: All those seeking advice receive holistic legal assistance, addressing their individual legal protection as well as mental health needs. Their special needs are taken into account and they are offered tools to cope with the very complicated procedures. The goal is to empower refugees and overcome barricades between them and their access to the legal system. In addition, Fenix brings cases to the Greek and European Courts to demand for compliance with human rights.
SCORING GIRLS*
Education, exercise and a sense of belonging are essential for the healthy development of young people. Unfortunately, especially girls with a history of flight and immigration and from disadvantaged families often find it difficult to access support programs, not least because of cultural and financial hurdles. This is where the human rights activists of HÁWAR.help step in with their SCORING GIRLS* program. SCORING GIRLS* is an empowerment project for girls between the ages of 9 and 18, which the former Bundesliga player, Tuğba Tekkal, launched in Cologne in 2016. Over 900 girls from 15 different countries are thus supported through sports training, ethics workshops and cultural excursions.
Spirit of Football
Spirit of Football (SoF) is a non-profit organization that uses the power of soccer, theater and art to bring about positive social change. SoF is now offering four workshops for twelve days each in Lesvos at Camp Moria. FairPlay soccer, creativity and teamwork methods are used in this program. In addition to the workshops for the children, SoF also offers two-day workshops each for older refugees to train them as pedagogical facilitators. Equipped with a collection of pedagogical methods, self-confidence and motivation, SoF pursues the goal of awakening resilience and joie de vivre in its workshop participants.
Earth Medicine Physical Rehabilitation
Fleeing is traumatic, both psychologically and physically. To support refugees, survivors of torture and war in their healing process, a group of activists and therapists founded EMPR. The organization offers physiotherapy, acupuncture, and rehabilitation programs to people in the camp on Lesvos. One example is a program to improve chronic injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder through the use of acupuncture, physiotherapy, therapeutic massage and herbal remedies. Through their work, EMPR has also created jobs for refugees who work, for example, as interpreters. The activists regularly go to the camp to care for people with physical disabilities.
Aachener Netzwerk
The "Aachener Netzwerk" for humanitarian aid and intercultural peace work was founded in 1993. At the time of the Yugoslavian wars, they brought transports of relief supplies to the civilians in need. Later, projects such as the children's circus Pinocchio served to bring people of different origins closer together. The "Aachener Netzwerk" is a non-profit association for the active and solidary fight against suffering and need - on the one hand through humanitarian aid projects, on the other hand through long-term projects for peace and international understanding.
Women in Solidarity House
The Women in Solidarity House is a space for women living in the refugee camps Moria 2 and Kara Tepe. The Women in Solidarity House provides a safe environment for the women here and creates a shared community.
LNOB Warehouse Lesbos
The #LeaveNoOneBehind Warehouse is located less than a five-minute walk from the Kara Tepe camp and serves as a logistics center for all sorts of donations in kind. Through campaigns such as "Tour d'Amour" and "#10.000Schuhe", donations in kind could be collected and sorted in cooperation with other NGOs in Germany in order to deliver them to the camp residents on site in Lesvos. At the same time, the donations in kind could also be redistributed to other regions such as Chios, Samos, Athens and Thessaloniki, or even as far as Bosnia and Calais in northern France. In addition, the building serves as an event center for various happenings such as the exhibition "#RememberMoria", "The Boat Theater Group" or for discussion rounds with political delegations.
We become active where states fail to act. But only with your support!
With our work we put pressure on German politics to take responsibility and finally change something! Your donations will be used for the #LeaveNoOneBehind campaign: For our own projects, as well as for funded projects and organizations that provide urgently needed support at the EU’s external borders and refugee routes.