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.
Solibus
Solibus is a nonprofit, socio-political project that uses two intercity buses to quickly reach places where solidarity support is urgently needed. For example, on November 9, 2021, the Solibus drove packed with relief supplies to the Polish/Belarusian border, where people in the forests were exposed to massive violence and threatened with death from frostbite. Also, on the day the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine began, the Solibus went directly to the Polish/Ukrainian border to transport particularly discriminated groups away from the border to safety.
Yoga and Sport For Refugees
Yoga and Sports For Refugees aims to empower refugees through sports, integrating them into the community and improving their physical and mental health. The sports offered, which range from swimming courses to martial arts and yoga, are largely carried out and instructed by the refugees themselves. When people live in a camp, sometimes for years, this can have a catastrophic effect on their mental and physical health. Sports activities, ranging from swimming courses to martial arts and yoga, can play a decisive role in counteracting it. The sports activities of Yoga and Sports for Refugees additionally break down ethnic and religious barriers and create a meeting point and cooperation between cultures.
Rapid Aid Liaison Group
Launched in direct response to the Russian war of aggression, the Rapid Aid Liaison Group provides solutions to medical problems. For example, it provides coordination and logistics, places volunteer medical professionals, and creates digital consultation services. The donation enabled Ukrainian surgeons to stay and train in Heidelberg in order to learn new microsurgical procedures.
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.
One Happy Family
One Happy Family is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide a safe space for asylum seekers, volunteers and people from different nations to meet. For this purpose, the Community Center was built on the Greek island of Lesbos. Due to its geographical proximity to Turkey, Lesvos is often a stopover for most people fleeing war and crises. Here, asylum seekers are often stuck for several months due to bureaucratic hurdles. To fill the gap caused by insufficient humanitarian aid and lack of government support, One Happy Family, together with its partner organizations and at the initiative and request of the asylum seekers, offers many different projects, such as schools, sports programs or psychological support. The range of projects varies according to capacity and need. Through the Community Center, One Happy Family aims to involve the people living in the camps in brainstorming and decision-making in order to strengthen their autonomy, self-drive and sense of responsibility.
Food Packages – Siniparxi
The distribution of urgently needed food packages is handled by the Greek organization Siniparxi. The packages contain 12 to 14 different items that enable camp residents and people in need on Lesvos to cook their own meals. Each week, 600 to 800 people have access to the food packages and are offered an alternative to the inedible camp food.
Northern Lights Aid
Northern Lights Aid (NLA) is a small NGO that supports the residents of the Perigiali refugee camp in Kavala, Greece. By distributing food, clothing, hygiene items, and other materials, NLA seeks to provide the basic necessities of life for the people affected. Located within walking distance of the camp, Northern Lights Aid provides a safe environment to learn, create and socialize through English classes, a skill-sharing workshop, a community garden and a free clothing store. NLA works closely with locals and camp residents to promote social inclusion and solidarity within the community. The recently expanded emergency assistance program supports particularly vulnerable families with food, medicine and transportation to ensure the asylum process runs smoothly.
ReFOCUS Media Labs
ReFOCUS Media Labs aims to create a global network of media labs to enable global reporting. Lack of hope and perspective is an ordeal for people stuck in camps and on the move. At the same time, they are increasingly sealed off: journalists and photographers, for example, are no longer allowed to take pictures from the newly established camp on Lesvos, and the Polish-Belarusian border has been completely sealed off. Through media training, ReFOCUS Media Lab offers people on the move the opportunity to produce their own images - and thus not only circumvent the censorship imposed by the access restrictions for journalists, but also to communicate in a self-determined manner. In response to Russia's large-scale war of aggression on Ukraine, the activists have set up another lab in Kraków and give media training to Ukrainian refugees.
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.
Human Aid Now
Human Aid Now provides medical care on the Greek island of Samos. Due to overcrowded camps and lack of services, medical care on the island is inadequate. With a group of 15 to 30 volunteers and translators, Human Aid Now provides basic medical care to over a hundred people daily and refers medical cases to the hospital. Due to the closure rules during the Corona pandemic, additional medical office space was needed. In addition, international volunteers could no longer come to the island, so Human Aid Now had asked a group of volunteers to remain in Greece during the lockdown to maintain operations. Therefore, the Safe Passage Foundation supported Human Aid Now in 2020 with 3427,50€ to cover the costs of medical office space, accommodation and food for the volunteers.
Healthbridge Medical Organization
Healthbridge Medical has spent the last year filling gaps in care on the ground in Lesvos - whether it's providing medical care during emergency shifts, offering medical translation services at multiple locations, or managing complex medical cases. Healthbridge Medical has tried to find ways how to complement the work of other NGOs that also provide medical care. With over two dozen refugees working on their team, it gives them a unique perspective on the needs of people on the move. Rather than telling refugees what they need to do to feel better, they do their best to connect them to the very resources that make things better. This may include connecting them to existing resources or meeting medical needs that are otherwise unavailable, such as MRIs, CT scans, and complex blood tests. As the situation changes and new barriers arise, they want to continue to try to make this part of the journey as humane as possible.
No Nation Truck
The activists of the No Nation Truck collective came together in 2019 to counter the racist policy of deterrence at the external borders of the EU with solidarity. The goal of the helpers is to support people seeking protection in a direct and unbureaucratic way as sustainably and effectively as possible. Through the mobility of the extended lorry of No Nation Truck, the collective can act flexibly, provide medical assistance, food distribution, power supply, and documentation of border violence. The expanded truck also houses a kitchen, a first aid area, and a power system that can charge several dozen mobile devices.
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.
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.
Equal Rights Beyond Borders
Human rights violations against refugees at the Greek borders are becoming more severe every year. Equal Rights Beyond Borders is a Greek-German human rights organization that stands by the side of those seeking protection and supports them legally in their fight against undignified living conditions in the refugee camps, or against unlawful detention and illegal deportations. Among other things, ERBB finances the salary of a lawyer in Athens through our donations.
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.
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.
Libereco
The activists behind the organization Libereco have been involved in Ukraine since the beginning of the war in 2014 and since February have been particularly committed to helping families, the elderly and people with disabilities. Since there is a lack of medical care and nursing facilities in large parts of the country, the organization has set itself the goal of renovating old people's and nursing homes and setting up assisted living together with local partner organizations. At the same time, Libereco is working on evacuations. In September, Libereco volunteers evacuated a family from one of the frontline regions in Ukraine. A few days later, the family's home was completely destroyed by a missile. It is often hours that make the difference between life and death.
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.
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.
Nachbarschaft e. V.
"Freiwillig Helfen" (FH) is a Berlin based network for refugees with a focus on integration assistance. Founded by volunteers from a Berlin emergency shelter, it provides non-partisan and non-denominational aid wherever help is urgently needed. In response to the war in Ukraine, FH has reactivated the "Volunteer Planner", which was already used in 2015 to successfully coordinate and organize tens of thousands of helpers across Europe. It is a non-commercial open source tool by volunteers for volunteers to easily and efficiently organize thousands of helpers.
Cadus
CADUS is a non-profit and independent aid organization that initiates innovative and sustainable projects with a focus on medical care. Their primary goal is to help people to help themselves in line with their needs. The funding was used, for example, to implement a mobile modular medical care system for the Greek islands. The medical care situation on the Greek islands has only existed at all for people on the move because small NGOs have been working tirelessly to help against all the repression on the ground. The capacities and possible medical services have always been limited, and the situation has worsened massively due to the pandemic. CADUS built on the experience of the first mobile hospital for northeast Syria to create an even more mobile concept of a modular hospital on Lesvos, which can respond quickly and flexibly to the medical emergency on the ground. Thus, testing and treatment capacities were expanded and isolation tents for infected persons were provided. CADUS is also establishing a MEDEVAC system for the hostilities in Ukraine.
Exhibition Remember Moria
Our LNOB warehouse on Lesvos was transformed into an event center for the #RememberMoria exhibition. The exhibition was meant to commemorate the night when Camp Moria burned down completely and more than 14,000 people lost their last belongings and were forced onto the streets where they had to hold out for more than 14 days without sanitation or medical care. We wanted to remember a place that was called "the shame of Europe".
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.
Attika Human Support
Attika operates one of the largest warehouses for in-kind donations on the island of Lesvos, playing an important role in the distribution of aid to Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Kos and mainland Greece. Many refugees usually have few personal belongings when they arrive on the island and are in need of warm, dry clothing and shoes. The Attica team sorts, delivers or arranges pickup for the supporting NGOs, which distribute the in-kind donations as part of their own aid programs. In conjunction with this mass distribution, Attika also packs specifically requested items daily and delivers them directly to camp residents.
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.