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.
School of Peace
The international School of Peace for children and adults on Lesvos offers the people in the camp the opportunity to take English courses and other school subjects. In addition, the School of Peace offers its younger students a special curriculum for adolescents, where they have the opportunity to learn everyday skills and abilities. The goal is to develop the students' self-confidence, academic performance and social skills. They are taught by teachers who are also refugees living in the camp. The school also promotes their experience, creativity and demonstrates self-confidence within the community. This serves as the main goal of the School of Peace: to strengthen people's self-confidence and assertiveness, to inspire them and to help them shape their lives in a positive way. Since the beginning in 2017, over 5000 students have attended courses of the School of Peace.
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 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.
Tolou
Tolou is a non-profit association with the goal of promoting access to education and housing, as well as personal development. In the new camp on Lesvos, they have built a team of eleven Afghan volunteer teachers who design and lead classes there depending on their own abilities. On Lesvos alone, more than 200 students benefit from this service every day. However, several hundred refugees also live in Mytilene, which is why Tolou is also opening a classroom in this town, where around 100 students have the opportunity to learn English, French, Greek and painting. In order to offer psychological stability to its participants, Tolou has also rented two apartments in Athens to accommodate people and offer them a safe space while they complete administrative procedures and have the opportunity to attend to professional or family matters.
We for Kids
We For Kids is committed to the development of children living in Samos HotSpot Camp between the ages of three and nine. They provide them with home-cooked, hot and healthy meals to strengthen their health. We for Kids was co-founded by Barbara, herself a refugee who arrived in Samos four years ago, and Evangelos, a local businessman. Together they now work with refugee children and adults as well as the local population on Samos.
Medical Volunteers International
People often suffer severe violence and are exposed to extreme situations during their flight to safety. The question of whether medical care is available can therefore often make the difference between life and death. Many of the people seeking protection who cross the Mediterranean in rubber boats arrive on Lesvos with terrible traumas and health problems. Medical Volunteers International treats up to 1000 people per month in Greece with basic medical care, psychological support, health promotion courses and much more.
Contact and Counseling Center for Refugees and Migrants (KuB)
The Contact and Counseling Center for Refugees and Migrants (KuB) is a non-profit association in Berlin. The KuB supports refugees and migrants from all over the world and advises on questions regarding asylum and residence rights. Support is also provided for psychological and social problems. The funding enables the organization of German courses and leisure activities for precarious migrants.
Foundation Saving an Angel
Since its establishment in 2001, the Saving an Angel Foundation has been distributing funds to help children in need. The donation supports the project UNHIDE - Emergency Aid, which organizes extensive deliveries of relief supplies from Germany to Ukraine on the one hand, and the care of Ukrainian children and young people in the UNHIDE HOME in Germany on the other. The children receive meals, creative workshops, lessons and care by trauma therapists.
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.
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.
Nicht reden. Machen!
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the "Nicht reden. Machen! e.V." has been actively involved in providing the people in the war zone with the most urgently needed relief supplies. Supplies such as food and clothing are provided, but also targeted medical needs such as asthma spray, antibiotics, bandages and surgical material.
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.
Mare Liberum
Mare Liberum documents human rights violations and border violence against people on the move in the Aegean Sea. On the life-threatening escape route between Turkey and Greece, migrants are regularly pushed back by the authorities using violent methods to prevent them from reaching Europe. By publishing testimonies, Mare Liberum makes the voices of affected people visible and fights collectively for the strengthening of basic human rights. By collecting and publishing data on the general situation in the Aegean Sea, the pressure on the relevant authorities to ensure that human rights are respected is increased.
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.
Support of smaller NGOs with consumables
We have set up a fund on Lesvos in cooperation with a Greek NGO (Lesvos Solidarity), where small NGOs can use the original receipts to claim money for consumables (for example food and hygiene products), so that they can focus on the work on the ground and expand their capacities there.
Civilian Crisis Unit Network
The Civilian Crisis Unit Network is an association of more than 30 NGOs from all over Germany. The people behind these NGOs are currently transporting over 150 pallets full of furnishings to set up a children's rehab in Ukraine to support children who have been through the worst. This is just one of many examples of the work being done by the Civilian Crisis Unit Network. The initiative brings together food, medical supplies, blankets and many other urgently needed relief items in warehouses and ships them to Ukraine in close cooperation with Ukrainian organizations.
Sea Punks
The Sea Punk activists have seen enough people dying every day while fleeing across the Mediterranean over the last decades. As a non-profit organization, the Sea Punks have only one goal in mind: Civilian sea rescue in the Mediterranean Sea with a rescue-capable ship. They have bought a ship, the Sea Punk One, so that they can save the lives of refugees in the Mediterranean. Sea Punks and its volunteers want to help people who are denied our privileges. They help people who leave their homes to flee war, violence, poverty and exploitation. The Sea Punks team is made up of people with very different talents. The volunteer activists cover many fields. From craftsmen to therapists, media workers, social workers to lawyers - their motto: Just do it!
Alliance4Ukraine
Alliance4Ukraine is a coordinating alliance of civil society organizations, foundations, government institutions, and businesses. The goal of the alliance is to create an ecosystem of interlocking solutions to the needs of people on the move. The supporting organizations from the Alliance4Ukraine want to strengthen existing - primarily civil society - structures in Germany that can, in particular, enable or facilitate the reception of people on the move.
Helpbus
In order to intervene in cases of short-term humanitarian disasters, such as the winter in Ukraine, the activists of the Helpbus provide fast and unbureaucratic care. The Helpbus provides support in crisis hotspots where mobile assistance is needed. The Helpbus is closely networked with local activists and can be on site within a few days. This means that donations in kind as well as medical care for about 150 people a day can be provided and evacuations can be carried out.
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.
at-Fire
Several cities in Ukraine are under continuous bombardment by Russian artillery and air strikes. Acute disaster relief and firefighting are one of the main needs in the embattled regions. at-Fire specializes in international disaster relief and with the help of donations is able to buy expensive special equipment to improve Ukrainian disaster relief and at the same time train Ukrainian rescue workers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.