Rebuilding one’s life in a new country can be very difficult. Finding a job is not always easy, especially when the local work and cultural environment and administrative rules are still unfamiliar. To support this process, we carried out a labour market programme Edge Up, developed in cooperation between the Estonian Refugee Council, the Latvian organisation Shelter “Safe House”, the Estonian Labour Inspectorate, and the Latvian Labour Inspectorate.

Eestis algasid pagulastaustaga noortele mõeldud ettevõtluskoolituse “Start Smart” koolitused. Eestis viisime läbi emadepäeva kampaania “Kingitus kahele emale”, et toetada Ukrainas elavaid emasid hügieenitarvetega. Eestis viime läbi "MindSpring" grupipõhist programmi pagulastaustaga inimestele, mis toetab hakkamasaamist uues ja võõras riigis. Ukrainas alustame nõuandeliini kaudu vaimse tervise toe pakkumist nii Ukrainas kui ka mujal riikides asuvatele ukrainlastele, et toetada sõja tõttu kannatanud inimeste hakkamasaamist. Armeenias, Tavushi piirkonnas jätkuvad tööd, et leevendada vee- ja energiasäästlike põllumajanduslahenduste toel veepuudust, edendada kliimamuutustega toimetulekut ja pakkuda lastele keskkonnaalast haridust.Gruusias toetame sealsete Ukraina pagulasi rahapõhise humanitaarabiga, et toetada inimeste toimetulekut ja aidata neil igapäevase eluga paremini toime tulla.Jordaanias toetame haavatavas seisus perede toimetulekut, mille eesotsas on naised. Koolitame kohalikke ja pagulastaustaga naisi Süüriast, et nad saaksid kasvatada perele vajalikku toitu hüdropoonilistes kasvuhoonetes.

Estonian Refugee Council, together with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), conducted a socio-economic survey called SEIS among Ukrainian refugees, shedding light on their experiences integrating into a new society.

The third season of the Empowering Women entrepreneurship programme, launched in autumn by the Estonian Refugee Council, Garage48, and Swedbank, has successfully concluded. A total of 26 female-led teams completed the programme, including four with refugee backgrounds.

Kyrychkove village is located in Dnipropetrovska oblast, where there is a high risk of missile and guided aerial bomb attacks. Olena lives here with her son and two daughters. Before the full-scale invasion, Kyrychkove was quite a big village, but now only 7 houses are still inhabited. There is limited functional infrastructure and no public transport in the village, so to buy food or to access medical services, Olena must take an expensive taxi and go to a nearby village located closer to the highway or to a large town further away.

Registration has opened for the "Start Smart" entrepreneurship training, organised as part of the "UPBEAT" labour market programme. The aim of the training is to enhance the competitiveness of young people with refugee and migration backgrounds in entrepreneurship and the job market through learning about artificial intelligence.

We launched a donation campaign titled “Three Years Too Many” in February to support vulnerable people in frontline and hard-to-reach areas of Ukraine.We are about to launch four community councils in Armenia with the support of EU funding, enabling people with a refugee background to voice their concerns, advocate for solutions to their problems, and participate in decision-making processes that affect them. Additionally, we are establishing self-help groups to provide mental health support and promote independent living.In Jordan we are standing for the livelihood of vulnerable female-led households by training local women and women with refugee backgrounds from Syria to grow their own food in hydroponic greenhouses. The project has gained recognition as one of the best agricultural projects in Jordan by the country's Ministry of Agriculture.  

Once the world’s leading humanitarian donor, the United States has now cut 90% of its foreign assistance. This decision has created a humanitarian funding crisis with devastating consequences around the world.