SolidarityNow

Ensuring the protection of refugees and migrants through the provision of targeted and holistic services is key to SolidarityNow’s work. Services and support in these cases are provided through interdisciplinary teams consisting of social workers, psychologists, child protection experts, lawyers, and interpreters.

At the heart of all SolidarityNow interventions lie the Solidarity Centres (in Athens and Thessaloniki) and the Blue Refugee Centre in Thessaloniki, which provide holistic support to individuals at risk of social marginalisation and exclusion, paving the way towards their empowerment and self-reliance. The services provided include legal aid, psychosocial support and counselling, employability, and accounting services as well as cultural mediation. Together the centres have reached over 90,000 individuals to date, providing an array of services to those in need including asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection. Through the centres, a package of free services is provided, including legal aid, employability, psychosocial support, accounting, interpretation, and other information and referrals.

Moreover, SN is providing essential livelihood opportunities to vulnerable individuals through its Employability Sector. The aim of the program is the social and economic integration of individuals by supporting them in finding work, while at the same time empowering them to gain a greater degree of autonomy. Employment services are provided individually and in groups. They include activities like, provision of information, skills development, resume preparation and job applications, networking with a dynamic business network, supporting the issuance of necessary employment documents, referrals for trainings and vocational training, counseling on keeping a job and dealing with difficulties in it. In addition, SolidarityNow’s network of businesses is continuously expanding to connect the people it serves with more employment opportunities, and mediate to the necessary extent to address administrative, cultural and other barriers.

From 2021 to date SN in collaboration with UNICEF for the implementation of “All Children in Education” program, aiming to facilitate the integration of refugee and migrant children in the formal education setting through the provision of non-formal education (NFE) services in Homework and Creative Activities Centres (HCACs) and other complementary activities. The project is implemented in 5 regions across mainland Greece, namely: Attica, Central Greece, Central and Eastern Macedonia, and Western Greece, specifically in 2 urban centres and 12 open accommodation sites. To date over 3,000 children have been supported through NFE and for registering to the public school.

SN is one of IOM’s implementing partners for the HELIOS integration project since 2019, through which 600 individuals have been supported with Greek language and life skills classes through the three Integration Learning Centres (ILCs) operated by SN in Athens, Thessaloniki and Ioannina.

Greece is one of the main entry points for asylum seekers and refugees in Europe. Populations affected by displacement and people fleeing persecution are among those most at risk of being trafficked. SolidarityNow is partnering KMOP (Centre of Care for Families and Children) and the National Centre for Social Solidarity, Greece (ΕΚΚΑ) to strengthen the protective environment, while empowering victims of human trafficking to claim their rights and fulfil their potential. More specifically, the PROCAP project aims to:

Improve the early identification of victims of trafficking who are third country nationals at entry points (reception and identification centres, airports, ports, etc.) who will consequently be referred to specialised service providers.

- Provide quality psychosocial support services to victims of trafficking in human beings and their children, with attention to the best interests of the child.

- Empower victims to claim their rights, seek support and identify viable solutions in safety and dignity.

- Support access to justice for victims of trafficking.

- Equip with training/ information/ awareness raising of frontline professionals in areas such as hospitality, airports, public transport, labour inspection, school communities, reception and identification services, play an active role as a support mechanism for (early) identification.

SolidarityNow, through mobile units in Attica and Central Macedonia (incl. wider regions), will provide psychosocial support, legal assistance and representation, translation and interpretation, accompaniment, integration and anti-trafficking activities to victims (or potential victims) of human trafficking.

In addition to this, SN is conducting research and producing significant knowledge by assessing the needs and realities of the affected populations to design better informed programmes responding to their specific needs. It is also worth mentioning the legal services provided at the Solidarity Centers in Thessaloniki and Athens to vulnerable individuals indiscriminately and free of charge for a wide range of issues. The organisation also works towards the integration of marginalised communities, including in its activities Roma communities across Greece with the aim of promoting their rights and equal access to the society overall.

Moreover, SN works to support migrant workers in precarious working conditions, undeclared work, labour exploitation, inequalities and discrimination. These issues are unrecorded, while there are no official figures. “Revealing the Unseen Vulnerable Migrant Workers” project aims to document the scale of the precarious working conditions of vulnerable migrant workers in Greece and raise awareness regarding migrant labour rights and labour migration.

The project includes the following activities:

- Conduction of a survey, which will collect evidence to bridge the information gap on undeclared work and precarious work permits of Third Country Nationals (TCN) in Greece.

- Provision of labour rights seminars to 240 TCNs. The seminars will provide an overview of the legislative framework for the labour market, equipping participants with the tools and information to uphold labour rights, pursue safe working conditions and access supportive mechanisms.

- Implementation of raising awareness activities, which will include advocacy actions, a social media campaign and the production of useful and up to date informative material

During the first semester of 2024, SN will establish 2 new Centres for the provision of specialised mental health services focused on trauma, specialised legal aid, targeted services to combat high school dropout rates among UAMs as well as services for UAMs that have reached adulthood (18-21 years old) covering the UAMs residing in the region of Epirus and Western Greece (1st Center located in Ioannina city) and the regions of Thessaly and Western Macedonia (2nd Center located in Larissa city). The project is entitled “COMPASS – COMPlementAry Mechanism for Supporting the National Strategy for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors in Greece” and funded by AMIF as a Specific Action (MS under pressure – unaccompanied minors). Its duration is 3 years, during which SN aims to support over 600 UAMs.

Previously, SN operated as one of UNICEF’s (and later IOM’s) main implementing partners for the establishment and operation of Child and Family Support Hubs in sites across mainland Greece. Through this project, SN supported more than 30,000 children and caregivers in 24 sites, with an integrated package of protection and education services to ensure their wellbeing and support their social integration. In collaboration with UNHCR, under the ESTIA programme, between 2016 and 2021, SN established and maintained more than 2,000 accommodation places and provided support services to a total of 6,792 vulnerable asylum seekers across Greece. In partnership with IOM, SN also implemented the “Harmonized protection practices in Greece” (HARP) project in 25 open accommodation sites across the country throughout 2022. The project aimed to improve the quality of humanitarian response and protection assistance to migrants hosted within the Greek Reception system. From 2020 to 2022, SN also implemented programmes supporting Unaccompanied Minors including through the operation of semi-independent living (SIL) apartments, emergency shelters and the development of toolkits and good practices to support this group.

SolidarityNow is registered as a charitable non-profit humanitarian organisation and is a certified member of the Greek and foreign non-governmental organisations Registry of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum. SN is registered in the National Registry of private sector non-profit Institutions providing social care services and in the Special Registry of the volunteering non-governmental organisations of the Greek Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity. SN has also been certified by NGOsource as being the equivalent of a U.S. public charity. SN has an ISO 9001:2015 certification for the design, development and management of projects, the management of programmes supporting vulnerable groups with their labour, educational and psychosocial integration, and the defence of their rights, the operation of educational and holistic service provision centres, the provision of services and education to support families within open accommodation sites.

SN is an active member of national and international networks, including the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), the International Detention Coalition (IDC), CIVICUS, the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA), the Greek Network for the Right to Shelter and Housing, the platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), the Consortium on Refugees’ and Migrants’ Mental Health (CoReMH), the Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN), the Athens Coordination Committee for Migrants and Refugees (ACCMR), thessdiktio (a non-formal network of voluntary organisations), Select Respect Network working towards upholding human rights and accepting diversity, and various national and regional Working Groups and Committees. All memberships are available on our website.