Impact

In the 12-months between April 2022 and April 2023, we achieved:

  • 50,813 people were reached with essential aid and services, including 1,280 women and 1,495 minors

  • 107,756 items were distributed to refugees and people on the move

  • 14,838 showers were provided

  • 5,146 loads of laundry were washed

  • 27,265kg of food was distributed

  • 174 reports were collected for the Border Violence Monitoring Network

Calais, France:

In September 2019, we took over the largest material aid operation in Northern France. With support from Choose Love - then known as Help Refugees - and L’Auberge des Migrants, we took what we have learned in the Balkans and adapted our knowledge to meet the specific needs of the populations in the region.

With around 1,500 displaced people sleeping rough in horrific living conditions that are only made worse by daily police evictions, we joined other grassroots organisations currently on the ground to distribute life-saving aid across sites in Dunkirk and Calais.

We distribute on average more than 4,000 non-food items every month. Clothing, tents, sleeping bags, and shoes are all for people who urgently need them. None of this would be possible without your support.

We opened a WASH Centre in the city of Calais as well to better cater to the needs of people-on-the-move. Our WASH Centre provides free laundry for people-on-the-move to access and prolong the longevity of the non-food items that they have. This allows a more sustainable and closed circle economy of our non-food items, and we hope to decrease the waste build-up around living sites when people have to discard items as they become too dirty because the cold weather and constant evictions make it impossible for people sleeping rough to wash their belongings outdoors.

At our WASH Centre in Calais, we also provide a space of solidarity. We offer free tea, fruit, and coffee, as well as a selection of books in various languages, leisure areas, and board games for people to enjoy.

If you want to support this project, donate here.

Subotica, Serbia:

Since November 2019, Collective Aid has been present in Subotica, supporting the people-on-the-move sleeping rough in the region around the Hungarian Croatian and Romanian border. Due to the dangerously cold winters, it is essential that we are there to distribute much-needed items.

We support the population in and around Subotica with clothing, blankets, sleeping bags, hygiene items, showers, laundry, food, and drinking water. We facilitate mobile showers near locations where people are sleeping rough.

We are part of the Border Violence Monitoring Network, which consists of many organizations working mainly in the Balkans and Greece that monitor human rights violations at the external borders of the European Union. This require our volunteers to identify people with injuries or mention violence and offer them to report those for advocacy purposes. We offer training on taking testimonies provided by Border Violence Monitoring Network agents.

It is essential that we - as one of the few organisations active in this region - step in to meet the urgent needs of the population and draw attention to violations and mistreatment.

If you want to support this project, donate here.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Since July 2018, Collective Aid has been supporting people-on-the-move stuck in Bosnia and Herzegovina through multiple outlets and projects.

We are currently distributing essential aid like underwear, socks, hygiene packs, clothing, sleeping bags and shoes to people who are sleeping rough around Sarajevo. We collaborate closely with other organizations on the ground on the identification and referral of potential cases for basic legal aid and medical interventions.

In July 2021, we took over a Vision Care project from another organization. Collective Aid now works together in partnership with a local optician to help people-on-the-move get fitting glasses for themselves. In the second half of 2022, we distributed food vouchers in partnership with Caritas BiH.

We are part of the Border Violence Monitoring Network, which consists of many organizations working mainly in the Balkans and Greece that monitor human rights violations at the external borders of the European Union. Our volunteers are identifying people with injuries or mentioning violence and offer them to report those for advocacy purposes.

If you want to support this project, donate here.