10/09/2025
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Countries
Estonian Refugee Council begins providing food aid in the Gaza Strip to support local hospitals and ensure daily meals for both patients and healthcare workers.
Estonian Refugee Council is providing food aid in collaboration with the Gaza Soup Kitchen at two hospitals in Gaza City: the region’s largest, Al-Shifa Hospital and Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital.
“Hospitals in Gaza are often the only places people can turn to for help, yet even their resources are extremely limited. With the support of Estonian donors, we are able to provide essential food assistance in hospitals, giving patients the strength to recover and supporting the doctors and nurses who work under difficult conditions to save lives,” said Eero Janson, Director of the Estonian Refugee Council.
By donating:
- 9 euros you can provide one Gaza hospital employee or patient a meal;
- 45 euros you help keep five hospital employees or patients nourished for a day;
- 90 euros you support 10 hospital employees or patients with meals;
- 400 euros you help feed 45 hospital employees or patients.
Donations can be made also by calling:
900 3803 – €25
People in Gaza have been living under extremely severe humanitarian crisis conditions for nearly two years. Due to ongoing hostilities, mass displacement, and shortages of food, water, fuel, and medical supplies, the entire population of Gaza – over 2 million people – depends on humanitarian aid. Because of the Israeli blockade, essential aid reaches Gaza only in limited quantities. One third of the population faces catastrophic famine, the healthcare system is collapsing, and hospitals are operating under extreme conditions while striving to continue providing life-saving treatment.
Do not look away. Help fight starvation.
12/09/2025
Overview of the Estonian Refugee Council's Activities in August
We are raising donations in Estonia to ensure daily meals in two hospitals in Gaza City. With the support of Estonian donors, we can provide essential food aid that gives patients the strength to recover and supports doctors and nurses who are working under difficult conditions to save lives. Do not look away. Help break through hunger. Make a donation on the Estonian Refugee Council website.
Registration has opened in Estonia for the new season of the Start Smart training on artificial intelligence, aimed at young people aged 15–29 with a refugee background.
In Ukraine, we are launching a new entrepreneurship programme to help people affected by the full-scale war build sustainable sources of income.
In Armenia, we have set up hydroponic greenhouses to help schools cope with climate change and ensure access to food in water-scarce conditions. The greenhouses also serve to strengthen children’s knowledge of the environment.
Also in Armenia, four community councils were launched in August to help make the voices of people with refugee backgrounds better heard in standing up for their rights.
04/09/2025
Rapid Response in Zaporizhzhia Oblast: Supporting Communities Amid Crisis
In early August, the Estonian Refugee Council (ERC) team deployed to Zaporizhzhia oblast to deliver urgently needed assistance to residents of Bilenke, a village coping with the aftermath of a recent attack.
02/09/2025
Estonian Refugee Council Appointed Official Charity Partner of the British-Estonian Chamber of Commerce 2025
The Estonian Refugee Council has been chosen as the official charity partner of the British-Estonian Chamber of Commerce (BECC) for 2025, supporting the community integration and societal inclusion of people with a refugee background in Estonia.
28/08/2025
“If It Weren’t for the Animals, I Don’t Know What We’d Do”: How One Family in Kharkiv Oblast Is Rebuilding Life Through Livelihood Support
In the fields just beyond Barvinkove, a small town in Kharkiv oblast, the late-summer sun shines over quiet pastures. From a distance, the scene looks peaceful—cows grazing slowly, a young calf nearby, the landscape seemingly untouched. But behind this stillness is a story of survival, strength, and the long journey of recovery in a community scarred by war.
22/08/2025
AI training for refugee-background youth starts again this September
Registration is now open for the entrepreneurship training programme Start Smart, organised within the framework of the employment programme UPBEAT. The training is designed for young people with refugee and migrant backgrounds, helping them strengthen their competitiveness in business and on the labour market by making use of the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence.
19/08/2025
How ERC’s Assistance Helps to Rebuild Rural Livelihoods in Ukraine
“When I found out I had received the funding, it gave me a real boost. It renewed my motivation to keep going with beekeeping,” says Yevhen, a lifelong beekeeper from Kharkiv region, Ukraine. For 36 years, beekeeping has been more than just a livelihood for Yevhen—it’s been a way of life. But when war came, everything changed.
14/08/2025
The Estonian Refugee Council received the European Commission’s highest-level humanitarian partnership certificate
The Estonian Refugee Council has become the only humanitarian organisation in the Baltic States and Poland to hold the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) programme partnership certificate for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
13/08/2025
Overview of the Estonian Refugee Council's Activities in July
On 8 and 9 August, the Opinion Festival took place in Paide, where we, together with the Estonian Human Rights Centre and the Office of the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner, organised a discussion on structural racism, and Estonian Refugee Council Director Eero Janson took part in a discussion on humanitarian funding.
In cooperation with the Integration Foundation, we help foster mutual understanding, trust, and civic engagement among third-country nationals through a variety of events held across Estonia.
In July, we organised a summer camp in Kloogaranna for 38 children of Ukrainian frontline workers to support their well-being and develop their social skills.
In Ukraine, we have provided cash-based humanitarian assistance to nearly 309,000 people.
In Armenia, new self-help groups have started their work, supporting mental health and independent living.
In Georgia, we are about to launch training sessions to strengthen the capacity of local NGOs and civil society organisations to better respond to various challenges.
In Jordan, agricultural training for 40 Syrian refugee and local community women has been completed. As a next step, 12 of these women will receive support to establish hydroponic greenhouses on their home plots.
13/08/2025
Resilience Amid War: Olena’s Story of Rebuilding Life and Livelihood in Kharkiv Oblast
In the small city of Barvinkove, Kharkiv oblast, Olena and her family are rebuilding not just their farm, but their future—against the backdrop of war.
17/07/2025
The Estonian Refugee Council supports the self-sufficiency of women who have fled from Syria to Jordan
The Estonian Refugee Council supports the self-sufficiency of women who have fled from Syria to Jordan
The Estonian Refugee Council supports the self-sufficiency of women-led households in vulnerable situations in Jordan through a training programme that provides new knowledge and practical skills for growing food and generating income. This June, the first ten women from Syria completed hydroponics training and will now be able to deliver similar training within their communities, thereby increasing knowledge of water-efficient agriculture across the region.