Projects

Project "Capacity building in the humanitarian aid sector and in asylum advocacy". Project is funded by the National Foundation of Civil Society with 9993,23 euros. The budget of the project is 11104,23 euros. Duration of the project: April 2014 – March 2015.

This project aims to improve Estonian Refugee Council’s capacity on two fronts: (1) build up organization’s capacity to provide humanitarian aid in crisis situations through training activities, cooperation with other actors, and formulating organization’s strategy for humanitarian responses; (2) guarantee the sustainability of the organization’s advocacy work through producing the first annual report of the refugee situation in Estonia, and producing the Estonian country report for the European Asylum Information Database. 

Past projects

Project "Enhancing advocacy work in the area of asylum- and refugee policy". The project is supported by the NGO Fund of EEA Grants, which is operated by Open Estonia Foundation with 35457,76 €. The total budget of the project is 39473,26 €. The project is carried out in cooperation with Estonian Human Rights Centre. The duration of the project: April 2013 – March 2014.

The aim of the project is to create more professional and sustainable advocacy work of Estonian refugee organisations. The advocacy work aims to achieve changes in several policy and law areas among them in improving the protection of rights of asylum seekers and developing comprehensive policy for integration of refugees in Estonia. A roundtable of refugee organisations will be managing and directing the advocacy work. With an aim to create more efficient and professional advocacy agenda, training of the staff will take place as well as creating network with the refugee organisations in other Member States. Research and analysis will be carried out, a conference and meetings with decision makers will be carried out.  

 

Project "Developing a systematic collection of donations and organising fundraising for Refugee Council". Project is financed by National Foundation of Civil Society through the Minister of Regional Affairs area of government with 4931,56 €. Duration of the project: June 2012 – March 2013.

The general aim of the project is to increase the proportion of donations in the annual income of Estonian Refugee Council and thereby improve the capability of the organisation to help refugees and those applying for international protection in Estonia. The following activities are carried out:

  • a strategy and an action plan for fundraisings will be developed;
  • development of internet application for the user-friendly and easy collection of donations;
  • promotional materials will be created to collect donations, inform society and acknowledge donators;
  • donor packages will be created for entrepreneurs and organisations of Estonians living abroad;
  • charity event will be held on International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2012.

Project "Improving the engagement of volunteers in Estonian Refugee Council". Project is financed by National Foundation of Civil Society through the Minister of Regional Affairs area of government with 6056,84 €. Duration of the project: October 2012 – April 2013.

The project's overall aim is to engage volunteers in Estonian Refugee Council's work on a more lasting and sustainable basis and through that to increase the Council's ability to fulfill its aims as defined in the statutes.

The particular aim of the project is to increase the number of volunteers who are continuously engaged in Refugee Council's work, to 10 persons. The tasks of the volunteer network is to act as refugee support persons and help the refugees to find job, apartment and generally adopt to their life in Estonia. They can also help to teach some skills (as Estonian language, computer skills etc). The project includes following activities:

  • developing a training program for volunteers who want to be support persons for refugees;
  • training 10 volunteers to be support persons;
  • providing the opportunity for practice as refugee support persons.

As a result of the project Estonian Refugee Council will have a steady group of volunteers that will be engaged in Council's everyday's work with refugees. The project will also increase the awareness of Estonian society of the importance of volunteers' work and refugee issues in Estonia.

We participated in Johannes Mihkelson Centre's project "Improving the reception conditions of asylum seekers and refugees through combined support services". Project was co-financed by the European Union through the European Refugee Fund and the Estonian Ministry of Interior.

Within this project several events throughout 2012 were held for the residents of Illuka Reception Center:

  

Project "Support service for integration of refugees into the labour market". Project was co-financed by the Gambling Tax Council with 3465 € (total budget 3815 €). Duration of the project: June 2012 – December 2012.

General aim of the project was to increase the participation of refugees in the labour market and thus increase their independence and reduce their dependence on subsistence. Accomplishing these goals helped refugees to integrate into Estonian society.

The activities of the project were focused on finding a job for refugees, who had received a residence permit within the year 2012. The aim was also to expand the knowledge of employers about the situation of refugees to stimulate them to be more open about refugees as potential employees. It was also important to gain more systematic insights into the methods how better to integrate refugees into the labour market. This experience allowed us to draw conclusions and make suggestions to develop more comprehensive support system for the labour market or adapt the existing system so that it would meet refugees' needs.

Following activities were planned within the project:

  • support service for refugees to integrate in labour market;
  • informational seminars in Illuka Reception Center in collaboration with Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Office;
  • analysis of the shortcomings and opportunities of integrating refugees into the labour market.