DISCLAIMER - UHfR & SAFETY
For the safety of both the refugee communities we work with and our team and volunteers, we cannot share any in-depth details, identifying images or specific information about our projects or community activities, nor can we make any comments which may be construed as critical. We recognise that this limitation may make it difficult for our global supports to fully appreciate the scope and impact of our work, however the safety and security of the community and our volunteers is our highest priority. Therefore, we appreciate your understanding and welcome you to contact us directly if you are interested to learn more about the details of our work.
WHO ARE WE?
Initially founded in 2020 as a grassroots Covid-response initiative, we now focus on sustainable community-based support for marginalised refugee communities. We are a volunteer-run, non-profit association registered in Germany, with volunteer members contributing from around the globe.
As the global pandemic continued in 2021, we adjusted our approach in response to the changing needs of the specific local communities we had become connected with, choosing to focus on depth over breadth. Our aim is to concentrate our efforts and resources where we feel they will have the most impact, ensuring our efforts are targeted and effective. Our interventions are guided by the needs, desires and preferences of the community, and all our activities are collaborative, built on relationships and networks of mutual trust and respect.
Our team now works in direct collaboration with specific marginalised refugee communities, enabling us to develop stronger relationships and extend our networks to increase and expand our impact, aiming to provide the support that both meets community needs and desires, as well as takes into account our own capacity and resources.
Fundamental to our approach, we work in ways that respect, highlight and celebrate the identity, strengths, capacity and achievements of the communities we support.
OUR MISSION
Our core mission is to respond to, collaborate with, and support marginalised refugee communities in ways that uplift, empower and lead to immediate and long-term social change and improved life opportunities. We are also dedicated to raising awareness within the broader global community, towards overcoming prejudice and discrimination, and increasing solidarity, empathy and compassionate human connections.
OUR GOALS
Whilst recognising that we are a small organisation, we are committed to contributing towards these broad global goals. Particularly we work on achieving these goals in the context of the specific communities we support, including forced migrants, refugees and ethnic minorities.
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To ensure their basic human rights are respected, as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Particularly to ensure access to basic needs including: food, clothing, household needs, medical care, education and psychological support.
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To support the preservation of their cultural identity and heritage.
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To serve as an intermediary and representative with donors, authorities, institutions and global stakeholders, to support and advocate for their rights and needs.
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To provide documented evidence of human rights violations for partners and stakeholders, advocating for the fulfilment of human rights standards, particularly access to basic needs.
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To ensure financial and structural sustainability for UHfR through the development of partnerships, effective fundraising and enhancing the organisation’s visibility and connectivity.
OUR VALUES & VISION
We envision a more equal and just world, in which all have their basic needs fulfilled and their human rights respected, in order to live in dignified, safe and healthy conditions, regardless of one’s nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, race or sexual preference.
To support this vision, we believe in trusting the expertise and following the leadership of the communities we work with. We believe in respecting, highlighting and celebrating the identity, strengths and achievements of the communities we support. In our collaborations, we seek to empower and uplift, particularly ensuring that decisions are made by, and power is genuinely located with, the refugee communities themselves.
We see our work and approach at UHfR as an opportunity for those of us who are politically and economically privileged, and who have access to resources, to demonstrate our support for, solidarity with and commitment to those who have been marginalised and oppressed by local and global systemic injustice and rights abuse. We seek to amplify their stories, their voices and their needs, to work together to improve their circumstances, as well as to seek systemic change and justice towards a fairer world for all.
Whilst recognising that we are a small organisation, we are committed to contributing towards this broad vision in the context of the local communities we support.