Annual report 2023
Focus on empowerment and financial sustainability
Our narrative and financial reports for 2023 show how HIA’s work continues to be extremely affected by the prolonged war in Ukraine. The largest humanitarian aid programme in HIA’s history has provided a helping hand to over half a million people: those suffering the war in Ukraine and also the refugees arriving in Hungary. By the end of the year the total amount of spent on humanitarian projects was HUF 11 billion.
Apart from helping victims of the conflict in Hungary’s neighbour Ukraine, we have also been involved in helping people in need in many regions of the world: in the aftermath of the February earthquake in Turkey we provided long and short-term relief to tens of thousands of people in need with food, sanitation, sanitary containers, winter clothing and school supplies. In May, we helped flood victims in the northern Italian town of Forli, and in August we helped victims of the historic flooding in Slovenia. Our staff worked with our international partners on the ground to help the victims of the devastating dam collapse in the Libyan town of Derna in September, and we supported refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh in October. Two new health centres serving a total of 16,000 people were opened in Hateen and Solagh in Iraq, and at the end of the year we provided emergency aid to students and their families affected by the disaster at the Áron Tamási High School dormitory in Székelyudvarhely.
Our domestic social and development work has been characterised by diverse and long-term growth. The particularly hard economic situation continued to most deeply affect families living in already difficult circumstances. Staff of our national network of 50 centres provide around 100 services to help people in need. Children continue to be given special attention: more than 3,000 children in 22 institutions benefit from our Catch-up programme. This programme aims to give opportunity to disadvantaged people in need willing to grow and break out of the shackles of their environment. We continued our participation in the Catching-up Settlements programme, where we now provide catch-up services to families in need at 13 Presence Points in the most disadvantaged settlements of Hungary. We work with a number of corporate partners to achieve our goals. We have launched model financial programmes in several regions of the country to raise financial awareness among the most financially vulnerable groups in Hungarian society, with significant support from renowned financial institutions. Several companies have joined our objectives through fundraising, but some have also provided significant IT support, energy efficiency development or labour market support. In the framework of the Hungarian Village Programme, thanks to the cooperation of Hungarian Interchurch Aid and several Hungarian companies, developments have been realized in Kastélyosdombó, serving as models on national level.
The inauguration ceremony of the new building of the Biatorbágy Innovative VET and Grammar School, maintained by HIA, took place in August. The 11,000 square metre building of the high school is unique in the country due to its spaces adapted to the most modern forms of education, and the latest 21st century digital technology. The school’s core values include a strong emphasis on the education of solidarity from the very beginning.
In 2023 we organised our traditional fundraising and awareness-raising campaigns. In the spring we ran our ’Catch-up’ fundraising campaign while in the summer we organized our ’Starting School Together’ campaign to help 2,000 disadvantaged students start their school-year, we participated in several running races with our ’Don’t just cheer, help’ campaign, and at the end of the year we successfully launched our 28th Advent (Christmas) fundraising campaign. Our staff and volunteers presented our work and our goals at numerous occasions and locations, church, corporate and community events. The summary of the year 2023 is not only an opportunity to look back, but is also an occasion to give thanks to our Creator and to the people who help us in our work. Here, too, we thank our diverse community of partners and donors who give us the opportunity to help more and more each year! As we have been doing for more than three decades: through the power of comm-unity.
2023 in a nutshell
January - Help is especially important in the extreme cold
January is one of the coldest months in Hungary, and our work for the homeless is particularly important. In Budapest, Debrecen and Gyula we help the homeless 365 days a year.
Tovább olvasokFebruary - Humanitarian aid in Turkey and Syria
Turkey and Syria were hit by the largest earthquake in decades on 6 February, killing more than 50 thousand people and destroying the homes of hundred thousands. Hungarian Interchurch Aid works closely with its local partners to support the victims of the earthquake.
Tovább olvasokMarch – ’Catch-up 2.0’ for digital catch-up
Now in its fourth year, HIA's ’Catch-up 2.0’ programme is aimed at disadvantaged students who would have no chance of overcoming digital skills gaps without these programmes. The skills development project has helped a total of 600 disadvantaged students catch up, including 270 students supported in 2023.
Tovább olvasokApril - Don't just cheer, help!
We have been taking part in several national running races for years with the slogan "Don't just cheer, help!". At the Telekom Vivicittá half marathon in April, HIA’s teams consisting of staff members and well-known volunteers ran for children in need.
Tovább olvasokMay - Giving a helping hand to children in need
We place great emphasis on the development of children in need and helping them catch up: more than 3,000 children regularly participate in our community programmes in 20 locations every year. In May, for the tenth time, we launched a nationwide fundraising campaign to support children involved in the ’Catch-up (Kapaszkodó) programme’.
Tovább olvasokJune – Emergency aid in the area of the dam explosion in Nova Kakhovka, Ukraine
In June we provided emergency aid to people in a village flooded and threatened by the dam explosion in Nova Kakhovka, Ukraine. In the first round, 350 households received an aid package, then HIA distributed several truckloads of relief items to those in need: 3,200 families received food parcels and drinking water was provided for 8,000 households.
Tovább olvasokJuly - Summer camps for an eventful childhood
At our ’Camp of Opportunity' in Kastélyosdombó holidaying children took turns in July. During the one-week residential experience camps, which were held in three rotations supported by our corporate partners, our specialists focused on the effectiveness of the development programmes that helped the children catch up.
Tovább olvasokAugust - School bags filled for 2000 children in need
At the beginning of August, we launched our twelfth national aid campaign, ’Starting School Together’, to support children in need in the country who would have worse chances than their peers before they even start school because their families cannot provide them with the school supplies they need.
Tovább olvasokSeptember - New school year, new school building
Handover of the new building of the Biatorbágy VET and Grammar School took place by the start of the school year. The building of the secondary school is unique in the country due to its spaces adapted to the most modern forms of education, and the latest 21st century digital technology. The school, maintained by HIA, offers marketable skills in logistics, finance and IT, and also launches Grammar school and two-language Grammar school classes.
Tovább olvasokOctober - Two solidarity actions launched
Several solidarity actions were announced in the first half of the autumn: more than 100,000 Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia as a result of the renewed and suddenly escalating severe humanitarian crisis. In mid-September, we helped in Libya after floodwaters washed out the eastern Libyan town of Derna, a river valley town of 125,000 inhabitants.
Tovább olvasokNovember - Two new health centres opened in Iraq
Iraq's Sinjar is one of the last areas liberated from the Islamic State's reign of terror, where everything needs to be rebuilt. In addition to the 8,000 people living in the two settlements, the institutions also serve another 8,000 people living in the area.
Tovább olvasokDecember - The miracle of ’many a little makes a mickle’
For the 28th time, we launched our Advent Fundraising, which has become Hungary's largest festive fundraising campaign in almost three decades. More than 600,000 people have joined the objectives of the fundraising. Thanks to a growing community of donors, HUF 379 million was raised by the end of the year.
Tovább olvasokDomestic support – 2023
Our international work – 2023
Our work in Ukraine
Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA) has had a permanent presence in Ukraine for more than 25 years. Since February 2022 Hungarian Interchurch Aid has doubled down on its efforts to provide help to those in need – both in Hungary and Ukraine. We have now established a nationwide presence in Ukraine, with humanitarian offices in Lviv, Kyiv and Dnipro, in addition to our centre in Berehove. From tangible, in-kind food aid to cash assistance, humanitarian development, community-based relief and psychosocial help, HIA’s response to this crisis is multisectoral and flexible. Supported by other members from ACT Alliance, HIA is present on both sides of the border and is providing assistance to those in need, wherever they are seeking help.
In-kind humanitarian aid
. The disruption of supply chains coupled with a huge displacement crisis meant that during the chaotic spring months, providing emergency access to basic food and non-food items as well as health & hygiene products was critical. While shifting needs have caused a relative decrease in in-kind aiding, they still present a fairly important part of our response. Winterization support and emergency aid in cases of catastrophes such as the Kakhovka dam disaster remains paramount to this day. To support humanitarian operations in Ukraine logistically, HIA set up warehouses in Budapest, Berehove and Lviv in the first days of the war. More than 300 community shelters received food, sanitary products, clothes and household appliances throughout the year, and many have been winterised as well. With a focus on hard-to-reach locations – where international aid organisations rarely venture – HIA has delivered aid in places where military activity is still ongoing, such as Kherson itself.
Psychosocial assistance
In addition to physical health, HIA supports the mental and psychological health of those suffering the horrors of war in many ways throughout Ukraine. From free legal counselling to community events, from sports programmes to art and psychotherapy, HIA and its local partners' programmes seek to strengthen and protect the resilience of individuals, families and communities to maintain their mental health against the long-term effects of war.
Cash-based assistance
To help those deprived by the war, HIA employs two types of cash transfers for individuals. In the organisation’s effort to empower large masses of people at once, multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) allows for a more people-centred relief, granting beneficiaries freedom of choice and returning a degree of dignity into their lives. The financial support received within the MPCA programme is a three-month instalment of 10800 UAH. Cash for protection – also called Assess & Assist – intends to benefit those, who have specific protection issues that cannot be covered by the multi-purpose cash transfers, like an upcoming medical expenditure.
Support for people in crisis in Kharkiv, Lviv, Kherson, Odessa and Mikolayiv oblasts
The project aims to provide life-saving multi-sectoral assistance to people affected by the war in Ukraine, providing a concrete response to the needs of the newly liberated areas, the increasing migration to Western Ukraine and, where appropriate, the challenges of the winter. Especially in Lviv oblast, where an increasing number of IDPs sought shelter, and in liberated areas where there are huge needs and infrastructural challenges, especially due to the winter weather (Kharkiv). HIA distributed stoves, first-aid kits, lamps and supported refugee reception centres in 2023.
Development and reconstruction
Following the deoccupation of Northern Ukraine, HIA has set out to renovate critical infrastructure. Partnered with the Government of Hungary, the complete renovation of a school in Zahal’tsi near Borodyanka commenced alongside the establishment of a container kindergarten and an ambulance station in Bucha. In Synyak, a healthcare facility with added post and local government functions is under construction. Another goal is the winterisation and equipment of shelters for IDPs, the renovation of educational institutions to facilitate the return of students to on-site education. Reconstruction efforts of the past two years were not limited to essential infrastructure – HIA has also conducted light & medium repairs on homes in Kharkiv and Kherson regions. HIA has completely renovated an old dormitory building to create a refugee shelter for 200 people in the Zakarpattian town of Nagyszőlős, and it has set up 4 safe temporary shelters for single mothers with several children in Berehove.
Assistance to refugees in Hungary
The Support Centre for Ukrainian Refugees, established in July 2022 and still operating in Budapest, has continued to play a major role in HIA’s work with refugees also in the year after its opening. It has provided tangible assistance to refugees, such as food parcels, hygiene kits, clothing, furnishings and childcare products, reaching nearly 4,000 people in 2023. The 2,000 parcels distributed each month have improved the daily lives of around 1,000 people monthly. On the other hand, it also places a strong emphasis on integration services for those planning their future in Hungary. Social work has been a key focus of HIA’s services: professionals helped in 350 cases to refugees fleeing the war who were stuck in their daily lives due to language barriers, health problems or other reasons.