RoMOVE: Integration through education
The ”RoMOVE: Empowering Roma Children Through Sport” project aimed to engage Roma children residing in the informal settlement of Pelekas, Katerini, in sports activities, fostering healthy habits, self-confidence and teamwork. A total of 75 Roma children participated in the project, taking part in 29 football training sessions. The project concluded on 30 June with a friendly football match, where children and coaches celebrated the completion of the initiative in an atmosphere of enthusiasm and team spirit. The project promoted inclusivity, challenged stereotypes and involved community members in leading future sessions, creating a lasting culture of exercise and empowerment for Roma children. Implementation period: September 2025 – June 2026
*”RoMOVE: Empowering Roma Children Through Sport” was supported by the NIKE DIRECT STORE Fund, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation.
HELIOS: Integration through education
June 2019: SolidarityNow begins its collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to design and implement an integration project for beneficiaries of international protection, HELIOS. The project provided Greek language courses, housing support and assistance for access to the labor market.
SolidarityNow within HELIOS
As an implementing partner, SolidarityNow operated three (3) Integration Learning Centers in Athens, Thessaloniki and Ioannina, offering Greek language classes and life-skills (soft skills) training to beneficiaries of international protection. The aim was to equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to live in Greece and integrate more easily into the local community.
In addition to the three Centers, SolidarityNow collaborated with the organizations Omnes and Perichoresis to operate two more Integration Learning Centers in Katerini and Kilkis.
November 2024: Almost five and a half years later (65 months), the number of people who benefited from HELIOS activities in SolidarityNow’s Integration Learning Centers reached 2,063.
HELIOS project was funded by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
“Jaf Anglal!” that is “Let’s move forward!”
SolidarityNow, in collaboration with REVMA NGO, jointly implemented the project “Jaf Anglal! Empowering school participation of Roma children”, in the framework of the program “Building a robust and democratic civic space” (BUILD). The project’s objective was to promote the right to education for Roma children. Three Roma communities of Central Macedonia (Dendropotamos-Ampelokipoi – Menemeni Municipality, Pavlos Melas Municipality, Pelekas – Municipality of Katerini) were selected as the wider target group. The project focused on strengthening the role of parents and teachers to contextualize/support Roma children to remain at school and complete basic (compulsory) education – a total of 210 people benefited, directly and indirectly, from the project’s activities. Implementation period: March 2024 – December 2024.
All Children in Education
The “All Children in Education” (ACE) program was Greece’s flagship education initiative for refugee and migrant children. Launched in 2021, ACE was a UNICEF-led initiative implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, co-funded by the European Union, and delivered nationwide through a consortium of partners, including SolidarityNow. The program was completed in June 2024. ACE aimed to provide non-formal education and complementary services to school-aged children with refugee and migrant backgrounds, residing in urban centers and accommodation sites.
During the implementation of its activities, SolidarityNow supported 8,558 children across the country to either enroll in public education, remain in it, and be empowered through various complementary actions aimed at their full integration.
INtegration: Through school into community
The EN-Taxi project, implemented by SolidarityNow, the General Secretariat for Vulnerable Citizens and Institutional Protection, and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, aimed to support the integration of refugees and migrants. It offered a holistic set of services in education and employability for children, parents, and young people—including unaccompanied and formerly unaccompanied minors. Activities included Greek and English language courses, trainings for frontline professionals (teachers and staff working with minors), and a field study on school dropout.
The project was funded by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA) 2014-2021.
The project “Healing Trauma through Play” (Healing Play) aimed to support refugee children and their parents, primarily those who arrived from Ukraine, with psychological support and educational activities to promote empowerment, psychological resilience opportunities, and processing of their challenges. The project was implemented in partnership with the UTechLab of the Eugenides Foundation and was funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs through the American Spaces program. Youth had the opportunity to join in STEM and educational activities and had access to counselling and psychological services at the Athens Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow. The project was completed in November 2023 (press release).
The project is supported by the US Embassy in Athens.
The ENACTED project aimed at establishing a new and currently absent, yet much needed, international online networking platform connecting European Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Primary and Secondary Schools that work with Newly Arrived Migrant Students (NAMS) focusing on providing Quality and Inclusive Education for all learners. As such, ENACTED stepped in to facilitate the collection, analysis, evaluation, and exchange of CSOs(NGO) practices by offering a database and useful tool in the form of a networking platform that CSOs and schools can use to advance their work and upscale their activities. In the first and present stage, the partners from ENACTED conducted desk research- resulting in country-specific papers and (soon) a regional research paper on education practices in the 4 countries; the country-wide survey also had the aim to help the ENACTED team design and implement an effective programme catering to the needs of education stakeholders. The project was completed in December 2022.
In February 2020, SolidarityNow, in collaboration with the Major Development Agency Thessaloniki S.A., began implementing the program “School SYN Geitonia” with the aim of providing an intensive program for the improvement of learning skills, which included supportive and remedial Greek and English language courses, as well as school support after the school hours. The group consisted of children aged 6 to 18 in order to promote a smooth integration of this age group into the formal education system and the reduction of early school leaving rates. The local neighbourhoods of Thessaloniki were transformed into open inclusive and intercultural places. The program was completed in August 2022.
In December 2018, SolidarityNow, in collaboration with STAR UK, started implementing the STARTnow program in order to help refugees and asylum seekers in their first steps in Thessaloniki, through their interaction with student volunteers. The aim of the program was on the one hand to support and train volunteer students to provide substantial assistance to refugees and asylum seekers and on the other hand to support the beneficiaries to become familiar with the use of the Greek and English language while mobilizing them to follow their dreams and go beyond the part of passive service reception. The program was completed in June 2022.
* STAR UK is a national charity of 34,000 students welcoming refugees to the UK.
SolidarityNow continued until the middle of 2019, to successfully operate the Diadromes Intercultural Center. Education Matters, an initiative developed in close collaboration with Almasar and the Development Forum at the Athens Training Center “Diadromes“, included free support training courses, networking technician training in collaboration with CISCO and other activities for children and adults. The actions developed in the context of this initiative were completed in June 2019.