Funded projects

NASCI is a diverse, multi-cultural organization helping children in the Brussels region. Its aim is to prevent children from living in unacceptable conditions, bearing in mind that in Brussels one child in two lives below the poverty line. They are based in a former warehouse which they own. It is visited daily by at least 20 women and their children. The building needs a certain number of repairs (mainly carpentry work) to the front door and to some windows at the front and rear. Invoices for a total of €1,208.40 have been submitted.

Without additional funding to that provided by the Wallonia Region (salaries et operating costs), it would be impossible to maintain a project in the heart of Charleroi dedicated to offering shelter to those in great distress. These are the victims of galloping poverty in the region who cannot be left out in the street, particularly in winter. In order to provide a reasonable welcome for them GEH has financed, in co-operation with the EC’s Local Staff Committee, the purchase of 25 mattresses and 5 bunk beds for young children to ensure essential comfort and hygiene requirements. This project has been financed thanks to the generous donation of the collection "Grand Froid 12".

The Clos Centre provides a welcome and rest area where meals can also be served. Showers and washing machines for the homeless are also provided. The boiler which supplies hot water for the 6 showers, bathrooms and kitchen is out of order and GEH has been asked to finance its replacement.

Set up in 1961, the FJM has almost 200 more or less regular visitors – young people aged from 6 and 26, mainly from Maghreb or central Africa. The FJM's goal is to support these young people in their personal and social development, through a welcome and listening programme, and projects (also intended to prevent youth offending). The digital fracture project is for secondary-school children (12-16) attending the after-school homework club run the FJM since October 2010. Increasingly, the children need access to IT tools for their schoolwork. In addition, high-quality computers and other equipment are needed to run graphics and audio-visual software for projects that young people are working on with assistance from FJM staff. This project has been financed in cooperation with Schuman Trophy.

Renovassistance renovates old buildings to provide disadvantaged families with decent, healthy housing at low cost. GEH is supporting a project in the heart of Brussels between Place St Géry and Place Ste Catherine. The ground floor is a meeting space where, every afternoon, volunteers welcome deprived local people living on their own. The four upper floors will be renovated and divided into two 2-bedroom apartments and a duplex with 4 bedrooms. They will house three very poor families (income below 80% of the threshold to qualify for social housing). This project has been financed thanks to the generous donation of Solidarity Subcommittee Stage Fall 2010. Follow-up report

The NGO L’ILOT asbl requested GEH contribute towards the renovation of three family rooms in an emergency home for unprivileged women based in Saint-Gilles. The home provides essential initial help to the women allowing them to build up their strength, develop a life plan and obtain independence. GEH’s has contributed €4,700 towards the purchase of furniture for the rooms. The renovation of the rooms themselves has been funded through contributions from other partners.

Funding of summer camps for poor children to help them take on their responsibilities.

The Roms Coppersmiths association, founded by young Roma individuals, has requested funding for the training of 20 young Roma individuals in the traditional Roma blacksmith art, to help them integrate the working world.

The Bulgarian association Teosis has requested support for organizing a summer camp in nature with 40 children and young people from poor families and 20 young people living in orphanages to help them assume their responsibilities.

The Bulgarian foundation TSA (Trust for Social Achievement) has requested  7,670 € to organise virtual consultations by nurses and midwives for pregnant women and mothers of small children (up to 2 years) in Roma communities that are particularly isolated due to the pandemic. The request concerns the purchase for one year of the internet connection for the 60 women beneficiaries. The contract with the supplier provides for the distribution of a tablet free of charge. The advice will be done through videos, given the low level of literacy. 

The Bulgarian association Bio-B-Eko has requested funding for a used off-road vehicle to assist vulnerable people living in isolated and difficult to reach mountain villages.

The Bulgarian association Teosis aims to integrate disadvantaged people. It has received 3,200€ for the organisation of a summer camp in the mountains for children and young people from large single-parent families, orphans, abandoned or very poor, to develop their skills. It plans to organise such camps again the next year.  This year's camp could be maintained due to the measures envisaged against the pandemic.

The NGO Bio-B-Eco focuses on improving the wider environment in the village of Borino, located in a poor region in southeastern Bulgaria (Smolyan) which has a largely elderly population due to the emigration of young people from the area. GIVE EUR-HOPE agreed to provide 2,400€ for the purchase of two log-splitting machines of different sizes to facilitate the supply of firewood for the winter as well as the purchase of a drill to maintain the fences. After the payment was received, the association asked to use the amount awarded differently: to buy a cheaper log splitter and, with the difference, buy a chainsaw. This change has been accepted.

Caritas Sofia offers services, especially for the homeless. It has established long-term contacts with beneficiaries based on trust, support and mutual respect. GIVE EUR-HOPE allocated 5,000€ for a mobile medical service for the homeless who are not covered by the Bulgarian health system.

The Cedar Foundation is a Bulgarian NGO that develops alternatives for young orphans from state institutions. It has already been subsidised by GEH in 2014 for specialized physiotherapy equipment, and in 2017 for the development of 24 children and young people, poor and partially mentally or cognitively disabled, through occupational and artistic therapy. GIVE EUR-HOPE agreed to provide 5,000€ to a personal development project for 12 disadvantaged teenagers who are housed in a home because of abandonment or serious violence in their families

Stoyanka Sokolova 1999 is a cultural and educational centre in the Roma district of Faculteta that supports the civil education of the Roma community through providing arts and cultural related programmes which enhance the dissemination of the Roma cultural traditions. GIVE EUR-HOPE is supporting with 2,260€ the provision of an educational hairdresser course for 10 Roma people for 300 hours (theoretical 120, practical 180). After finishing the hairdressers course and passing the theoretical and practical exams, the beneficiaries will be provided with official certificates which will allow them to start their own business or to work in an existing hair salon.

The Roma-Coppersmiths association, founded by young Roma and located in the north-east of Bulgaria, aims to help Roma integrate. It has been awarded 4,100€ by GIVE EUR-HOPE to develop training on expression by theatre for 20 Roma children and their families. It is hoped that the participants will become ambassadors for new cultural values in their community.

Teosis Summer Camps, Bulgaria which aims to integrate disadvantaged people has been awarded 3,000€ for the organisation of a summer camp in the mountains with children and young people who are either from large single-parent families, orphans, abandoned or extremely poor, in order to develop their skills. It plans to organize such camps for the next two years

The International Movement ATD Fourth World is an NGO that strives to eradicate extreme poverty. It received 7,500€ from GIVE EUR-HOPE to help finance a workshop between people and associations fighting poverty in Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania in particular) to identify and understand the obstacles that prevent children from going to school, from a school located in a disadvantaged district of Plovdiv, where three ATD volunteers have been involved for more than 3 and a half years. This workshop should contribute to the recognition of parents as actors and partners for their children's academic success.

GIVE EUR-HOPE provided the Open Eyes association with 5,600€ to rehabilitate people addicted to psychoactive substances for their social integration and to help their families. Most of these people are homeless. The programme will be carried out with a therapeutic community of doctors, nurses, social workers and psychologists.

La fondation CEDAR est une ONG bulgare qui développe des alternatives pour de jeunes orphelins, issus d'institutions étatiques. Déjà subsidiée par GEH en 2014 pour un équipement physio-thérapeutique spécialisé, elle demande de financer le développement de 24 enfants et jeunes, pauvres et partiellement handicapés mentaux ou cognitifs, par une thérapie occupationnelle et artistique.

ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) finance un projet HOPE (Housing Opportunities with Participation and Empowerment), considéré comme meilleur modèle de logement social par la Banque mondiale. Sa mise en oeuvre a fait l'objet de soutiens de GEH en 2012 et 2014, qui ont été suivis par des rapports positifs. ADRA Bulgarie demande maintenant un soutien pour la rénovation de maisons habitées par des Roms à Kyustendil, cinq familles qui n'avaient pas pu être couvertes en 2014. Cette rénovation permet non seulement de réduire la consommation énergétique mais aussi de supprimer les moisissures, sources de maladies. Ce projet a été financé grâce aux dons et parrainages EKIDEN 2014.

The project involved the outer insulation of two blocks of social housing with polymer panels, thereby reducing energy consumption - reduction in management costs - as well as providing easier maintenance (water only).

The Cedar Foundation, established in Bulgaria since 2005, sought the support of GEH for specialized physiotherapy equipment in a shelter run disabled, poor people

The Diogenes association, founded in 1975, is renovating a house for disabled poor people looked after by the Bulgarian Association "Green Bridges". The latter was founded in 2004 and operates in the area north of Ruse in Bulgaria and has been working with Diogenes since 2008, when the Bulgarian government stopped funding institutions dealing with disabled people. "Green Bridges" allows people with a disability – whose poor families cannot support them - to find refuge in a safe house, which must, however, be up to standard to receive a license. This project was financed in cooperation with the AST group of DG MARE in the Commission.