Budapest
Népszínház u. 16
1081
Hungary
- Democracy and community development
- Human rights
- International/Cultural relations
Menedék – Hungarian Association for Migrants (Menedék) has been supporting the integration of migrants arriving in Hungary from 1995. The Association plays a central role amongst the organizations working with migrants/refugees in Hungary. Besides the support of migrants, it is very important for us to make the Hungarian society more open toward and accepting of foreigners arriving in our country.
We pursue our objectives as a not-for-profit association independent from politics. We are not involved in direct political activities and do not receive funds or give financial support to political parties. Our projects are founded by UNHCR and EU grants. Many volunteers support our work. We are working with 22 staff members and more than 100 volunteers.
Menedék fulfills four key functions:
1) providing migrant-specific support,
2) training professionals who work with migrants,
3) raising awareness amongst the majority society,
4) advocacy.
Our main mission is supporting the integration of migrants arriving in Hungary. The target group and also our constituencies are the clients (migrants and refugees) themselves, professionals working with migrants/refugees, and members of the general public who are dedicated to our mission.
In the course of our work, we have established a complex system of services, through which we have supported and continue to support refugees and other foreigners in finding a new
home in our country.
We also run training courses for professionals who deal with immigrants in the course of their work (social workers, teachers, police officers or armed security guards working in immigration detention centres).
Besides the support of immigrants and professionals, it is very important for us to make the majority society more open toward and accepting of foreigners arriving in our country, as this is an indispensable condition for the successful integration of migrants. In order to achieve this, we try to build a bridge between the host society and immigrants by realizing various educational programs in schools and cultural projects.