Refugee Protection International | Enabling Dignity in Displacement with Refugee-Led Partners on the Front Lines

Protection and Self-Reliance
Donate for Gaza aid on GoFundMe. Hot meals for displaced women and children in Rafah are made daily at 12 community kitchens supported by RPI & long-time Middle East partner Kids Paradise’s Malak Fund. Since 2015, RPI’s regional Syrian response supports refugee-led charity partners in Turkey & Lebanon to provide psychosocial, food, and livelihoods support to displaced Syrian women & children across the region. Food aid also went to Turkish quake survivors. In Ukraine, RPI staff & volunteers drive cross-border relief aid to displaced orphans, children with disabilities & community-run evacuations. RPI sells refugee-made crafts produced through RPI-funded training programs to expand humanitarian livelihoods & PSS support for women & children. Shop from RPI at Boston’s 2024 Greenway Artisan Market & Seaport Summer Market!

Health and Education
RPI and KP are rolling out emergency aid to families in Gaza struggling to cover medical & other needs. RPI is keen to support mental health providers for women on both sides of the devastating Israel-Gaza war. In Ukraine, traveling RPI staff and Romanian volunteers have driven aid to 7 medical institutions aiding war-affected civilians & supported Ukrainian-run newborn medical evacuations. Thanks to refugee-led implementing partners in Turkey and Iraq, RPI-supported programs fight acute malnutrition in northern Syria. In Syrian camps in Lebanon, refugee children are in non-formal primary schools run by refugee-led partner MAPS thanks to RPI’s shoppers of amigurumi crafts made by refugee mothers in a joint program. After the Feb 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquakes, RPI-supported medical care for 80,000 people through our Turkey-based refugee-led partners.

Shelter Conditions
RPI has supported winterization shelter programs for displaced families in northern Syria’s informal camps since 2015 through refugee-led charities in Turkey. With these same charity partners, RPI-funded tents, blankets & insulation reached Turkish & Syrian survivors of the 2023 earthquakes. In Ukraine, traveling RPI staff and volunteers drive aid (generators, kitchen equipment, beds) to shelters for displaced civilians, subsidize rent for displaced orphans & foster parents & aid victims of war-damaged housing with community partners. Earlier RPI-aided projects in the Middle East included upgrading urban housing for IDPs & subsidizing rent for refugees. Thank you to our generous supporters & community-led partners for making these humanitarian efforts possible.

The Impact of Our Collaboration with Refugee-Led & Grassroots Partners

Media Gallery of Projects with Our Refugee-Led Partners

Quotes from our Supporting Partners

“We are amazed by all the work your organization is doing and happy to support your efforts,” MathWorks Inc on its $77,255 corporate & employee giving to RPI’s Syria-Turkey earthquake relief, 2023.
"Everyone is incredibly moved by RPI’s efforts [in Ukraine]," American Securities Foundation, our longtime giving partner donating $250,000 to RPI in 2022.
“We are delighted to partner with you on this project and inspired by the scope and depth of your work with Syrian refugees in Lebanon.” Together Women Rise (Dining for Women), $50,000 grant to RPI, 2020
“We are honored to provide you with this grant and express our sincere gratitude for the work you are doing to create livelihood opportunities for urban refugees.”New England International Donors Giving Circle on Refugees, 2019 Grant Award
“American Securities is pleased with the outcome of the project and continues to support RPI and MAPS in 2019 as they implement similar programs at refugee settlements in Lebanon,” Managing Director & CEO, American Securities 2018 Giving Back Report
“I’ve just read the report about the medical cases and am so impressed by this super efficient and straightforward aid. This is exactly how I like to support people!” - Individual Supporter, 2019
“Thank you for your incredible work. We are impressed by how comprehensive your program is with Kids Paradise. We are all so proud to support your extraordinary work.” Institutional Supporter, 2019
"It was so wonderful having you speak. We were really impressed with your talk and we're so glad you are connected to our community,” Institutional Supporter, 2019
“It is amazing to see the impact of this short-term campaign and how many lives it saved. Unfortunately, the need continues to exist but definitely with organizations like yours providing such valuable support we are confident that those civilians won’t be forgotten.” Corporate Supporter, 2017
“…Amazing and inspiring… I feel so grateful for the opportunity to hear you speak and to support your organization.” Individual Supporter, 2018
“We are happy to continue to support MAPS/RPI’s excellent work.” Supporter, 2017
“You both spoke with passion, vivid descriptions, and commitment to creating a compassionate and caring world. May everyone there tonight feel inspired to act in small and big ways over time to support refugees. Thank you for the beautiful work you both do in the world!” Individual supporter, 2018

Our Refugee-Led Implementing Partners

Ukrainian Children's & Maternity Hospitals & IDP Shelters Since March 2022, RPI has bought and delivered medical equipment, medicines, and supplies to 6 Ukrainian hospitals serving war-affected women and children and supported 2 other medical centers to evacuate surrogate newborns to the Romanian border. Partner hospitals include the Regional Children's Clinical Hospital in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Chernivtsi, Regional and City Perinatal Centers in Chernivtsi and Kherson, BSMU, BioTexCom and Dobrobut Medical Center. RPI staff's latest visit to war-damaged hospitals in Kherson was on Jan. 26th to the sound of artillery fire and reports of 55 missiles and 24 drones launched at Ukraine. RPI is humbled by the bravery of these hospitals. RPI also sends clothing, blankets, and hygiene items to Ukrainian schools and dorms that have sheltered thousands of displaced persons.

Happy Child Foundation In spring 2022, RPI staff and Ukrainian partner nonprofit Happy Child delivered aid to 2 shelters for internally displaced persons in southeast Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine and equipped independent volunteers to evacuate civilians from Polohy and other frontline villages. RPI and Happy Child launched a program to support victims of war-damaged housing in Komyshuvakha after visiting the site just a day after it was hit by rockets. RPI also collaborates with Happy Child to provide winter generators, kitchen equipment and food to the Ukrainian community shelter. Happy Child has supported cancer patients and other highly vulnerable children in the Zaporizhzhia region since 2004.

RPI delivers aid to Kherson, Ukraine with community partner "Orlivka Logistic Center for Humanitarian Aid” Based in Ukraine's Odessa region, this NGO was founded by the Reni Association of Entrepreneurs in 2022 to respond to the war's humanitarian crisis. RPI equipped its partner with a minibus and fuel to evacuate civilians and deliver relief aid to Kherson and Mykolaiv. RPI staff with Romanian volunteers do cross-border aid deliveries to this partner's border tent for displaced Ukrainians. RPI staff most recently brought surgical and neonatal equipment to the only 24/7 emergency children's hospital in Kherson (the Regional Children's Clinical Hospital) with this partner's accompaniment.

Bright Kids Charity is a humanitarian nonprofit based in Kyiv, Ukraine. In March 2022, RPI helped Bright Kids to expand cash assistance to war-displaced families providing home-based care to children with disabilities.

Odessa Charity “Way Home” has supported socially vulnerable women and children in Ukraine since 1996. RPI equipped this humanitarian non-profit partner with a minibus and full support to evacuate over 2,000 civilians from the southern frontline of the war in Mykolaiv - Kherson. RPI is selling pottery made by displaced and vulnerable Ukrainian children to expand the Way Home’s art therapy and pottery training classes to war-displaced mothers & GBV survivors with no other income.

Launched in 2012, Basmeh and Zeitooneh delivers humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees and conflict-affected civilians in Lebanon, Turkey and Syria, with a focus on women and children. This NGO is registered in Lebanon and Turkey.

Basmeh and Zeitooneh

Olive Branch has delivered education, protection, women's empowerment and livelihoods support to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons and local civilians in Syria since 2012. This humanitarian non-profit is in headquartered in Turkey with additional offices in Lebanon, Jordan, and Germany.

Olive Branch

The Sustainable International Medical Relief Organization was established by a group of Syrian doctors in 2014. Registered in Turkey, SIMRO implements strategic medical relief projects in Syria.

Multi Aid Programs was set-up by a Syrian neurosurgeon. Registered in Lebanon by 2016, MAPS has provided over 500,000 Syrian refugees and locals in Lebanon with non-formal education, health care, continuing education, community service, and relief items.

The Union of Relief and Development Associations (URDA) seeks to be an influential reference for humanitarian work in Lebanon and the leading umbrella for grassroots initiatives with sustainable capabilities working professionally to develop the society under international standards.

Kids Paradise Organization implements projects in Turkey and Syria focused on food security and livelihoods, urgent response, shelter, protection, non-food items, water and sanitation. Founded by a group of Syrian volunteers in 2012, Kids Paradise was registered as an NGO in Turkey in 2016.