The “RAISE EU” project (March 2024 - December 2024) is being implemented in Greece by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) Hellas in partnership with NGO A.S.P.I.DA.  

“RAISE EU” focuses on the daily challenges and barriers international protection beneficiaries may face in exercising their individual and social rights and therefore aims to empower them in this direction through the sharing of knowledge pertaining to their rights under the national, European and international legal context. 

The project’s main objective is structured around two pillars:  

The project includes the following activities: 

  1. Legal informative sessions and optional provision of psychosocial support to recognised refugees, according to their individual circumstances and their special needs. The sessions will be multi-thematic to include access to entitlements under the Greek law, legal pathways towards the acquisition of the Greek and European citizenship and all this in the light of the EU values and respective framework.
  2. Advocacy activities through bilateral meetings with local institutions, CSOs and service providers and an organisation of a round table with the participation of relevant policymakers.
  3. Monitoring of legal changes and publications on legislative developments.
  4. Conference organisation in Strasbourg for the exchange of good practices between civil society organisations and EU representatives.

Geographical range: Greece: Athens, Thessaloniki and Ioannina. 

IRC Hellas will focus on providing group legal informative sessions to recognised refugees in Athens and Thessaloniki and on the main corpus of the advocacy activities, while NGO A.S.P.I.DA. will undertake the legal info sessions for recognised refugees living in Ioannina, assist with psychosocial support services where needed and contribute to the advocacy-awareness-raising activities involving local institutions. 

The project "RAISE EU" is implemented in the framework of the BUILD programme, by the International Rescue Committee Hellas and NGO A.S.P.I.DA.

The programme "Building a robust and democratic civic space" (BUILD) aims to protect, promote and raise awareness of EU fundamental rights and values by supporting civil society organisations (CSOs) in Greece and Cyprus and strengthening their capacities and sustainability. BUILD is co-funded by the European Union, through the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, and by the Bodossaki Foundation and the NGO Support Centre Cyprus with a total grant amounting to €2.9 million. BUILD is coordinated by the Bodossaki Foundation (Greece) in partnership with the NGO Support Centre (Cyprus).

NGO A.S.P.I.DA. is a newly established nonprofit organisation, based in Ioannina and aimed at the creation, implementation and realisation of humanitarian action programmes, the development of a spirit of solidarity and the smooth social and economic inclusion of the least favoured social groups into the Greek society, with its main focus on the provision of psychosocial support services.

Additional information and resources

IRC Hellas RAISE EU project partner logos
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), or the Bodossaki Foundation. Neither the European Union nor the EACEA can be held responsible for them.