For almost 30 years, HIA-Hungary has been actively involved in providing humanitarian aid to the people living in the area, in implementing integration and development programmes, helping disaster victims, organizing courses and providing support in finding employment and staying on the labour market. In recent years, our work has focused on supporting the education of children in the area.
Humanitarian assistance
Children development
Rural development
We are currently actively involved in providing support to children in Vojvodina (Serbia). In 2019, the students of a primary school in Novi Sad received school starting aid after buying school supplies, and on Christmas nearly 50 needy Hungarian children and their families received a Christmas gift package: enough sustainable food and cleaning products for months.
After the Balkan wars, we have been present in the region since 1995: we have provided classic humanitarian assistance during the refugee crises together with our local partner organization. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, we undertook to rebuild war-damaged houses and schools, and in Serbia initially we took part in alleviating the effects of an acute humanitarian crisis.
Along with alleviating the acute humanitarian crisis, we also launched a development programme in the Sandžak region of Serbia in mid-2000s. The main priority was the development of the labour market. Computer courses, as well as English and German language courses were launched for the needy population in towns; for small businesses a telehouse was established providing IT, telecommunications and office services. The rural was supported with a self-sustaining sheep breeding programme, backyard and semi-farm greenhouses, and farmer training to prepare for joining the European Union.
At the seat of the province, we organized a multi-annual drug prevention programme for students, teachers and parents in primary and secondary schools, as well as a training, housing and health development programme to help integrate the Roma minority.
We were active in Vojvodina as well, focusing on the labour market development and Roma integration. Provision of humanitarian aid in the province became necessary as a result of the flood in the Temes region in 2005, where we also took part in the remediation.
After the floods and landslides in Bosnia and Serbia in 2014, we helped on the spot from the very first day: initially we supported the families who lost everything by providing food and clothing. Following the quick relief, we provided assistance within a longer-term international assistance programme and we also carried out a reconstruction programme in Bosnia, in a village called Nemila, and, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we provided additional post-flood rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The value of the provided aid exceeded HUF 100 million.
