Migration: our programmes
Around the world, our 192 Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are a lifeline for vulnerable migrants and displaced people—whoever and wherever they are on their journeys.
We provide lots of different types of support to migrants and displaced people across the globe. Our support varies significantly between countries depending on local contexts and people’s needs.
Our programmes and services include:
- Providing first aid, setting up mobile health clinics and offering primary health care services
- Food distribution in emergencies and food production support to communities once they have returned home
- Providing supplies, tools and guidance on how to build and repair shelters
- Distributing household and other essential supplies
- Emergency water and sanitation programmes—including building and repairing water and sanitation systems in settings of large-scale displacement
- Community engagement with migrants or displaced people to ensure our humanitarian response activities meet their needs
- Providing trustworthy and accessible information to help people on the move make informed decisions and stay healthy and safe
- Mental health care and psychosocial support
- Reuniting families through the Restoring Family Links programme, in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
- Cash and voucher assistance
- Support to communities hosting migrants, including projects tackling anti-migrant sentiment and promoting social inclusion
- Wide-ranging assistance in destination countries to help refugees and other newcomers adjust, find work (if permissible) and build new lives
For practical information and resources on supporting migrants and displaced people during COVID-19, visit our Global Disaster Preparedness Centre website.
Humanitarian Service Points
The Ecuadorian Red Cross offers services to migrants, including psychosocial support and restoring family links, at many border points throughout the country
Photo: Ecuadorian Red Cross
Many people on the move struggle to access aid and face challenges getting the help they need. The IFRC is working with National Societies to set up Humanitarian Service Points along major migration routes. These are safe, welcoming and strategically located spaces where migrating and displaced people can access reliable support.
Run by Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers and staff, Humanitarian Service Points offer a range of services including:
- Food and water
- Legal information
- First aid
- Sanitation facilities
- Referring people with more urgent physical or mental health needs to other services
A route-based approach spanning Africa, Middle East and Europe
Humanitarian assistance and protection for people on the move
This new three-year programme focuses on the IFRC’s humanitarian assistance to migrants, displaced people and host communities on the migration routes of greatest humanitarian concern spanning Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN)
Said, a 66 year old Syrian man, is surrounded by his family in Ankara, Turkey. He receives cash assistance every month from the IFRC and Turkish Red Crescent, funded by the European Union, to help him cover his family's basic needs.
Photo: IFRC/Corrie Butler
Our largest programme on migration. The IFRC and Turkish Red Crescent, with funding from the European Union, are providing cash assistance to over 1.8 million refugees in Turkey.
Learn about the programme and hear from the people we're supporting.
Virtual Volunteer
Three mobile phone displays showing the Virtual Volunteer app which provides vital information to people on the move in action
Photo: IFRC
Part of our community engagement work, Virtual Volunteer is a webpage that gives migrants vital information so they can make informed decisions, stay healthy and get the help they need.
Learn more on the Virtual Volunteer website or watch this short explanatory video on YouTube.
Rights of Migrants in Action (ROMIA)
The Russian Red Cross Society conducts health sessions and promotion campaigns about TB and HIV to support migrant communities to stay safe and healthy
Photo: IFRC/Didor Sadulloev
The Rights of Migrants in Action project, co-funded by the European Union and the IFRC, was a global initiative to promote and protect the rights of migrants through coordinated civil society action.
The project was active in 15 countries across 5 regions between 2014-2017.
You can find out more about the project in this short leaflet.
And you can also read about our findings and lessons learned from the ROMIA project.