Since 2022, the Dévai Fogadó Refugee Center has been providing comprehensive social support services to Ukrainian refugees and refugees from third countries living in Budapest. We operate from a 640-square-meter community center that has been transformed through the joint efforts of refugees, volunteers, and professionals into a welcoming, safe, and vibrant community space.
Budapest-Józsefvárosi Evangélikus Egyházközség
Our IBAN number for international transfers:
IBAN HU11 1170 8001 2012 7303 0000 0000
SWIFT OTPVHUHB
Our mission is not only to help people who have lost their homes due to war, persecution, or forced migration meet their basic needs, but also to support them in rebuilding independent lives and successfully integrating into Hungarian society.
Our work always begins with an individual needs assessment. Our social workers provide support in finding employment, securing housing, accessing healthcare, enrolling children in school, and navigating administrative procedures. We pay special attention to the most vulnerable groups: nearly 80% of our clients are women and children, 40% are Roma, and approximately 20% are elderly people or individuals living with chronic illnesses. We carefully target our resources to those who are genuinely in need.
Over the past years, Dévai Fogadó has been able to provide high-quality services thanks to the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UNICEF. These resources enabled us to build a professional team, establish local and international partnerships, and develop the trusting relationships that are essential for successful integration.
With the decline of international humanitarian funding, however, our situation has changed significantly. Today, the continued operation of Dévai Fogadó is sustained primarily by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary, partly through support provided by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), as well as through private donations. We are deeply grateful for this solidarity, but it does not provide a sufficient or predictable long-term funding solution.
We hope that Hungary will develop a functioning refugee and integration system that is fully aligned with European rule-of-law and human rights standards and that provides sustainable public funding for refugee support services. Funding from the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) may contribute to this transition. Until then, however, we cannot abandon the families who are already living here, whose children attend Hungarian schools, and whose safety, health, and integration continue to require professional support.
Today, Dévai Fogadó stands at a critical turning point. Without additional funding, the center will be forced to close. This would mean much more than the loss of a social service. A community center built over years of dedicated work would disappear; trusted relationships would be broken; the network of professionals and volunteers supporting refugee families would dissolve; and the social embeddedness we have built in one of Budapest’s most diverse neighborhoods would be lost.
We believe it is far easier to preserve a functioning institution than to rebuild it later. Today, Dévai Fogadó is much more than a support service. It is a community infrastructure that provides safety, guidance, and human connection to hundreds of refugee families.
With the support of our donors and partners, we seek to continue this work. Every contribution helps ensure that refugees are not merely able to survive, but are given a genuine opportunity to build lives of dignity, security, and hope in Hungary.
Budapest-Józsefvárosi Evangélikus Egyházközség
Bank account number: 11708001-20127303
Our IBAN number for international transfers:
IBAN HU11 1170 8001 2012 7303 0000 0000
SWIFT OTPVHUHB
