As conflict and violence continue across SWANA, it’s easy to feel paralysed by the enormity of the situation. As the weeks turn to months and the months turn to years, we’re right there with you in feeling overwhelmed and powerless in the face of so much suffering and injustice.
The one light in all the darkness is witnessing all the wondrous people out there doing all they can. Charity workers on the ground, activists and journalists on the front lines, but also your neighbour who never misses a protest, your friend who opened their home to host refugees, your cousin who has calmly and patiently changed countless people’s minds since 2023, your children’s teacher who reads them stories from across the world and teaches them to love, not hate.
Imagine if everyone did what was within their power, no matter how small it may seem against the weight of the suffering.
As ever, keep supporting and checking in on friends and family affected, keep contacting your political representatives, keep voting, keep learning more and talking about what you know with everyone that you can, keep using your spending power for good through boycotts and supporting businesses aligned with your values, keep protesting and marching if it’s safe to do so.
Keep fighting the good fight.
If you’ve been looking for places to give financial support, we’ve gathered some ideas together in the next few slides. If there are any other places you’ve found please feel free add them to a comment below for others to hopefully find.
Lebanon
One of Lebanon’s longest-standing humanitarian organisations, Amel operates through a national network of 40 health and social centres and mobile medical units, delivering essential healthcare, psychosocial support, and critical assistance to families across the country, with teams working through displacement and conflict to reach the most marginalised communities. Amel has already supported over 50,000 people displaced or injured since the attacks on Lebanon began, and are working to rapidly increase their capacity to cope with the enormous scale of this crisis.
Ahla Fawda & Barzakh | @ahlafawda & @brzkh.space
A Beirut-based NGO rooted in community welfare, Ahla Fawda is dedicated to distributing essential goods and offering emergency assistance across Lebanon, providing food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter, clothing, and emotional support to families who have lost everything. They’ve teamed up with Barzakh, a local favourite bookshop and coffee shop in the heart of Hamra, to provide emergency meals for the thousands of displaced families in the city.
A Lebanese NGO dedicated to mental health services and awareness, Embrace operates the National Lifeline for Emotional Support and Suicide Prevention (call 1564 from inside Lebanon or +9611341941 from abroad) and is continuing to run their mobile mental health clinic for both adults and children. They are working tirelessly to reach all those pushed to breaking point by this war, including running crisis sessions in shelters for those who have been forced to flee their homes, making emergency mental healthcare accessible across the country during one of its most psychologically devastating periods.
Egna Legna Besidet | @egnalegna
Founded by migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, Egna Legna provides holistic support to migrant women through legal aid, housing, food assistance, shelter, medical referrals, skills training, and repatriation services, advocating for a community that is frequently left behind during crisis. Despite many of their volunteers being displaced themselves, Egna Legna is still working to feed over 650 adults, children and babies forced to shelter on the streets across Beirut.
A pioneering social enterprise founded in 2004, Souk el Tayeb supports women, farmers and local communities by preserving culinary traditions and rural heritage, providing farmers with a fair and regular platform to earn from their produce while using food as a bridge between communities. In the wake of the 2020 port explosion, this fairtrade farmer’s market and favourite weekend spot for Beirutis launched Matbakh el Kell (Kitchen for All), a community kitchen initiative providing meals for those affected by the blast. They’re now working to cook for the thousands sheltering in the city, serving up more than 3500 meals each day.
Beit el Baraka | @beitelbaraka
An apolitical and non-sectarian charity, Beit al Baraka restores dignity to families in Lebanon through a free supermarket and agro-farming initiative, providing families with choice and sustainable nutrition at a time when over 80% of the population struggles to afford food. Their emergency initiatives are providing hundreds of thousands of meals as well as emergency supplies, fuel and blankets to shelters in the hardest-hit areas in the south of the country.
A youth-led international NGO founded after the Beirut explosion, Medonations works to ensure access to life-saving medications in times of crisis. The organisation has supported more than 25,000 patients and families with access to essential medications, and covered hundreds of surgeries and treatments for individuals with no other means of care. They’re working harder than ever to ensure access to medicines during the current crisis.
Palestine
A Palestinian NGO based in Gaza City working since 1992, Atfaluna has served thousands of deaf children and adults through education, audiology, speech therapy, vocational training, and community support, with over half its staff being persons with hearing disabilities themselves. Since the genocide began, they have continued their work by providing safe and welcoming spaces which support both deaf and hearing children in camps in Gaza. They are also continuing to provide therapies as well as hearing and mobility aids, restoring access to education for hundreds of children.
With teams on the ground throughout the conflict, Anera continues to deliver food, clean water, medicine and hygiene supplies to families across Gaza, operating in one of the most severe humanitarian catastrophes in history where almost the entire population depends on outside relief to survive.
Palestinian Red Crescent Society | @palestineredcrescent
A frontline humanitarian body providing emergency medical services, ambulance response, and first aid across Gaza and the West Bank, remaining operational throughout active conflict to reach the wounded and most vulnerable. The organisation has paid a devastating price for their work in the most dangerous circumstances; 58 of their members of staff and volunteers have been killed since 2023, but they continue their life-saving work nonetheless.
Heal Palestine | @heal.palestine
Founded in 2024 in direct response to the devastation in Gaza, HEAL Palestine focuses on four pillars – health, education, aid and leadership – providing essential medical care, humanitarian assistance, and support to children and communities in need. Their initiatives include mobile medical clinics and a rehabilitation programme for child amputees.
Women for Women | @womenforwomen
Working through trusted local partners in Gaza and the West Bank, Women for Women International provides meals, trauma-informed counselling, hygiene kits, and essential items, with particular focus on pregnant women, women-headed households, and survivors of violence.
One of the largest Palestinian organisations in operation, Taawon supports more than one million Palestinians annually through education, emergency aid supplies, healthcare clinics, orphan care and cultural programmes, currently running an urgent orphan care programme for the estimated 20,000 children orphaned by the war in Gaza.
The Middle East Children’s Alliance has delivered over $54 million in food and medical aid to Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon since 1988, partnering with community organisations to run children’s projects, provide scholarships for students in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza, install clean water systems in schools, and provide direct aid including food, clothing and toys to families in Gaza.
Road to Freedom | @roadtofreedom1
Road to Freedom is a non-profit organisation committed to supporting refugees fleeing countries affected by conflict by providing immediate aid, food, clothing and hygiene kits. They partner with other NGOs on the ground at borders, in crisis zones and refugee camps. They are known for supporting some of the most vulnerable communities in the Middle East, from Gazans living through famine to Sudanese women refugees in Egypt.
Iran
Children of Persia | @childrenofpersia
An all-volunteer US-based organisation with over twenty years of service, Children of Persia bridges NGOs inside and outside Iran to create opportunities for the most vulnerable children and families, focusing on health, education and social services.
International Red Cross & Red Crescent: Iran Appeal | @icrc
Following devastating strikes across Iran, the IFRC launched a CHF 40 million Emergency Appeal to support the Iranian Red Crescent Society in reaching five million people across 30 provinces, providing emergency shelter, health services, water and sanitation support, and mental health care to those directly affected.
Sudan
Sudan has now entered its fourth year of devastating civil war, topping the IRC’s Emergency Watchlist for the third consecutive year as the largest humanitarian crisis ever recorded. With 33.7 million people in humanitarian need, the International Rescue Committee is delivering aid across multiple Sudanese states spanning health, nutrition, water and sanitation, child protection and cash assistance, pushing into the hardest hit and hardest to reach areas despite immense risks.
Sudanese American Physicians Association | @Sapayouth
A non-profit organisation founded in 2019, SAPA brings together Sudanese-American physicians and healthcare professionals to deliver medical aid, food assistance, and community resilience programmes to people on the ground in Sudan, combining emergency response with longer-term healthcare capacity building.
Woven Initiative | @woveninitiative
The Woven Initiative is a volunteer-run humanitarian organisation supporting Sudanese women and girl refugees in Egypt through menstrual health education and care. Through seminars led by all-female teams, they provide durable, ethically made menstrual underwear and create safe, shame-free spaces for women to speak openly about their bodies, many for the very first time.They also provide sewing machines, offering women a pathway to independence and potential income.
Founded in 2008, SKT Welfare is a UK-registered charity now operating directly inside Sudan’s IDP camps, where it has established a community kitchen providing cooked meals to hundreds of displaced families each day. With a 100% donation policy, every penny given goes directly to those who need it most.
On the ground in Sudan’s most conflict-affected areas, ALIMA runs mobile clinics, maternity and paediatric services, and stabilisation centres for malnourished children, providing free medical and nutritional care to displaced families and pregnant women in North Darfur and South Kordofan amid one of the continent’s worst humanitarian crises.
Haboba’s House | @habobas.house
Founded by Sarah Abuzeid, a Sudanese architect based in Leeds, Haboba’s House is a community initiative repairing homes damaged by the war in Sudan. The name reflects something close to the heart of every Sudanese family – the haboba, the grandmother, whose home is a place of safety and unconditional love. Funds are distributed by their on-the-ground partner in Khartoum, used exclusively for construction materials and local labour. The initiative is also fundraising to repair the Mohamed Sayed Hajj School, a school for gifted and talented students in Khartoum damaged by the war.
Please do consider contributing to any of these charities if you are able, as even one meal or one warm blanket makes a difference to someone. Most of these charities are active on social media, so you can learn more about their work and see exactly where your money is going.
We hope this post has been a reminder that, even in the midst of darkness and destruction, there are millions of people out there doing all they can to help – from ambulance drivers on the frontlines to volunteers in community kitchens. Let’s do all we can to support them.