Emergency support to Roma families from Transcarpathia fleeing to Hungary

ISSA Member: Partners Hungary Foundation, Hungary

What happened?

In February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, many Hungarian-speaking Roma families fled to Hungary. Children arriving in border areas and Budapest faced instability, trauma, and limited access to safe environments, play spaces, and education.

 
What was needed? How did they respond?

• Safe play spaces for children
• Support for social integration
• Trauma-informed care
• Legal guidance for families

Partners Hungary Foundation mobilized quickly at train stations and temporary shelters, supporting refugee families—especially Roma. They provided play-based activities for children and legal guidance for families on registering for social security numbers, healthcare, and residency. A Mini PlayHub was established near Lake Balaton (Fonyód), offering non-formal education, psychosocial support, and a welcoming environment for displaced children and their caregivers.

Key challenges:

• School access barriers: Local schools were full or hesitant to enrol refugee children.
• Discrimination: Roma families were deprioritized for aid and housing.
• Language and trauma: Refugee children and parents faced psychological distress and communication hurdles.

Solutions:

• Mini PlayHubs provided safe, nurturing environments for play and learning.
• Volunteer teachers and psychologists offered trauma-sensitive activities.
• Parents received legal support and referrals to essential services.

This response was built on strong collaboration between Partners Hungary, Nesting Play, local municipalities, War Child, UNHCR partners, ICDI and the ISSA Network Hub. Collaboration enabled resource sharing and replication of good practices. Children had access to environments where they could recover, play, and reconnect. Trust between Roma and Ukrainian families grew through shared participation and learning.

What's in place? What's missing?

While strong NGO capacity enabled a rapid and compassionate response, the absence of a formal, system-level preparedness framework limited the scale and consistency of support. Without coordinated government leadership, the response remained fragmented and dependent on local initiative. This example illustrates both the strength of a responsive civil society and the critical need to institutionalise ECD-specific preparedness within national systems to ensure young children are not left behind in future emergencies.

Being part of a regional network: Advantages of ISSA membership

ISSA provided vital support through: training-of-trainers programs, enabling cross-country knowledge exchange and peer learning with other members in Ukraine and countries receiving Ukrainian refugees. Being part of ISSA meant rapid access to tools, capacity-building, and a community of practice — all of which helped Partners Hungary respond swiftly and effectively.

Recommendations

National policymakers:

• Enact emergency legal frameworks for rapid issuance of social security numbers, school placement, and healthcare registration at borders.
• Mandate inclusive non-discrimination policies that guarantee equal access for all refugees, with monitoring and enforcement.
• Allocate funding for mobile ECD units in crisis zones and integrate them into national emergency preparedness plans.

Local/national actors

• Train and deploy intercultural mediation teams to liaise with families, schools, and service providers.
• Embed Play Hubs or mobile learning spaces as standard crisis interventions—already pre-planned and budgeted.
• Foster collaboration across sectors—education, health, social services—to coordinate rapid ECD responses.

Private donors

• Prioritize multi-year, flexible grants that empower local operation teams and scale mobile ECD solutions.
• Support capacity building—train staff in trauma-informed care, stress and crisis response.
• Fund pilot projects from which best practices (like PlayHubs) can be developed and shared across regions.

Professionals/practitioners

• Seek or advocate for training in trauma-informed play and psychosocial support.
• Build mobile, pop-up ECD kits and toolkits—activity cards, portable toy packs, language support materials.
• Establish networks among ECD providers to share evidence-based protocols and coordinate rapid deployment.
• Explore further: Partners Hungary: supporting Ukrainian refugee children and families