In Liège, a new vehicle enables a multidisciplinary team to assist up to 400 unaccompanied foreign minors each year with housing appointments, school meetings, administrative procedures, and much more.
Aid to Displaced Persons (APD) is a non-profit organization based in Liège, founded in the tradition of Father Dominique Pire, whose humanitarian work with displaced persons after World War II earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1958.
Today, the APD offers specialized social support in immigration law, French and citizenship classes, as well as housing for unaccompanied foreign minors (MENA) at the Maison d’Accueil Dominique Pire in Braine-le-Comte.
It also runs secondhand stores in Liège, the profits from which are reinvested in social projects. The organization supports approximately 400 people each year through a team of 19 professionals.
The APD approach is based on the belief that those who cannot live in safety where they were born must be able to find protection and support, and that true integration requires practical and sustained support at every stage.
When there’s no vehicle available for the trip
Supporting unaccompanied foreign minors—young people between the ages of 15 and 18 who have fled war or danger and arrived in Belgium without parents or guardians—requires constant and coordinated travel.
Social workers must take them to housing search appointments, interviews at the CPAS, meetings with their guardian, school appointments, psychosocial support sessions, and much more. Without a vehicle, each of these essential steps becomes more difficult, takes longer, and relies more heavily on external logistics.
Thanks to a 10,000-euro grant from UFB (covering up to half the cost of the vehicle), the APD was able to purchase a vehicle for the team. The impact is immediate: appointments are kept on time, moves go smoothly, and the young people receiving support benefit from responsive and coordinated assistance as they begin to build an independent life in Belgium.
“Thank you for giving the social services team and the unaccompanied foreign minors (MENA) we support through the reception and support project the opportunity to acquire a vehicle to make it easier for them to look for housing and move.” — Lelita Pineiro Perez, Administrative Manager
Mobility as a Gateway to a New Life
For a young person rebuilding their life far from home, being in the right place at the right time can make all the difference. Thanks to donors like you, APD can continue to be there every step of the way.
Make a donation to UFB and help bring other projects like this one to life.