One year into our new strategy, our mission remains front and centre of everything we do. We exist to provide life-saving and life-changing action to those experiencing crisis and conflict around the world.

Working in 21 countries, we have this year had a positive impact on more than 140,000 people. This simply wouldn’t have been possible without the steadfast determination of our colleagues, Trustees, and of course, our supporters. We remain truly grateful for your ongoing trust and commitment to our work.

War in Israel

The last year, however, has brought significant challenges to many in Jewish communities across the world. The horrific terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7th October had a definitive impact on our activities this year, as well as our future plans. Immediately following the attacks, we proudly encouraged all of our supporters to direct their funding to these other Jewish charities, who were well-positioned to help Israelis in their hour of need. Our desire to assist Israelis affected by the attacks led us, however, to initiate our own support to three Israeli partners – Project Kesher, Youth Aliyah and the Israeli Trauma Coalition (ITC), the latter organisation is also a partner that we have worked closely with in Ukraine. A visit to ITC’s operation in Israel in November 2023 highlighted the impact our support was having in the provision of psychological trauma care, emotional first aid, and therapy to families and children in Israel, including Bedouin communities. With hundreds of thousands of Israelis displaced by the war in Gaza and missile attacks from Lebanon and Iran, we have embarked on a piece of work to consider how best to utilise World Jewish Relief’s expertise to support Israel over the coming years.

Focus on Ukraine

As the war in Ukraine entered its second year since the Russian invasion, the scale of suffering and vulnerability has deepened significantly, while the profile and recognition of this context in the media has all but disappeared.

The elderly have suffered disproportionally in Ukraine with more older people killed, injured or in need of assistance than any other client group. Our support to a predominantly Jewish older client cohort this year continued to prioritise the provision of homecare, medical assistance and ongoing social interaction with others, particularly recognising that many of our clients have seen family members move away from home or leave the country. The psychological trauma of this protracted crisis is so vast, and every component of our work now contains psychosocial support.

It is important to note that our assistance to Jewish communities in crisis has not been limited to Israel and Ukraine but has also seen us extend support to Jewish clients in Moldova, Georgia, Belarus, Poland, Uganda and Ethiopia, fulfilling our core commitment.

Support to refugees in the UK

In August 2023, World Jewish Relief was appointed by the UK Government to deliver a UK wide programme of English language and employment support for up to up to 10,000 Ukrainian refugees. It was a Herculean task to rapidly scale up the STEP programme and reach so many clients, but we are delighted with the impact achieved. Of particular note is the unique virtual architecture of the programme, its extension to all four nations of the UK and the quality and commitment of the STEP Ukraine team, in particular the 131 Employment Advisors appointed to the programme.

”Supporting those affected by the conflict in Ukraine – both within the Jewish community and beyond – remained a critical strategic priority for us.”

We are delighted that the UK Government has enabled the programme to be continued to an additional 3,350 Ukrainian clients up to the end of March 2025. Our assistance to resettled refugees and those successfully coming through the asylum system in the UK has extended beyond the Ukrainian client group. We remain particularly proud of our ground-breaking work funded in part by the National Lottery assisting refugee women in their integration journey in Coventry, Bradford and Leeds.

Global emergency response

In September we responded to a massive earthquake in the High Atlas region of Morocco, providing an array of non-food items to those affected and displaced, and embarking on a locally led shelter and livelihood programme to assist the recovery efforts. Recognising the scale of suffering amongst Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and in full consultation with Israeli authorities, we proudly initiated a targeted programme to support a global humanitarian partner to deliver maternity, obstetric and neonatal services through field hospitals to Palestinian women and newborn babies. This year we continued to enable partners in Colombia, Ethiopia, Haiti, the Philippines and Bangladesh prepare for and respond to acute emergency needs.

World Jewish Relief at home

We were thrilled that His Majesty King Charles announced in May 2024 that he would retain his Royal Patronage of World Jewish Relief. His Majesty’s interest, engagement and commitment to so many strands of our work, at home and abroad, has been truly outstanding. A real highlight of our year was hosting more than 600 guests at the Roundhouse for our Annual Dinner, which raised a remarkable £1.6m. We thank every one of our supporters for their amazing commitment and generosity towards World Jewish Relief this year, enabling us to raise a remarkable £17m. Without their support, the scale, quality and impact of our global work would simply not be possible. It is of course a team effort that enables us to achieve so much, and both of us are deeply grateful and personally appreciative of the hard work and tireless efforts of our trustees, volunteers and staff who give their all.

Thank you.

Maurice Helfgott – Chair | Paul Anticoni – Chief Executive

World Jewish Relief is the Jewish community’s humanitarian agency.

Inspired by our Jewish values, we provide life-saving and life-changing action to people in crisis around the world. Founded in 1933 and proud to have rescued over 65,000 Jews fleeing the Nazis, today we support vulnerable people from within and beyond the Jewish community, suffering the consequences of conflict, disaster and climate change. All of our international work is delivered through local partners, building on our expertise and high standards of accountability and impact. This year, we were operational in 21 countries, including across the whole of the UK. From conflict affected victims in eastern Ukraine to Afghan refugees in Bradford and from climate migrants in Nepal to young women in Rwanda, our impact is simultaneously global and local.

Our values

• We Give —We give all that we can give and do all that we can do, in effort and action.
• We Care —Every life is deserving of our care, support and protection. When we care, support and protect one, we care, support and protect the world.
• We Act — Flexible enough to be effective, experienced enough to be efficient, we do what’s needed, where and when it is needed most, with partners who share our purpose and knowledge.

What We Do

Humanitarian and climate action

We assist people, communities and local partners to prepare for, and respond to international disasters and in particular natural climate hazards, prioritising the needs of women and girls and marginalised communities. We deliver our work through expert local partners, and apply core humanitarian standards and evidence-based interventions to this work. The scope of humanitarian support needed across the world is vast, which means it’s essential to prioritise our actions. As a humanitarian organisation rooted in Jewish values, World Jewish Relief is compelled to act to prevent the immense human suffering caused by the climate crisis. Our climate resilience portfolio was established in 2022 to support communities at the frontlines of the climate crisis. Our unique approach focuses on adaptation rather than mitigation, supporting communities already impacted by climate change to adapt and build future resilience.

Refugee resettlement in the UK

Our history is deeply entwined in refugee resettlement. “Welcoming the Stranger” is a core Jewish value and underpins this part of our work. With over 100 million people displaced worldwide and a fragmented and under resourced refugee sector in the UK, we bring focus, impact, systems change and particular expertise to this arena. Our evidence shows that language progression enables positive employment outcomes, which brings dignity, respect, independence and economic benefits to refugees.

Supporting sustainable livelihoods

For those suffering the impact of conflict, climate change and migration, and its compounded impact on their poverty, we transform their earning potential through employment and livelihood recovery. We have developed significant skill in assisting the unemployed and under-employed to build their confidence, adapt their mindset, expand their skills and find work or develop their business in both humanitarian crises and more stable contexts. Securing an income source brings dignity and self-reliance. We have developed this expertise amongst urban Jewish communities in eastern Europe, rural communities in East Africa and the refugee community in the UK.

Providing life-saving support to vulnerable Jews

A critical part of our work and mission is to assist vulnerable Jews in crisis situations with emergency and longer-term assistance. This year we are providing services to approximately 10,000 Jews in Ukraine, Israel, Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Poland and Uganda, including life-saving assistance and care to older Jews of the Survivor Generation and those impacted by the war in Ukraine. We are committed to assisting other Jewish communities with emergency support as needs and capabilities arise. Our focus will be on assisting more vulnerable members of these communities, building the capacity of local community partners to deliver high quality services.

1. Humanitarian and climate action

The primary objectives of our humanitarian work are to save lives, preserve dignity and agency, and alleviate suffering of the most vulnerable affected by disasters. We lead the Jewish response to international disasters – be they climate, weather-related, or man-made emergencies. We work with appropriate local partners quickly and effectively to deliver quality and participant-focused services.

These partners make up our Disaster Preparedness Initiative (DPI), and over the last year we have worked in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. We have supported 17 humanitarian and 4 climate projects, reaching over 57,000 people. This includes over 7,150 food parcels, £37,500 in cash distributions, and over 5,500 non-food items and hygiene kits. As with the broader humanitarian sector, we are focusing on cash as a delivery modality, which is often quicker, safer, and more efficient, giving people choice and autonomy. We are pleased to have doubled the amount of support provided using cash compared to last year.

Over the year we used our in-house rapid response fund – The Disaster Fund (DF) – to respond to six emergencies. This has included drought in Colombia, flooding in Ethiopia and Kenya, and support to those affected by conflict in Myanmar.

We launched an emergency appeal for the Moroccan earthquake in September, where we raised £275,000. We also, with the full support of the Israeli authorities, used private restricted funding to work with a global humanitarian responder in Gaza providing life-saving maternal and infant health support to mothers and babies through field hospitals. Our Turkey-Syria earthquake response also came to an end and saw us spend over £750,000. We responded with both short and medium-term projects, covering basic emergency support, semi-permanent shelter, much needed psycho-social support and livelihood recovery.

”At World Jewish Relief we have recognised our moral responsibility to not only respond to the impacts of the climate crisis, but also to proactively support vulnerable communities to be more resilient to it.”

Climate change and humanitarian crises are inextricably linked. At World Jewish Relief we have recognised our moral responsibility to not only respond to the impacts of the climate crisis, but also to proactively support vulnerable communities to be more resilient to it. Using our pilots in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, and the learning they generated, we have scaled up our work in Nepal and Bangladesh. We have also added new projects in Ethiopia and the Philippines.

Over the year, we delivered six proposals to the START Network, and led on raising three alerts. We have been successful for three responses – one in Haiti and two in Colombia. Over the past year we have been proactively engaging more with START. We served 18 months on the Strategic Committee, attended the Annual Assembly in Nairobi, and engaged on key topics like indirect cost distribution, the planned decentralised hub model, and anticipatory action.

Disaster Preparedness Initiative: The Disaster Preparedness Initiative is World Jewish Relief’s network of local partners in disaster prone countries, who we work with to respond to large and small disasters. To ensure this initiative is effective, we focus on establishing and maintaining meaningful and long-standing relationships with credible local actors.

START: START is a membership organisation, made up of both international and local NGOs, including World Jewish Relief. It includes the START Fund, which enables member agencies to respond rapidly to small and under the radar humanitarian crises globally.

Emergency response in Morocco

Shortly after September’s powerful earthquake rocking the High Atlas region of Morocco, World Jewish Relief launched an appeal. Working closely with other Jewish aid agencies, we assessed the initial damage reports, spoke to various on-the-ground actors, and agreed a partnership with both the international and local Moroccan Jewish community to respond. We delivered emergency tents and solar lights to over 2000 people.

With the winter months fast approaching, we then provided over 300 households with safe and efficient heaters and rebuilt broken water and toilet facilities to stop the spread of disease. Recognising the severity of the damage, this was designed to give people immediate support that would enable them to start to rebuild their lives.

As part of this shift to recovery, we then launched an ambitious climate-resilient livelihood programme; rebuilding agriculture systems and providing tools, seeds and training to get the High Atlas farming communities back on their feet. Nine months on from the devastating earthquake, we revisited the region and saw with our own eyes the impact the work to date has achieved. The tents and toilets are still being used, and the heaters are ready for the next winter period. Farmers are slowly rebuilding their livelihoods, and in doing so are better prepared for the ever-changing climate.

This holistic suite of support, from emergency relief to longer-term recovery is a hallmark of the approach World Jewish Relief tries to take, and we feel it provides the best path to lasting impact for those affected by disaster.

2. Refugee resettlement in the UK

We deliver programmes across the UK for people who have experienced forced displacement and are looking to rebuild their lives, enter the job market and continue their career journeys. Over the last year, we’ve delivered five programmes across the UK, reaching 11,500 people; a staggering 1000% increase on the previous year attributable to our STEP Ukraine programme. Consequently, we are the largest provider of refugee employment support in the UK.

Our award-winning flagship programme, STEP, has been delivered with a range of partners across England to provide in person bespoke one-to-one employment support to refugees and asylum seekers who have the right to work. STEP offers opportunities that are varied, inclusive and pioneering in the sector, and lead to higher impact and better outcomes for the participants involved. Our approach is person-centric, with employment advisors trained to offer high quality advice and guidance, coaching participants on various areas. By the end of the programme, participants feel more confident navigating the UK job market independently.

2024 saw the completion of the five-year AMIF funding for this programme and the Home Office outcomes funded North-East RISE programme. We have worked closely with over 3,000 refugees and have an impressive overall 40% employment rate. Since January 2024, we have continued to deliver STEP, funded by World Jewish Relief. We are working across the UK, through knowledgeable and experienced partners, including six local authorities, five local NGOs and two activity partners across England in 34 locations. From January to June, we worked with 495 participants and achieved a 23% employment rate.

This year, an independent evaluation of STEP highlighted the importance of our work nationally, reporting that 56% of STEP participants improved their confidence because of taking part in the programme. There was also evidence of STEP contributing to other soft skills growth such as problem solving (35%), leadership (25%), and communication (26%).

In August 2023, we began a significant programme of UK Government funded work to bring STEP to Ukrainian refugees in the UK. In 2023/24, 9,592 Ukrainians took part in this targeted online programme, which includes extensive English language support from the British Council, and tailored employment training from World Jewish Relief Employment Advisors.

We also secured funding to deliver STEP in the South West of England as part of the Refugee Employability Programme (REP), funded by the Home Office. We are working with a range of partners and the International Rescue Committee is managing the integration elements of the programme. We partnered with a combination of eight charities and Local Authorities across the region, including Bristol City Council, with whom we have been working with for the past three years. Between September 2023 and June 2024, through six Employment Advisors across the region, REP supported over 250 refugees with the skills to find sustainable employment.

”This year, an independent evaluation of STEP highlighted the importance of our work nationally, reporting that 56% of STEP participants improved their confidence because of taking part in the programme.”

As part of our ongoing commitment to provide gender-sensitive programming to women and girls, our unique STEP Forward programme aims to address key barriers to integration that are specific to women refugees. The programme has supported 120 women across Leeds, Bradford and Coventry. In September 2023, we accessed funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, ensuring funding for the programme until April 2026. Over the past year, we’ve seen significant positive impact from the programme, with 98% of women making a decision about their continued integration pathway, including 25% joining STEP and 85% continuing to study English. In addition, 35% of women from the programme have taken accredited English and/or numeracy exams and overall 80% of the women have improved their literacy and numeracy skills. Importantly, 72% of women reported improved wellbeing over the duration of the programme.

3. Supporting sustainable livelihoods

Working through committed and trusted local partners, our livelihood programmes empower disadvantaged individuals to build prosperous and fulfilling lives for themselves and their families. Inspired by Maimonides’ “Eight Levels of Tzedakah”, we aim to offer people independence by helping them to learn skills, find jobs and set up businesses.

Our livelihoods work serves communities in six countries: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda. In Ukraine, which is where the largest amount of work takes place, the war with Russia has taken a heavy toll on the country’s economy, infrastructure and citizens. In the last year, we have continued to provide critical support to both humanitarian teams in front line areas, and employment and families’ support in other parts of the country. Despite enormous obstacles, we have provided vital livelihood assistance to 40,247 Ukrainians across Ukraine and Moldova.

Our Back to Work programme enables disadvantaged individuals to build lives of self-reliance and dignity for themselves and their families through sustained and productive employment and profitable self-employment.

This year in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Rwanda, World Jewish Relief, in partnership with 11 local organisations, economically empowered 6,594 individuals and indirectly supported at least 17,000 members of their families. In Ukraine, 3,321 disadvantaged individuals, mainly women (90.3%) were supported to access jobs through a tested and evolving job-readiness curriculum. 1,586 people, who demonstrated interest and suitable aptitude to being self-employed or run a small business, took part in a special curriculum to equip them with necessary entrepreneurial knowledge and skills. As a result of total dedication of our partner  organisations,53% of participants in Ukraine and Moldova found employment and 81% are earning a living wage.

Alongside this, our Building Stronger Families programme supports disadvantaged families with multiple needs to provide quality care for their children and ensure their well-being and development. This year, five partners worked with 171 families (232 adults and 325 children) in Ukraine, Moldova and Uganda. Within six months, 21% of the families significantly improved their home environment and 22% of parents managed to better meet their children’s emotional needs.

While supporting people into employment has strengthened resilience of Ukrainian parents, children’s wellbeing requires special attention. Children in Ukraine continue to be killed, wounded, and deeply traumatised by the violence all around them. More than 40% of Ukrainian children have to study online from home, where unstable electricity, internet and security negatively affect lessons’ participation. This year, our Back to Childhood programme supported 1,759 Ukrainian children, focusing on their cognitive development and academic performance, psychological well-being and social and emotional skills. As a result of the programme, children demonstrated less anxiety, felt more confident and started interacting with others.

”Despite enormous obstacles, we have provided vital livelihood assistance to 40,247 Ukrainians across Ukraine and Moldova.”

In Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya, we work closely with farming communities to economically empower African smallholders and turn them into agricultural entrepreneurs. The Business TransFARMing projects provide comprehensive agronomic support, enabling farmers to grow profitable horticultural crops. Moreover, participants are assisted with translating significantly increased income into viable business investments and improved living conditions and schooling. This year, farmers had to contend with erratic weather patterns, which unfortunately had an impact on their crops. However, despite the various challenges, 974 farmers successfully grew tomatoes, peppers and watermelons. 57% of them achieved the expected yields and 76% reached the expected income thresholds. The highest performing group in Rwanda earned £8,000 in one season, increasing their baseline income by a factor of 30. In Wajir, in Northern Kenya, our partners have successfully established a demo-farm which has already produced more than 1,200 watermelons and generated significant interest from local stakeholders.

Zhanna’s story:

“I could not even imagine that, in such a short period of time, my life would change so dramatically”

Zhanna (44) lives in Odesa, after she was forced to flee Crimea in 2014 when it was occupied by Russia. She used to be a housewife, but after her husband left the family, she had to figure out how to support her two daughters. Zhanna joined World Jewish Relief’s Back to Work programme in January 2024. Individual consultations with a psychologist helped Zhanna accept her situation and identify her strengths. During the training, she realised that she had to find a vocation that allowed her to set her own schedule and work from home. The career coach helped Zhanna see that her physical strength is an asset and Zhanna took a course in massage therapy. She even participated in a competition for beginner therapists. The programme provided her with a massage table manufactured by a Ukrainian company and custom-made to suit Zhanna’s height. Now, she provides popular lymphatic drainage massage to female clients and offers a 50% discount to her fellow members of the Jewish community.

Zhanna said: “I am very grateful to the programme. I could not even imagine that in such a short period of time my life would change so dramatically. In January, I joined the training and by the end of March, I became a certified massage therapist with my own equipped workplace. I am self-sufficient. I can properly support my children. My youngest daughter dreams of being an artist and now I can help her make her dream come true.”

Spotlight on Ukraine —Two and a half years of war

Russia’s relentless assault on Ukraine continues to take a heavy toll on its economy, infrastructure and especially Ukrainians themselves. It continues to affect partners, programmes and participants. Yet despite this, since 24th February 2022, we have reached 388 locations in Ukraine and supported 327,331 people, both within and beyond the Jewish community.

Given the unstable environment we continued our multipronged approach, which is based on the needs and gaps of Ukrainians living across the country. Working alongside our 27 experienced partners, our focus areas for this year included:

Humanitarian aid: We continued to deliver high quality aid in the hardest to reach locations (in some places as close to 4km to the frontline) where vulnerability and fighting remains high. We have delivered food to 94,101 people, and medicines to 21,035 people. The feedback has been exceptionally positive with 98% of our monitored recipients stating that they are satisfied or totally satisfied with the aid they have received. This year we have also started to provide agricultural and livestock inputs to reinvigorate people’s abilities to support themselves.

Livelihoods: Drawing on our 14 years of experience in delivering Back to Work and self-employment programmes has been vital. These efforts not only aid the country’s recovery but also prevent dependency on handouts, support the integration of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) into new communities, assist those returning to their homes, and help many retain their dignity and mental health. Through this programme, we have supported 6,594 people and achieved a 51% employment rate.

Families and children: Building on the foundations of our livelihoods approach of empowerment, self-reliance and dignity we have seen growth in both supporting vulnerable families through our Building Stronger Families programme, and our range of children’s programmes supporting their social, psychological and academic performance. We also began a new initiative working with The Coordination Centre for Family Upbringing and Childcare, supporting the reintegration of children who have been returned to Ukraine, after having been abducted to Russia.

Support for older people: Older people are a group who have endured so much since the invasion began, and yet are often overlooked. For us, our support for this group, and in particular those within the Jewish community, is as critical as ever and ranges from essential homecare services, active ageing and daily support, to providing repairs to homes that have been damaged, humanitarian aid, safe warm spaces or evacuation support from the front line.

With reports that 9.6 million people in Ukraine are at risk of acute stress, anxiety, substance use and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and will need psychological support (WHO, 2023), we are prioritising mental health support across all programmes. Recognising our partners are facing high levels of stress we are also ensuring that we are meeting their mental health needs as well. In addition, we have supported a unique training programme of building capacity of Ukrainian school psychologists, who in turn support teachers, parents, and children. 96% of participants would strongly recommend this course to other psychologists.

”With reports that 9.6 million people in Ukraine are at risk of acute stress, anxiety, substance use and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and will need psychological support (WHO, 2023), we are prioritising mental health support across all programmes.”

As part of our Gender, Equality and Inclusion approach, we aim to ensure that we are tackling the needs of women and girls. Ukrainian women and women’s organisations have led the organisation and distribution of humanitarian aid, documenting war crimes, and strengthening social cohesion. At the same time, women have been disproportionally affected, constituting the majority of IDPs, suffering from Gender Based Violence, experiencing stress and anxiety, more rapidly losing livelihoods, facing increased care burdens and worries about their loved ones either being conscripted or losing them at the front line. Because of this, women make up a high proportion of participants on our programmes. In our programmes supporting older people on average 66% are women. On our Back to Work programmes, where we are providing comprehensive psychosocial, material and employment support to tackle the identified underlying barriers to employment and empowering women to find employment or self-employment, 90% of participants are women.

We strive for excellence in all we are doing. Despite the challenging circumstances, we continue to prioritise measuring the impact of our programmes, ensuring we are adapting the programmes where necessary and responding to changing needs. We have also ensured that we are investing in partners’ capacity to deliver activities according to their needs, including salary support, capital items and psychosocial support for staff.

Spotlight on STEP Ukraine —Supporting thousands of displaced Ukrainians in the UK

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. In the months that followed, more than 6.3 million Ukrainians left their homes and hundreds of thousands of people, largely women and children, arrived in the UK. World Jewish Relief has supported refugees fleeing persecution for 91 years, and work in Ukraine with local communities for more than 30 years. After the war began, World Jewish Relief was officially recognised as an agency within the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

By March 2023, 170,000 Ukrainians arrived in the UK, and many did not speak English with enough proficiency to gain employment. Often leaving successful careers in Ukraine, many were entering the UK and taking up low-skilled jobs because of these barriers.

”The programme provides intensive English language and employment support to Ukrainian refugees, ensuring successful integration to the UK.”

In August 2023, World Jewish Relief was awarded a major government contract to extend our award-winning STEP programme to displaced Ukrainians across the UK. Working in partnership with the British Council, we developed a 12-week virtual programme and offered it to participants free of charge. The programme provides intensive English language and employment support to Ukrainian refugees, ensuring successful integration to the UK.

We adopted a direct delivery model, hiring 131 people to support 9,592 Ukrainians. We felt it was important for those supporting participants to understand the lived experience of Ukrainian refugees, which guided our recruitment. Over 30% of our Employment Advisors had lived experience of forced migration, and almost 85% were women. 42% spoke Ukrainian or Russian to ensure a culturally sensitive service provision. This also included 13 graduates from the programme who, over the course of the year, were employed by World Jewish Relief to support other Ukrainians.

Through additional partnerships, including Business in the Community (BITC) and The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network (TERN), we also provided work experience workshops and self-employment support as part of the programme. STEP Ukraine was nominated for the Third Sector Big Impact Award, in recognition of its scale and social value. The programme has been extended to March 2025 to enable an additional 3,350 Ukrainians to take part.

Iryna’s story

Iryna’s life changed dramatically at 5am on the day Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The news from her brother and restaurant director was hard to comprehend. She and her family faced terrifying challenges, including a harrowing escape from Kyiv, navigating through fuel shortages, and enduring sleepless nights amidst air raid alarms and rocket attacks.

Before the invasion, Iryna had a flourishing career as a head chef at Symposium restaurant in Oleksandriia and was a renowned confectioner specialising in custom cakes. She even reached the final of the 10th season of MasterChef Ukraine. When the war broke out, she, her two sons, and other family members embarked on a treacherous journey to Western Ukraine and eventually found refuge in the UK.

Iryna participated in World Jewish Relief’s STEP Ukraine programme, during which time her employment advisor, Tetiana, provided crucial support during this transition. Now settled in the UK, Iryna works as a pastry chef at a popular hotel and has registered her own home business, “Ozhyna,” where she creates traditional Ukrainian honey cakes and artistic cookies. Additionally, she continues to enrich her local community by organising Ukrainian food events and participating in charity activities.