Refugees United
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| Founded | 2008 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Christopher Mikkelsen & David Mikkelsen |
| Type | REFUNITE (Refugees United) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit working to provide refugee families that have lost contact with each other during escape from conflict with an anonymous platform to reconnect. |
| Purpose | Humanitarian |
| Location |
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| Mission | "To help refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) reconnect with lost loved ones" |
| Website | Refunite.org |
REFUNITE (Refugees United) is a non-profit organization established by two Danish brothers, David and Christopher Mikkelsen with the stated mission to "help refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) search for their missing loved ones." It focuses on online and mobile solutions to help families reconnect. Families can search for their missing loved ones using various touch points, including web via https://m.refunite.org, SMS, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), and by calling a helpline. The REFUNITE family reconnection platform allows users to register, search for and message their missing loved ones that have also signed up on the platform.
REFUNITE works through partnerships with like-minded individuals, organizations, corporations, and humanitarian agencies. The headquarters are located in Copenhagen, Denmark with the main technology development lab and operations being based out of Nairobi, Kenya.
REFUNITE was founded in 2008 by two Danish brothers, David and Christopher Mikkelsen, after their personal journey trying to reconnect a young, Afghan refugee with his family. In their search, the two brothers discovered that existing family tracing programs lacked cross-border, collaborative technology and the process of family tracing was also often tied to cumbersome procedures and paperwork.
This is what prompted David and Christopher to develop an global, centralized and free platform that would allow refugees and other Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to search and reconnect with their missing family and loved ones. REFUNITE empowers refugees and separated families to search, connect and communicate with family and friends they have lost along the way. The organization provides the family reconnection service, but puts it in the hands of its users to conduct the actual search, thus democratizing access to family tracing.
Out of the 65.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, many do not have access to Internet and have very basic and simple mobile phones. REFUNITE focuses on making their service available to as many users as possible and through various touch points, from the very low-end, basic technology to the more sophisticated one.
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