Hungary Helps
Chaldean Community Foundation’s 2025 Humanitarian of the Year
By Sarah Kittle
The Chaldean Community Foundation (CCF) is honoring Hungary Helps as its 2025 Humanitarian of the Year, recognizing Hungary’s extraordinary role in supporting persecuted Christians in Iraq. Through its Hungary Helps Program (HHP), the Hungarian government has become the world’s leading state-level advocate for Christian minorities, providing more aid to Christians in Iraq than any other nation.
Hungary was the first country to elevate the plight of persecuted Christians to public policy. After urgent appeals from church leaders, the government created a dedicated department to address the crisis. Since launching HHP in 2017, defending and rebuilding Christian communities has been part of its mission.
In close contact with local leaders, HHP has helped more than two million people remain in or return to their homelands. In Iraq’s Nineveh Plain, millions have gone toward rebuilding villages and schools, providing agricultural training, and delivering aid.
In 2018, Hungary signed a Memorandum of Understanding with USAID to assist religious minorities in northern Iraq. By 2019, projects were underway in Qaraqosh and Sinjar. In Qaraqosh, rubble was cleared, 100 shops rehabilitated, and 35 homes rebuilt. In Sinjar, electrical systems were upgraded, a bakery established, health facilities restored, and housing created for women and children.
Hungary’s efforts extend to stabilization initiatives. More than $2 million in “D-ISIS” projects have been carried out in Iraq and northeast Syria. Earlier, HHP funded 950 homes in Tel Askuf and 41 in nearby Baqofa, enabling over 1,000 families to return.
A hallmark of HHP’s philosophy is providing help directly, enabling refugees to return and rebuild. This focus has restored homes, schools, hospitals, heritage sites, and livelihoods—strengthening identity and preserving traditions.
Partnering with Hungarian Interchurch Aid, HHP has revitalized agriculture in Nineveh by introducing permaculture, restoring irrigation, installing solar pumps, and building reservoirs. These measures have lowered food costs, reduced imports, and created jobs. A second phase will add food processing and training.
Education remains central. With HHP’s support, a school for displaced Christians in Iraqi Kurdistan now serves 1,000 students. President Katalin Novák inaugurated it in 2022, calling it a symbol of hope.
Perhaps the most striking example is Tel Askuf, where Hungarian backing restored 600 homes, five schools, and St. George Church, enabling 1,000 of 1,300 displaced families to return. Locals call the town the “Daughter of Hungary.”
Hungary’s support has also reached Erbil, where an HHP-funded school serves both Christians and Muslims. Featuring Hungarian cultural influences, it remains a beacon of education and coexistence.
From villages to livelihoods, Hungary Helps acts on the principle that the best way to aid the persecuted is to help them thrive in their ancestral homelands. The Chaldean Community Foundation’s award honors not only the scale of Hungary’s commitment, but the depth of its partnership with Iraq’s Christian community.