Projects

Chernobyl Children International funds and manages a wide range of vital programmes to benefit children affected by the terrible legacy of Chernobyl.

With the help of thousands of volunteers in Ireland and worldwide and the generous support of individual and corporate donors, we maintain the below programmes.

In 20 years, CCI has effected some miraculous changes in the lives of Chernobyl’s children—and in the world’s awareness of the tragedy. Working together with the Belarusian government, the United Nations and our many volunteers, we've been able to deliver medical and economic aid to the affected region, fund important research and campaign for greater awareness of the issues.

Some of our accomplishments include:

• We've airlifted 22,000 children from Belarus for recuperate caring Irish families, helping to reduce their contamination levels by 30 to 50 percent.
• We funded and coordinated 20,000 life-saving surgeries for children suffering from a heart defect known as “Chernobyl heart.” Thousands more will receive treatment between 2010-2011.
• We have delivered more than €91 million in direct and indirect aid to the communities of Belarus, Western Russia and the Ukraine, making us the largest sole purchaser of aid for the area.
• We flew 300 children to Ireland and other parts of the world for various life-saving, specialist surgical interventions.

• We provided more than 250 children with “Homes of Hope,” allowing them to live with a loving family of their own instead of an institution.
• We improved and refurbished day-care centres throughout Belarus. These centres provide a complete range of vital facilities to impoverished communities, reaching up to 67,000 people per centre.
• We renovated and refurbished Vesnovo Children’s Mental Asylum, transforming a substandard, unhygienic building into a thriving facility that was voted the best orphanage for children with special needs.