Miniila – which translates to “from…to” in Arabic – is a smart and innovative mobile phone app that has been launched at the second edition of the Lost in Migration conference in Brussels. The app has been developed together with migrant children who have fled their home country, leaving everything behind. But many of them have a smartphone and Missing Children Europe saw the opportunity of leveraging this crucial bit of technology to give these children access to information on their rights and the support services available wherever they are in Europe.
The result is an app that guides migrant children towards trustworthy people around them who can help provide shelter, food, health services, legal assistance, guardianship and more. It features real-time and regionally specific information in their own language to make them feel safer in a new and unfamiliar country.
Miniila has been financially supported by the H&M Foundation as one component of a three-year collaboration and a total donation of 11.3 million SEK.
“The Miniila app is an innovative and at the same time a relatively easy way to support these children.”
— Diana Amini, Global Manager at the H&M Foundation
“The app provides child friendly and updated information on the existing support services for migrant children, wherever they are, making the Miniila app a crucial source of information for children”, said Federica Toscano, Head of Programme for Children in Migration at Missing Children Europe.
“Irrespective of the reasons for going missing, once on the move or outside the protection systems, these children are extremely vulnerable – mentally and emotionally. We want to invest in the protection of these children and using smart technology and the Miniila app to support them is an innovative and at the same time easy way to do so”, says Diana Amini, Global Manager at the H&M Foundation.
The app, available in eight countries in Europe, is the concrete result of some of the recommendations that have been made by child rights experts to the European Commission and national leaders. It will empower children to make informed decisions and be better protected, rather than be forced to trust those who profit from their vulnerability.
More information on Miniila.com and on YouTube.
About the Miniila app
Miniila is the essential app for young newcomers and is specifically tailored to the needs of children on the move. It focuses on providing clear and child friendly information about dedicated services such as shelter, food, legal assistance, and health services in the area they are in, but also information on the rights of children in the EU and on relevant procedures for international protection and family reunification. The mobile app was developed in cooperation with software company trellyz, Translators Without Borders and Médecins du Monde and financed by the H&M Foundation. Other key partners involved are Save the Children (Radda Barnen, Sweden), Child Focus (Belgium), UK Refugee Council (United Kingdom), Médecins du Monde (Belgium) Terre des Hommes (Germany), The Nadja Centre Foundation(Bulgaria), Ecpat (France), The Smile of the Child (Greece), Telefono Azzurro (Italy) and Translators without Borders. More information on Miniila.com and on YouTube.
About our partnership with Missing Children Europe
Missing Children Europe is the European federation for missing and sexually exploited children and represent a network of 31 NGO’s in 27 countries. The H&M Foundation has joined forces with Missing Children Europe and with a total donation of 11.3 million SEK for a three-year period our project aims to close the protection gaps which lead to the disappearance and exploitation of children in migration.