Who we are
What we stand for
SolidariTee is an international charity and movement striving for empowering, long-term change in the treatment of all those forced to flee their homes. Students and young people are at the heart of our movement, but our team and community includes people of all ages and backgrounds.
Together, as SolidariTee and our partner organisations, we are a combination of student activists, grassroots charity workers, legal aid professionals and mental health experts, standing alongside a thousands-strong community of supporters who share our vision for a world where every person forced to flee persecution and make deadly journeys in search of safety receives holistic, dignified, and lasting support.
Our student community
So far, we've been grateful and fortunate to have worked with more than 2000 student volunteers across 10 countries. Our students organise events, raise awareness, and unite the student community in support of refugees worldwide.
"I joined SolidariTee because I wanted to be a part of changing the injustices facing refugees by supporting NGOs that provide legal long-time solutions. Leading SolidariTee’s NTU team, my highlights were a Christmas bake sale and an awareness online panel event involving NGOs, such as Equal Legal Aid, and refugee advocates."
Yasmin, Nottingham Trent Head Rep 21-22
I've been volunteering for SolidariTee since October 2019, when I started as a Student Representative at Cambridge. I joined the team because I have always been invested in the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers across the globe and saw SolidariTee as a sustainable and effective way to make an impact alongside my studies.
I enjoyed the role so much, especially the sales and fundraising aspect, that I decided to join the Central team as Shop Manager in June 2020 in order to maximise the impact I was having and to ensure that SolidariTee continued to raise money globally and provide legal aid to more and more people. In this role, I was lucky enough to deal with customers on a global scale as well as our worldwide teams and take a front seat in viewing the consequences of SolidariTee's work, while getting to work alongside some amazing and inspiring people!
While I have moved on from being a student, SolidariTee and its success will always be close to my heart.
Kyle, Shop Manager 20-22 & recent graduate, now working in the charity sector
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Video: an introduction to SolidariTee
SolidariTee concept video: March 2021
Our NGO community
We bring together eight of the most impactful grassroots organisations (NGOs or non-governmental organisations) providing support to refugees and other migrants in vulnerable situation. We work in a partnership model, providing vital funding to enable them to carry out their work, as well as offering a platform to share knowledge, ideas, training, and best practices from the humanitarian sector, and hosting bespoke training and professional development opportunities.
Our partner NGOs are operational in Greece, where refugees and ayslum seekers are frequently forced to live in unsuitable refugee camps all year round, which are dangerous to people's mental and physical health. Our partners help by representing people through the asylum process, reuniting families separated across borders, appealing unjust decisions, and advocating for a fairer, more just asylum system. To read more about their work, please visit the link below, or check out our annual reports and 'partner spotlight' posts on social media.
"Everything would be difficult without Fenix’s guidance. It will be like a person who is standing in front of an intersection and doesn’t know which way to go."
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– 26-year-old woman from Afghanistan, and client of Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid. Fenix have been recipients of SolidariTee grant funding since 2019
Photo: Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid team
Our Leadership
CEO
Alexa Netty is SolidariTee's CEO, providing support to the student presidents and wider student team whilst also overseeing our overall trauma-informed legal aid programme and working directly with our partner NGOs.
Alexa works full-time in the humanitarian sector, focusing on programme quality, accountability and learning at a major humanitarian response charity. She is also a trustee and designated safeguarding lead at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, based in London.
Alexa took over the running of SolidariTee more than five years ago, during her undergraduate degree, and remains deeply in awe of the power of collective impact and student movements. Today, she brings her knowledge of humanitarian programme managment, experience of UK charity governance, and expertise in evaluation and learning, to SolidariTee's work with grassroots partner NGOs.
She holds degrees in psychology, neuroscience & behaviour, and in veterinary medicine, and is currently pursuing a part-time Masters in Global Health.
She can be reached with questions or concerns, and welcomes any feedback or ideas, via email at alexa@solidaritee.org.uk.
Student Presidents
SolidariTee's student presidents provide leadership to the entire student team, setting the direction of the student movement and co-ordinating across our university teams. Presidents hold this role for one academic year, with the 2024-25 student president roles being held by Tenley Fuentes Lema and Hannah Rand. They can be reached at central@solidaritee.org.uk.
Tenley Fuentes Lema is currently Co-President at SolidariTee. She previously was part of the York Team and was part of the central outreach team responsible for organising SolidariTee's annual conference 2024. Tenley is studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of York. Alongside Hannah, Tenley leads the central team composed of the fundraising and partnerships team, events and awareness raising team, social media team and supports the university fundraising coordinators, in addition to the university teams.
Hello! My name is Hannah Rand and I am a Law student at the University of Liverpool. I was fortunate enough to be the team lead for the University of Liverpool last year and will be working with Tenley this year in our Co-Student President role! I am looking forward to working with the central team to plan events like our annual conference and I can’t wait to meet all of our new SolidariTee volunteers.
Our trustees
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Like all UK charities, SolidariTee has a board of trustees, which provides valuable strategic guidance and governance support to the charity. Our trustee board consists of graduates who have volunteered with SolidariTee's student team during their time at university, as well as those who have worked at NGOs providing support to refugees in Greece, and includes people who have lived and family experience of forced displacement and migration. Together, our trustee board bring expertise across student activism, climate change and climate migration, communications and advocacy, asylum and migration law, and volunteer support and management.
Though trustee roles are typically strategic as opposed to operational, some trustees additionally taken on specific roles in the day-to-day running of the charity. Alexa, SolidariTee's CEO, sits on the board of trustees since she is an unpaid volunteer, and Izzy Ponsonby (formerly outreach director as an undergrad!) now holds a newly-created role focused on providing 1:1 support and mentorship to the student presidents, and wider capacity-building and support in the coordination of student fundraising and outreach activities. Together with the student presidents, this group of four forms our overall 'executive team', who work closely together across all of our activities. We have designed the team in this way to ensure that welfare and mental health is preserved for all of our team members, and to ensure that our sustainability as an organisation is strengthened and protected. Given that student presidents turn over each year, pairing their insights and leadership with collaboration from people who themselves know what it is to be part of the student team has helped us to retain the student-led magic of SolidariTee whilst also making sure that our knowledge base is built on year-on-year.
More about us
Founding Story
SolidariTee was founded in January 2017 by Tiara Sahar Ataii, a then-first year student at the University of Cambridge, in conjunction with a small group of fellow undergraduate students. Watch Tiara's TEDx Talk: 'A Sustainable Solution to the Refugee Crisis', co-written by CEO Alexa, for a summary of the reasons we believe that legal aid is the most empowering, long-term form of aid we can offer.
Other Achievements
In 2023, SolidariTee was shortlisted for the Third Sector Awards in the 'Volunteer Team of the Year' category. In the same year, SolidariTee and law firm Osborne Clarke were also announced winners of the legal category for their partnership in the Business Charity Awards.
2019, SolidariTee received a Diana Award, which is presented to exceptional young change-makers who have demonstrated a capacity to mobilise new generations to serve their communities and create long-lasting global change.