So far, around 600,000 women and children have come to Germany from Ukraine. There are currently another 4 million people seeking protection in Poland, some of whom may also come to Germany. The solution MUST be in the digital realm to provide these people with the necessary information and efficiently control administrative processes. Nowhere is a needs analysis that captures the priority needs of these people. At the same time, there is a patchwork of offers of help. These offers must be linked to needs – this can only be done effectively by mapping and analyzing data.
Challenges and solutions lie in the digital sphere
We are currently working on a platform whereby a profile is created for each person who needs help. Together with psychologists and sociologists, we have developed forms that consider, for example, disabilities, animals or the age structure of the children.
Seen from the supply side: To provide help efficiently, support offers must be transparent. Every NGO, every association, and every volunteer can become a partner of the UKRAINIAN FUTURE Aid Association according to our association statutes. In this case, too, our platform solution takes effect, so that help and needs can be linked efficiently.
We continue to dialogue with the families.
A crucial factor in our work is compliance: has help gotten to where it was supposed to? The people supported by our association at various levels are accompanied and not just “guided through.” To this end, we have established a feedback procedure, which at the same time helps us to improve our work continuously.
95% of seeking protection families get information via social media. Obtaining information that is relevant to them directly from the authorities, for example, does not work. In addition to language barriers, this is due to non-intuitive web products such as confusing websites. Official platforms are only used to make appointments. Our partners are META, Instagram, and Facebook. We also talk to google so that, for example, relevant government websites appear on the first few pages. Our volunteers are heavily digitized, thanks to our cooperation partner META, with whom they can regularly train.
Our online platform: information, network, and labor market
In addition to the wide range of knowledge and assistance, the labor market is another platform component. For this, we talk to XING, for example. Our approach is to automatically transfer relevant information on the CV and professional experience that can be accessed via XING so that the women can find suitable jobs as quickly as possible.
Parallel to XING, we are holding talks with large companies to create opportunities to learn German in the work process. As a rule, a career in Germany only starts at language level C1; here, we would like a little more “speed.” If Ukrainians start a career quickly at this point, these companies will have employees from Ukraine, with whose help, in the best-case scenario, those companies would enter the Ukraine market after the war’s end.
When it comes to data protection, Ukraine is a pioneer in that field
An essential part of each of our processes is the issue of data protection. Ukraine is considered the leading country in digitization and IT in Europe. In Ukraine, all documents, from ID to driver’s license to medical records, are managed online in one app. Even Russian cyber forces have not yet managed to access this data.
Only a small group of employees have access to personal data within our platform. The rest of the team only works with IDs.
Our vision
With our know-how and our processes, we are supported by all DACH countries, including Austria and Switzerland. We are in a good connection with and an official partner of the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and the Ukrainian Armed Forces. We see Germany as the leading partner in Europe for Ukraine. Many ties bind us, and this war strengthens those ties through painful experiences. Our vision is sustainable international understanding and open civil society in Ukraine. For years, attempts have been made to bring democracy into Ukraine from the outside. Now our women and children are experiencing this democracy here in Germany. At some point, they will take these values back to their Homeland.
