An International Response to the War – Caritas Partners Meeting

Photo credit: Caritas

On June 13-15th, the Caritas Emergency Response Support Team and its partners in Poland and Ukraine held a meeting Warsaw, Poland. In response to the Emergency Appeals announced by Caritas Ukraine, Caritas-Spes and Caritas Poland, Caritas organizations from around the world showed their support for implementing programs helping those affected by the war in Ukraine.

The Partners Meeting was attended by more than 50 delegates from organizations belonging to the Caritas Europa network and the broader Caritas Internationalis confederation that support humanitarian aid in Ukraine and Poland. It is an opportunity to reflect together on the current state of the response to the crisis and plan out the next steps.

The first 100 days of aid activities were summarized during Monday’s speeches by Fr. Vyacheslav Grynevych SAC, CEO of Caritas-SPES and Tetiana Stawnychy, President of Caritas Ukraine, as well as experts from both Ukrainian organizations.

– We divide time into pre-war and post-war. Our employees in various projects had to stop activities and completely change course. We reacted day by day. Caritas employees worked in shelters, but at the same time, they thought about their own families and faced the need to evacuate their loved ones. Thanks to the support of Caritas in Poland, we were able to set up an office in Warsaw – to organize humanitarian aid or even to continue operations in Poland, if we couldn’t do so in Ukraine. We are facing difficulties, but we are not alone. We have the support of our Caritas family. – said Grynevych.

Shelter, food and medical aid

Since the beginning of the war, over 500 thousand people have received help from Caritas-SPES in shelter, water, food and medical support. The organization runs 34 assistance centers. There is also a special hotline for people who need material and psychological support. Every day, it handles more than 1,200 phone calls. Plans include further development and expanding the assistance – more psychological help for IDPs, support for people in temporary locations and expansion of the call center.

Providing safe shelter victims of war, food aid and support in the area of health care – these are the tasks that Caritas Ukraine has set for itself in the coming year. Since the outbreak of war, the organization has already helped over 1 million people.

– Beneficiaries have received over 664 thousand food packages and over 268 thousand hygiene packages. Medical assistance was provided to almost 33 thousand people, safe shelter was provided to 27 thousand, and psychological support was given to almost 9 thousand people in need – said Hryhoriy Seleshchuk, head of the humanitarian department of Caritas Ukraine.

– Although we all want to return to normal life, we must remember that the war is still happening in many regions of our country. We see people in need – this is the biggest motivation to work, not only in Caritas, but in any humanitarian organization. We have already started moving from an emergency response to planned action. We know what the needs are and we try to respond to them – summarized Tetiana Stawnychy, Director of Caritas Ukraine.

In response to the emergency appeals launched by the two Caritas organizations in Ukraine and announced in the Caritas Internationalis network, national Caritas’s from dozens of other countries pledged support of 4.5 million EURO to Caritas-SPES and 18 million EURO to Caritas Ukraine. The value of the contribution will most likely exceed these initial declarations. Caritas Poland has also donated funds to its Ukrainian counterparts.

Polish aid for Ukraine

Part of the Partners Meeting was the Charity Forum, with the support of the Bank Pekao S.A. Foundation, organized on June 14 – a conference with the participation of experts connected with state administration, the non-governmental sector and business. In its first part, the participants summarized the current assistance activities undertaken for Ukrainian refugees in Poland. The potential, as well as difficulties in integrating refugees into Polish society were discussed, as well as areas of intersectoral cooperation in providing assistance. The discussion was attended by Jarosław Szajner, Head of Office for Foreigners from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland, Martín Lettieri (UNHCR inter-agency coordinator), Leszek Skiba (President of the management board Bank Pekao S.A.), Łukasz Skoczylas (Field Operations Manager – Polish Humanitarian Action), and Fr. dr Marcin Iżycki (Director of Caritas Polska).

In a short video, the participants of the Charity Forum could learn about the actions undertaken by Caritas in Poland after the outbreak of war, such as: deploying Hope Tents at border crossings, where volunteers provided support to thousands of refugees; organizing food aid; delivering in kind donations to those most in need in Ukraine. These have an estimated value of more than PLN 140 million PLN (consisting of hygiene products, medical supplies, including medicines, wheelchairs, electricity generators and many other items needed on the spot). Actions included launching logistical centers for the efficient transfer of aid to Ukraine. Caritas Poland plans in the near future include organizing summer holidays for Ukrainian children and launching a cash assistance program in Ukraine, similar to the Family-to-Family program implemented in the Middle East, with a value of 1 million EURO, as well as a project providing psychological assistance (also with a value of 1 million EURO). Ukrainian dioceses will receive funding for both projects.

Support from the network, aid from donors

Fr. dr Marcin Iżycki also informed about the launch of 32 through the Centers for Migrants and Refugees in Poland, where refugees from Ukraine find support (material aid, language support, in finding employment, etc.). He explained that the rapid response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine was possible thanks to the network structure of Caritas, based on parish and diocesan units working together and anchored in the Caritas Europa and Caritas Internationalis international federations.

– We can design our support for a long time and it will be effective – explained the director of Caritas Poland.

Caritas Polska, like the Ukrainian organizations, has launched an Emergency Appeal in the international Caritas network. The activities funded through this appeal, addressed to Ukrainian refugees in Poland, will be carried out mainly through the Centers for Migrants and Refugees launched by Caritas in our country, in close cooperation with dioceses and other Caritas centers. The funds will be used primarily for direct, one-off cash assistance to families, but also to provide safe shelter, psychological assistance and support in various areas of daily life (entering the labour market, language courses, child support and providing legal information). The appeal also includes humanitarian aid to our eastern neighbors, implemented as before with partners in the Caritas network. The value of the planned activities is more than 15 million EURO. The previous appeal of Caritas Polska yielded more than 1.2 million EURO. The funds were used to provide cash support to families (through dedicated prepaid cards) and to run a cross-border hub for humanitarian transports (also in agreement with Caritas Ukraine and Caritas-Spes).

Fr. dr Marcin Iżycki thanked donors for their support of Caritas initiatives for refugees, including those for Ukrainian children. Highlighting the generosity of the business community in Poland, which became involved in helping Ukraine through Caritas, he honored representatives of two companies: Mariusz Gola, sales director of Hewlett-Packard who, received the gold medal Deus Caritas est, and Bartosz Ciołkowski, director of Mastercard for Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, who received the Ubi Caritas award in the form of a statuette of St. Faustyna.

A need for world wide solidarity

The war in Ukraine has quickly ceased to have a purely regional scope. Its social, political and economic consequences are and will continue to be felt around the world. Its international context, including projections of social and economic issues and current and future proposals for responses, were discussed during the second part of the Charity Forum by Fr. Vyacheslav Grynevych (Director of Caritas-Spes), Tetiana Stawnychy (President of Caritas Ukraine), Maria Nyman (Secretary General of Caritas Europe), David Thomas (Program Manager, World Food Programme Ukraine) and Bartosz Zbaraszczuk (Head of the National Tax Administration). Discussion topics included the looming food crisis and the effects of strained supply chains on the wider international community. Conclusions focused on the need to strengthen international cooperation, including the search for new food distribution channels, in the face of threats to food supplies from and to Ukraine caused by the war and, in particular, the blockade of Black Sea ports.