by John Beaton-Hawryluk, Ukraine Crisis Response Programme Coordinator (EVOC)
It’s a little under seven months since the war started by Russia on Ukrainian territory at 5am on Thu 24 Feb.
It was an escalation of the war that started in 2014 in the Donbas region and with the annexation of Crimea.
In the weeks and months leading up to the day of invasion, it was clear something was happening.
There was intelligence of an attack, Russian troops were gathering near Ukrainian borders and political leaders from the G20 were making hurried visits to Kyiv and to Moscow, to assess the situation – throwing their support behind Ukraine and attempting to broker peace before what was about to unfold.
In the months since, we’ve seen nearly 7,500 Ukrainians seek safe refuge here in Edinburgh.
Coming from all corners of Ukraine, Ukrainians have started to quickly settle into their new communities, working in local employment and accessing the wide range of public and voluntary sector services across the city.
Since the City of Edinburgh Council’s call to action six months ago, the voluntary sector has been pivotal to the response of Local and National Governments. Whether it be the Volunteer Edinburgh Community Taskforce supporting the welcome desks at travel hubs, local employability providers providing Ukrainian focussed job programmes or local food providers ensuring no one goes hungry – the voluntary sector can be very proud of what has been achieved in such a short space of time.
As the crisis in Ukraine has unfolded, EVOC has been involved in weekly partnership meetings to ensure we are ready to offer support on every level for the people arriving in our City. These meetings also include representatives from Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Health & Social Care Partnership, Edinburgh Airport, Scottish Refugee Council and other key partners. EVOC’s particular role is to support the strategic and practical responses needed in vital areas of work such as Children & Families, Food Provision, Funding and Mental Health & Wellbeing.
As the Response goes beyond six months, it is important that we ensure it has the resilience to respond to the challenges ahead and make sure that the Ukrainian community is properly supported. With the support of Scottish Government, Baillie Gifford, University of Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh Council and One City Trust we are pleased to have confirmed four new response specific posts across the voluntary sector:
Volunteer Edinburgh: Anna Nevmerzhytska – [email protected]
- Supporting the coordination of the community taskforce volunteers at travel hubs and coordinating volunteer drop-in sessions to support Ukrainian clients to access volunteering.
Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain: Tanya Balanova – [email protected]
- Coordinating community activities at the Ukrainian Community Centre and making referrals to partner agencies who can support clients.
Capital City Partnership: Nika Kozak-Herzallah – [email protected]
- Supporting Ukrainian clients to access and promote employability provision in city.
Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council: John Hawryluk – [email protected]
- Supporting and coordinating the voluntary sector to contribute to the city-wide Response and advocate to City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Government for additional resource on behalf of the voluntary sector.
These new roles will work across the Ukrainian community and wider response to support access to volunteering, employability and support agencies as well as supporting the voluntary sector to connect with the Ukraine Crisis Response in the City.
If you, or your organisation, want to discuss how you could engage with the city’s response to the Ukraine crisis please get in touch [email protected] or reach out to one of the team to find out more.
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