Cooperation in times of crisis - Social welfare institutions in the face of war refugees from Ukraine

• In Event: The critical role of the third sector in the Ukraine crisis across Europe

Abstract

The main empirical question of this paper is how social workers perceive cooperation with the local community during the refugee crisis in Poland caused by the war in Ukraine. The question will be situated within the broader literature on the culture of disasters. This paper contributes to the panel discussion by showing that social workers are inherent to disaster responders in macro-scale shock and crisis events. This perspective emphasises the importance of working with civil society and grassroots initiatives, often referred to as emergent groups (McEntire), informal insurrence (Aldrich), disaster resilience communities (Twigg), etc.
I will base my observations on the empirical research carried out in July 2022 in six voivodships in Poland, using the computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) technique, among social workers employed in local social welfare institutions where most war refugees were given shelter. The research was aimed at answering a number of questions, but in the framework of the panel proposals I will analyse the following problems: (1) How do social workers assess the commune's readiness to assist refugees (infrastructure, availability of services, availability of staff, availability of housing)?; (2) With which institutions have social welfare centres cooperated in assisting refugees from Ukraine and how do they assess this cooperation?; and (3) What were the social workers' positive experiences in cooperating with the local community for war refugees from Ukraine?.
The statistical analysis conducted allowed us to answer whether the above questions differ according to the size of the institution represented, the length of service, the position held and the size of the city where the duties were performed.
The main conclusions and their relevance for an international audience are that regardless of their country of origin, the cause of their situation or their social status, war refugees have become the subject of interest in the social work profession, whose aim is to help people by providing specific social services. Social science interest in disasters mainly focuses on natural disasters and is overshadowed by considerations of human-made disasters (Harding, 2007; Grossi & Vakulenko, 2022), which is also a true claim if one looks at the social work literature. The paper addresses the role of social work in the context of helping people experiencing human-made disasters, which include Russia's war with Ukraine.

Author

• Ryszard Necel, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan