Societal responses to the Russian war: grassroots initiatives’ and NGOs’ engagement in Poland and Ukraine

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine has added yet another layer to the already complex set of crises facing the world. However, its unexpectedness, duration, and brutality sets it apart from other international challenges. The Cold war was over, Soviet-era imperialism was supposedly in the past, and hybrid warfare was not to become a conventional war. None of that mattered, and the repercussions of the war affected Ukrainian civilians immediately and directly. The effects also spread to Ukraine’s neighbours, especially those that welcomed large numbers of Ukrainians. Since February 2022, Poland is the country where at least 15 million of refugees crossed the Ukrainian/Polish border, with more than 1.6 million applying for national protection in Poland (UNHCR 2023). Polish civil society was the first to respond, welcoming Ukrainian war refugees, providing them with shelter and in-kind support (Rudnicki 2023). Informal citizen initiatives and NGOs organized humanitarian assistance, but social groups also provided military aid for those who stayed in Ukraine to fight (Chimiak and McMahon 2023). Polish businesses and local governments joined celebrities and private individuals, some of the latter engaged in ‘humanitarian smuggling’ (Cullen Dunn and Kaliszewska 2023). Over time, international NGOs, UNHCR and the Polish government joined this grassroots volunteering movement to assist Ukrainian refugees (most of whom were women and children). International volunteers and Ukrainian civil society itself have likewise been engaged in the humanitarian effort.
Given these facts, the role and the position of informal and formal civil society has been pivotal, especially in the first several months of the crisis. About half an year after the invasion, the need for immediate assistance subsided and Polish NGOs, including well-established humanitarian actors, but also other NGOs like those supporting migrants, stepped in and developed new (or included in existing) projects targeting Ukrainian refugees. Accordingly, international volunteers and NGOs went on to establish organizations like KHARPP, which began its work on the Polish-Ukrainian border in March 2022 and is now a UK-registered charity. Later, it relocated their activities to work in one of the worst hit regions of Ukraine, the Kharkiv oblast. Building on their hitherto experience cooperating with Ukrainian partners in the area of democracy promotion (Pospieszna 2014), Polish NGOs also expanded their efforts, working directly in Ukraine (Pospieszna and McMahon 2023). Despite the war and Russia’s involvement, Ukrainian, Polish and international NGOs are working in numerous ways to strengthen education, entrepreneurship, and local governance in Ukraine.
The papers included in this panel are premised on supply-side theories of non-profits that emphasise the contribution of individuals establishing or joining non-profits or the behaviour of those organisations (James 1987). All the papers are based on recent empirical studies and fieldwork.

References

Chimiak, G. and P. McMahon. 2023. A Grassroots Humanitarian Uprising: Polish society’s response to Russia’s War in Ukraine. Manuscript
Cullen Dunn, E. and I. Kaliszewska. 2023. Informality, Geopolitics and the Art of Humanitarian Smuggling. June 20, 2023, lecture, recording available at https://www.facebook.com/PTSOddzialWroclaw/videos/218592191092434 (accessed June 23, 2023)
James, E. 1987. “The non-profit sector in comparative perspective” in Walter W. Powell (ed.) The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook. New Haven-Connecticut: Yale University Press
Pospieszna, P. 2014. Democracy Assistance from the Third Wave: Polish Engagement in Belarus and Ukraine. Pittsburg: Pittsburg University Press.
Pospieszna, P. and McMahon, P. 2023. Promoting Democracy During War: Polish NGOs' Strategies during the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine. Manuscript
Rudnicki, P. 2023. Kto, jak nie my? Wspólnota i działanie na dworcu głównym we Wrocławiu (Marzec-Kwiecień 2022). Wydawnictwo Naukowe Dolnośląskiej Szkoły Wyższej
UNHCR. 2023. Ukraine Refugee Situation. https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine

Sub Unit

• The role and position of the Third Sector during crises and conflicts

Individual Presentations

• Civil Society and Culture of Resilience in Ukraine: Key Trajectories of Development and Role in Current Resistance - Yuliya Bidenko, 1) Karazin Kharkiv National University, Political Science Department 2) ZOiS-Berlin

• Helping those leaving Ukraine in 2022: Experiences of a British, grassroots volunteer organization - Panayiotis Xenophontos, University of Oxford

• A Grassroots Humanitarian Uprising: Polish society’s response to Russia’s War in Ukraine - Patrice C. McMahon, University of Nebraska Lincoln; Galia Chimiak, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences

• Democracy Promotion in Wartime: Commitment of Polish NGOs in Ukraine - Paulina Pospieszna, Adam Mickiewicz University; Patrice C. McMahon, University of Nebraska Lincoln