It has been already three weeks since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, resulting in numerous casualties including civilians and large-scale destruction, leaving many people without their homes, forcing them to flee and endangering their very existence.
The number of the refugees, as reported by the UN, is now counting over 3 million with the humanitarian crises increasing every day. In this situation of fear and despair, social entrepreneurs have stepped up, using their skills and networks to support their country and nation. We are proud to say that one of them and leading the way is Anna Gulevska-Chernysh, co-founder of SILab Ukraine, a platform promoting development of social enterprise and social innovation in the country and one of our partners in the Collaborate4Impact project.
Following SILab’s vision ‘My country is my home’, Anna was one of the first to reorganize the activities of the enterprise, from usual activities of delivering accelerator programmes and mentorship to social enterprises to coordinating humanitarian support for internally displaced people who fled their home to safer places within Ukraine, the number of which is now exceeding 2 million and expected to rise.
‘The number of those who need to abandon their homes and flee to other parts of Ukraine are increasing by minutes. Those are mainly women, children, elderly people.’ says Anna.
The whole team consisting of seven women, some of which still in Kyiv, are working relentlessly to help those in need. In Chernivtsi, where the Multidisciplinary Lyceum for Gifted Children has been transformed into a refugees shelter, the SILab Ukraine team has helped purchase a generator and equip the institution with sleeping areas, providing blankets, mattresses, pillows and mats.
Together with the charitable foundation ‘Strengthening Communities’, in the Khmelnytskyi region in Shepetivka, SILab helped purchase food, medicine and clothing. The help doesn’t stop there. Together with our member Valores Foundation, SILab’s initiative Shelter Ukraine is collecting funding to set up shelters, equip them with mattresses, blankets, kitchenware and other necessities for the internally displaced people. Every US$100 buys a shelter for a person while an estimated US$10 supports one person a day and our partners are grateful for all the help they can get.
In solidarity with its partners in Ukraine, EVPA is helping and supporting SILab’s humanitarian efforts to ease the suffering of the refugees, internally displaced people and civilians caught within the conflict zones. If you are looking to support, here are some initiatives from our members and partners, in hope to ease the suffering of people and the soon end to this war.