01--Innovation on the Front Line- The Impact of Technology in Ukraine's Humanitarian Response

<h1>Innovation on the Front Line: The Impact of Technology in Ukraine's Humanitarian Response</h1><p>24 February 2023</p><p>One year has passed since Russia invaded Ukraine. The ongoing conflict has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history. Millions of people are displaced, food insecurity is rising, and the economy is struggling. </p><p>But, among the chaos, there is a glimmer of hope thanks to the widespread assistance that nations, corporations, and individuals provide through donations and technological help. Let's take a closer look at how technology empowers the change in how we all provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine.</p><h3>The Need for Tech-Based Solutions in Ukraine</h3><p>How severe the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are overwhelming. Around five million people have been internally displaced, and over 13 million people require humanitarian aid immediately, according to the United Nations. The conflict has also significantly harmed the economy, with a 6.5% estimated GDP decline in 2022. In addition, according to the World Food Programme, an extra five million Ukrainians are experiencing food insecurity. There has never been a more pressing need for creative technological solutions to address these issues.</p><p>Technology has a crucial role to play in delivering relief to conflict victims. It can promote communication between persons in need and relief organizations, increase access to essential services and resources, and monitor the effectiveness of relief efforts.</p><p>New and more effective solutions can be developed, such as deploying drones to deliver necessities or using artificial intelligence to offer online counseling services. To enable technology to innovate how humanitarian aid is provided, we must bridge the gap between high-tech skills and non-profit organizations. We can see some great examples of how we can merge great experience in providing relief with tech solutions that offer to scale the impact. Let's look at some examples of significant initiatives that were launched amidst the crisis.</p><h3>Solutions Created to Support Ukraine</h3><p>The creation of the Polish NGO Forum was one of the outstanding achievements that were prompted by the crisis. Over 200 organizations actively responding to the Ukrainian refugee crisis are coordinated through the forum, founded by the Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH) and Ashoka, a community for changemakers promoting social entrepreneurship. The NGO Forum connects its members with global actors, as well as offers operational support. By matching and connecting various actors, it seeks to produce long-term systemic solutions in terms of using the capacity of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local NGOs (LNGOs), multistakeholder cooperation, and collective impact.</p><p>Another initiative that emerged was the Happy Kids Foundation's evacuation programs. The foundation has been providing family-type foster care in Poland since 2001. It launched its programs and organized transfers of children without parental care and their caregivers to safe accommodation sites in Poland. The sites are supported with material supplies, healthcare, psychological, educational, and developmental needs. The foundation created a medical team, including a visiting psychologist. The foundation engages local, national, and international NGOs to ensure cooperation, coordination, and effectiveness of the support provided.</p><p>What was essential at the time was to forge a partnership between knowledgeable non-profit organizations and tech changemakers competent at leveraging tech to scale impact. The #TechForUkraine campaign, run by Tech To The Rescue, addressed this gap.</p><h3>The Tech Community Stepping Up</h3><p>The Tech For Ukraine campaign was launched on February 23, 2022, just one day before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Over 540 companies from 40 countries pledged their support to non-profit organizations helping Ukraine. The list included major players such as Amazon Cloud Services, Salesforce, Orange, and others.</p><p>During the first month of the crisis, Tech To The Rescue maintained a database of over 100 concurrent projects aimed at helping Ukraine. This database prevented solution fragmentation and helped increase the impact of the support provided.</p><p>NGOs from multiple countries have submitted their projects, and over 120 of them have already been matched with a dedicated tech company that has delivered or is in the process of providing a suitable tech solution according to the most urgent needs. </p><p>In March of 2022, Google.org offered its support by providing $500k in grant funding and a Google.org Fellowship membership. A team of Google.org Fellows worked hand-in-hand with Tech To The Rescue on a full-time pro-bono basis for six months to build impactful tech products for Ukraine. The campaign is ongoing, and new projects are being matched for tech support every month, with many focused on recovery efforts.</p><h3>Making a Significant Impact While Recognizing Ongoing Needs</h3><p>Among some notable projects delivered due to collaborations established by the campaign is the Sunflower project, supported by Google.org and involving building an infrastructure for a coalition of various groups such as the International Association of Penal Law, Centre for IHL and Transitional Justice, Peace and Justice, and others.</p><p>120 projects matched under the #TechForUkraine initiative include among others:</p><p>- A website that helped raise $24.5M thanks to partnership between NovaUkraine and Automattic </p><p>- MapujPomoc, a catalog of non-profits supporting Ukraine, which was recognized by UNHCR and used as part of the system for redistributing United Nations resources. </p><p>- UASOS, a platform connecting refugees with shelter. Now inactive due to change in needs, but originally has ensured 50,000 safe nights across eight countries when they were most urgently needed. </p><p>The impact of Tech For Ukraine shows how technology can be harnessed for good and how partnerships between NGOs and tech companies can make a significant difference in humanitarian aid efforts. And there is still a lot to do! </p><h3>Our work is not done here</h3><p>The war is not over yet and non-govenmental organisations are working harder than ever to deliver needed help. New projects supporting Ukraine are still being added to Tech To The Rescue platform. They focus on recovery, rebuilding the country, and empowering Ukrainians in strengthening their economy. Many of them proivide mental health support and increase wellbeing and safety of children.</p><p>Some of the projects currently looking for technology partners include:</p><p><strong>Mentorship program: development to support Ukrainian IT specialists in finding jobs in Europe</strong> - Tech Talents needs support in providing guidance and assistance to professionals to shorten their job search journey.  </p><p><strong>Consultation for NGO-management software for the largest patient-led organization in Ukraine</strong> - CO «100% Life» (formerly the Network of PLWH) is the largest patient-led organization in Ukraine whose mission is to fight for Life. They are looking for a partner who could support future development of &quot;NGO management&quot; , their universal mobile application that can be adapted to the needs of any organization and allow one to take part in the organization's life from the smartphone. </p><p><strong>Mobile app Facilitating access to psychological help for Ukrainians</strong> - Ucare.me is an online platform that aims to provide MHPSS support to Ukrainians. Ucare.me has the ambition to provide Mental Health and Psycho-Social support to thousands of Ukrainians to deal constructively with the stress of war, restore their psycho-emotional state, and find strength for a new and better life. They need a tech partner to build a mobile app for their project. </p><h3>Join #TechForUkraine</h3><p>The Tech For Ukraine campaign is a testament to the power technology possesses to make a difference in the world. By leveraging the tech community's skills, knowledge, and resources, the campaign is helping provide aid and support to those in need in Ukraine. <strong>Join us and pledge your support - help us create even more solutions that leverage the power of technology to scale the impact of humanitarian aid.</strong> </p><h3>About Tech To The Rescue</h3><p><em>Tech To The Rescue is a platform connecting NGO and technology companies interested in realizing pro bono and/or low bono projects for influential non-governmental organizations. Tech To The Rescue looks for and selects digital projects in the social area and finds companies interested in realizing them. In the last two years they have successfully coordinated Tech For Ukraine  movement where they matched over 100 projects that were focused on scaling the impact of NGOs supporting refugees. The projects they have matched have positively influenced life of more than 4 mln people. </em></p><p><em>For more information on Tech To The Rescue visit</em> <em><a href="https://www.techtotherescue.org/">www.techtotherescue.org</a></em> <em>or contact media@techtotherescue.org</em> </p><p>Download as</p><p>PDF</p><p>DOCX</p><p>Share</p>

01--Innovation on the Front Line- The Impact of Technology in Ukraine&apos;s Humanitarian Response

01--Innovation on the Front Line- The Impact of Technology in Ukraine's Humanitarian Response