Ukraine Refugee People’s Pulse

Summary

In 2022, Social Progress Imperative (SPI) and Play Verto committed to launching the Ukraine Refugee People’s Pulse in Poland. With up to 8.3 million refugees fleeing Ukraine by the end of 2022, support institutions are stepping to help, yet critical data concerning the needs of refugees is lacking. The Ukraine Refugee People’s Pulse will combine insights from the Social Progress Index on the capacity of refugee host communities with real-time feedback from refugees by utilizing a unique survey tool developed by Play Verto. The tool will map refugee needs to support and respond in a fast-changing environment, and will include not only immediate physical security needs, but also psychological wellbeing and livelihoods. SPI and Play Verto will collaborate with government, business, and civil society partners to inform their refugee interventions and support. The launch of the Pulse in Poland will be a starting point for scaling to other countries in Europe with large refugee populations.

Approach

The Ukraine Refugee People’s Pulse will combine insight from the Social Progress Index on the capacity of host communities together with real-time feedback from refugees through a unique survey tool designed by Play Verto to map their needs to support and respond to this fast-changing environment. By letting Ukrainian refugees tell their own stories through pulse surveys, international and local response can focus on most effectively meet their evolving needs. Social Progress Imperative commits to launching phase I of this pulse survey across Poland, with ambition to eventually expand across other European countries. The target audience for the outputs of the Ukraine Refugee People’s Pulse are decision-makers in government, business, and civil society to help them to contribute most effectively to the crisis.

The capacity of host communities can be measured using standard economic metrics (e.g. GDP per capita) combined with Social Progress Index data for the host countries and regionally disaggregated data (EU NUTS-2 level) available for EU states that border Ukraine. This will provide granular insight into the capacity of these host communities in terms of housing, infrastructure, educational services, health services, connectivity, etc.

The needs of the refugee population will be identified by an accessible, rigorous, game-like app-based survey tool developed by Play Verto. The structure of the survey tool will be based on existing literature and knowledge on refugee needs drawn from academic studies as well as experts from agencies such as UNHCR.

Engagement will include collaborating with Ukrainian organizations, aid organizations, and local governments working with the refugee populations.

The survey will focus not just on immediate needs for physical security but also look at psychological wellbeing, livelihoods, etc. And it can be adapted as the situation evolves. (e.g. extended to look at skills matching and employment or to inform refugee return and reconstruction.)

Action Plan

Step 1: Design and test the prototype of the tool, June – July 2022
Includes developing the methodology and technology behind the tool and its data collection platform.

Step 2: Develop and promote tool for Poland, July – October 2022
Includes updating the data and results over 3 months.

Step 3: Develop and promote tool for additional countries, October – December 2022
Includes updating the data and results over 3 months.

Background

The 2022 Ukraine refugee crisis is the largest that Europe has faced since the Second World War. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) , by June 2022 around seven million people had crossed Ukraine’s borders. Each week approximately 330,000 refugees were leaving Ukraine for neighboring countries. The UNHCR estimates that up to 8.3 million refugees could flee Ukraine by the end of 2022 and that up to 25 million people could be displaced and require humanitarian aid because of the war. Host countries, particularly those bordering Ukraine, face a huge burden. Local, national, and international institutions are stepping up to help, but the lack of data concerning the needs of the refugees makes it difficult for communities to adequately support them and to ensure that the refugees and the communities get the right resources to meet all their holistic needs.

Progress Update

Social Progress Imperative and Play Verto led the design of the Ukraine Refugee Pulse, drawing on the

extensive academic literature and practical guidance on understanding refugee needs. Deloitte

sponsored this project and led on the distribution of the survey to Ukrainian refugees in Poland and on

report dissemination. The initial report was distributed 21st October – 31st December 2022, with response priorities including children’s education, psychosocial supports, and equitable job placement. It captured,

1,206 responses of Ukrainian Refugees living in Poland.

Since launching the report SPI and PV have remained committed to expanding the survey to other countries across Europe. They have ongoing dialogues with Reckitt and the Lego Foundation to see how they might get involved and support the scaling of this survey.

Partnership Opportunities

Financial resources to scale to countries outside of Poland. In kind support for mutually beneficial partnerships for implementation, media, marketing

Branding, cross promotion, communications support.