Attachments
Humanitarian situation in Poland.
As of 20 July 2022, some 1.9 million Ukrainian refugees remain in Poland or have passed through Poland to other EU countries. Polish Economic Institute, Warsaw University and PCPM independently estimate the number of Ukrainian refugees in Poland at 1.3 - 1.5 million. 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees have registered in the Polish social security system PESEL, out of which some 528,000 (44%) are children. Women constitute another 44% and elderly 8%. In contrast to other refugee crises, over 50% of adult refugees have found employment and are becoming self-sufficient.
PCPM is focusing its humanitarian assistance on three most vulnerable groups, unable to benefit from the access to job market: a) women with small children, b) elderly and c) persons with disabilities. While the Polish government is providing 500 PLN per month child benefit, other types of government-funded humanitarian or social assistance are yet to be commenced.
Sector: Basic Needs
Targeted Cash Assistance Program. Since March 2022 PCPM has implemented second-largest cash assistance program for the Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Thanks to the funding from CARE USA, the IRC and HelpAge (UK), PCPM has rolled out Targeted Cash Assistance Program (TCAP), The country-wide program is focused a) on persons with disabilities and their guardians, and b) Ukrainian pensioners, over the age of 60. The cash assistance duration is 6 months. The children are not included in TCAP as they should benefit from 500 PLN child benefit paid out by the Polish government. 3,000 families have been enrolled to-date in Warsaw and other cities, with thousands more scheduled to be enrolled in the coming 2 months through PCPM’s Cash Assistance center in Warsaw, as well as mobile teams.
UNHCR Cash Assistance in Lublin. PCPM is implementing UNHCR-funded Cash Assistance program for the Ukrainian refugees in Lubelskie Voivodeship. Also this cash assistance is focused on severely vulnerable refugees, predominantly persons with disabilities and chronic diseases. Todate some 1,400 families benefited from this assistance, with additional 1,600 to be enrolled by end of August. PCPM operates a registration in Lublin, hosted in one of the schools made available by the local authorities, as well as outreach teams visiting communal centers throughout the region, including powiats (counties) adjacent to the Ukrainian border.
Cash for Rent is PCPM’s flagship program, implemented since 2012 to assist Syrian refugees in Lebanon and after 2014 also in Ukraine. Thanks to the support from Taiwan, PCPM is preparing a roll-out of a pilot cash assistance program in Lublin and Lubelskie Voivodeship to assist the local authorities decongest communal centers.
PCPM Office in Ukraine is raising alert that hundreds of thousands of civilians may need to be evacuated from destroyed villages in vicinity of the frontline, where lack of food, water, electricity and heating makes it impossible to survive the winter. In this respect PCPM aims to support creating contingency space in the existing communal centers for arriving refugees.
Transit Center at Warsaw East Railway Station, operated jointly by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and PCPM since March 2022 at Lubelska Street (ul. Lubelska) will operate until at least September 2022 thanks to streamlined layout. Majority of refugees now arrive by bus, including through a semi-regular bus service from Zaporizhzhia and PCPM evacuation busses from Kremenchuk. PCPM started the latter service on the first day of the war and continues to-date on a biweekly basis. The evacuation busses originate from PCPM transit hub in Kremenchuk that has assisted over 5,000 evacuees from war-affected areas of Eastern Ukraine to-date. Continuation of PCPM civilian evacuation program past May 2022 was made possible thanks to a generous donation from Taiwan.