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As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, millions of Ukrainians were forced to leave their country and seek refuge in other countries. By the beginning of April 2022, 2.7 million refugees arrived in Poland, 90% of them women and children, and over 800,000 registered for Temporary Protection in Poland.
Assistance in finding a job in Poland has been one of the refugees’ main needs. The simplified procedure for hiring Ukrainian refugees was introduced on the 26th of March 2022, as part of the special law on assistance to Ukrainian citizens. According to the law, Ukrainian citizens have been able to work in Poland without the need to apply for a special work permit. The available reports from Warsaw and Rzeszow showed that while around three-quarters of arriving Ukrainians wanted to join the labour market as of early April 2022, only less than 30% were able to identify a potential employer.
In response to this need, in early April 2022 the Polish Center for International Aid Foundation (PCPM), in partnership with CARE International in Poland, launched the Cash for Work Program that aimed to provide emergency employment to Ukrainian refugees and to support local governments, public institutions, and non-governmental organizations in the provision of public services to Ukrainian refugees. The Program was later expanded thanks to financial support of International Rescue Committee (from May to November 2022) and the Government of Taiwan (from September 2022 to present).
The project has been implemented in cooperation with local governments, public institutions and non-governmental organizations that were in need to employ Ukrainian-speaking staff to provide public services to Ukrainian refugees. Between April 2022 and February 2023, the CfW Program provided employment to 1,705 individuals at 24 locations across Poland. 97% of employees were women and 3% men; 96% were between 18-59 years-old and 4% were 60 or above. Nearly two-thirds (68%) of refugees employed through the Program worked as teaching assistants, 10% as support staff, 10% provided psychological support or social work, 9% worked at cultural institutions and 3% as administrative support.
To understand the socioeconomic situation of refugees employed in the CfW Program and measure the Program’s impact, PCPM conducted three post-distribution monitoring surveys (PDM) on representative samples of beneficiaries. The surveys were conducted in September 2022 (272 respondents), December 2022 (286 respondents) and February 2023 (461 respondents).