CrimeaSOS facilitators registered and processed 6,541 appeals from IDPs

Since November 2022, CrimeaSOS facilitators have received and processed 6,541 appeals from internally displaced persons. Only in July of this year – 1008 appeals.

Facilitators work in 14 regions of Ukraine, and almost every one of them has requests for employment. The local labour market does not always meet needs. People realize that they will not return home soon and actively look for work opportunities.

In particular, such requests arise in the Lviv and Rivne regions, where the CrimeaSOS program has been operating since the beginning of 2022 to provide advice and support on issues of employment and self-reliance for internally displaced persons. 

Consultants help IDPs in three areas:

1. 1.Help with job search: compiling a portfolio, a motivational letter and preparing for an interview.
2. 2.Help with finding training (education) opportunities.
3. 3.Support when starting business: search for grant programs, help in drawing up a business plan.

“Now we observe that the supply of opportunities in Lviv exceeds the demand, so we have focused our activities on the region. In recent weeks, we have been traveling across Lviv region, communicating with local authorities, trying to come to the IDPs with requests that correspond to ours”, — says Denys, CrimeaSOS consultant on employment of IDPs.

CrimeaSOS facilitators communicate individually with forced migrants and fix the main problems in the fields of legal and social protection, work with children, etc. The data is sent to UNHCR project partners for their analysis, processing and further assistance to IDPs.

CrimeaSOS facilitators currently work in 14 regions of Ukraine: Vinnytsia, Poltava, Sumy, Cherkasy, Ternopil, Lviv, Rivne, Chernihiv, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Volyn, Chernivtsi and Ivano-Frankivsk.

The work of facilitators and consultants in the regions is conducted as CrimeaSOS activity within the project “Strengthening IDP communities in the central and western regions of Ukraine”. The project is implemented with the financial support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).