On Thursday, July 27, the Communications Manager of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center Tetiana Podvorniak took part in the coordination webinar, which was held by the NGO CrimeaSOS for IDP communities.
“The problems of IDPs, especially those from among indigenous peoples, are known to us not only through conversations. Twice employees of our organization had to leave their homes because of the Russian Federation, first in 2014 from Crimea, and then in 2022 from Kyiv. Of course, in the new city they faced various problems from where to get an IDP certificate to where to buy halal food”,- she said.
According to Tatyana, the CTRC systematically received hundreds of requests from our compatriots from Crimea and other cities to help them in such matters.
“After that, we had the idea to collect all the important information for IDPs, taking into account the needs of indigenous peoples and national minorities, in one place. That’s how we got taking care about IDPs”,- she noted.
Tetiana Podvorniak talked about the structure of the chatbot and explained that this assistant provides the following information:
- How to get IDP status?
- Where can I find housing?
- How to find places of worship?
- How to get a new job?
- How to get humanitarian aid?
- How to find stores with special needs? (halal, kosher, vegetarian)
According to Tetiana, more than 9,000 people used the chatbot, lawyers and operators received dozens of requests from people. The most common question, of course, is when new cities will appear. Most of all, people clicked on such items as Humanitarian and cash assistance, housing for IDPs, food, useful groups for IDPs, and the like.
“So far, our chatbot covers 4 major cities: Kyiv, Lviv, Chernivtsi and Ivano-Frankivsk. However, in the future we plan to spread the geography and add even more important information that IDPs may need, because we see a demand for such a product”,- Podvorniak said.