Supported by: “USAID/ENGAGE activity, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Pact in Ukraine.
On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. During the 11 months of the full-scale war, the Russian army has carried out 4,500 missile strikes and more than 8,000 air raids across Ukraine. As a result of these actions, millions of Ukrainians were forced to flee their places of residence and move to safer cities/villages.
So far, 4.5 million people in Ukraine have been officially recognized as internally displaced persons (IDPs), and the process is still ongoing. But there could be many more, as thousands of Ukrainians are evacuating from the occupied territories every day.
Most of the cities where IDPs have moved to are welcoming new residents and trying to help them adapt to the new realities. In turn, IDPs also try to be useful to their new city.
However, despite the cohesion of the entire Ukrainian nation, the problem of internally displaced persons remains one of the most pressing in Ukraine. Every person who has been forced to leave their home and move to an unfamiliar place faces incredible stress, as well as the following problems:
– How to get IDP status?
– Where to find housing?
– How to get a new job?
– How to get humanitarian aid?
These and other demands need to be met in a short period of time, but it is very difficult to find important information in such a stressful and difficult time. There is no such platform where one can find answers to all the above questions in the shortest possible time, and even more so to meet such special needs as preservation of identity, national food, location of religious buildings, churches, mosques, synagogues, cemeteries, special shops, and food services. Therefore, a chatbot for IDPs, which will collect all the necessary information for internally displaced persons, could be a solution to this problem:
Obtaining IDP status
Humanitarian and financial assistance
Support for IDP entrepreneurs
Employment
Primary legal advice
Education
Housing
Food (halal, kosher food)
Local attractions, recreation
Cultural centers, Religious sites
Local chats for IDPs
Questionnaire on violations of rights by the occupiers
This chatbot, which will become a kind of user path for IDPs, will help not only to meet the basic needs of each person, but also to preserve their identity as IDPs from among the indigenous peoples of Ukraine and representatives of national minorities.
Project materials:
Press conference: “TurBOTa about IDPs” – a bot that will help integrate into a new community