OPINION: Shocking scenes in Ukraine prompt a desire to help, but it must be done right - Harrogate and District Community Action

Over the past two years we’ve seen how a resilient and well-organised local charity sector has been essential to help us get through the pandemic, working with the authorities to mobilise volunteers and support.

Now the terrible news from Ukraine has shifted our focus to the massive humanitarian crisis unfolding in Eastern Europe as refugees flee from the war and destruction.

It is totally understandable that the shocking scenes of people leaving with just what they can manage to carry prompt the desire to help in whatever way we can. Via our ebulletins and www.hadca.org.uk we’ve compiled information on how best to do so, encouraging people to donate cash to the Disaster Emergency Committee rather than organising collections of clothing and toiletries to transport to the region. There’s an excellent article online by US humanitarian logistics expert Dale Herzog which describes the “disaster within a disaster” as local agencies are overwhelmed with deliveries of items which arrive unsorted and often bearing no relation to what is actually needed on the ground. These are known as UBD’s – Unsolicited Bilalteral Donations. Facing exactly this situation, the Polish Government issued this request on its website on March 1:

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“We call on everyone wishing to help not to organise further collections of in-kind donations, as their transport to Poland – followed by a lengthy unloading, storage, selection and distribution procedure – generates disproportionate amounts of additional work and cost, which proves ineffective and counterproductive to the needs of those affected.” 

The impulse to “do something” is a reassuring sign of our humanity, but transporting collections of clothes, toys, bedding, toiletries and medication results in the challenges set out by the Polish Government. Those travelling by land must also negotiate complex customs regulations en route, and there are concerns about the safety of the personnel involved and also the environmental impact of these journeys

In his article Herzog identifies our need to be educated on how to give responsibly. This is true whether we are considering local good causes, responding to major disasters or helping those affected by war and conflict. Asking some key questions can help the right decisions to be made. Firstly what is the need? Secondly how is it best met? Thirdly is there an organisation which is already meeting this need which could do more if funded to do so? In the case of refugees fleeing Ukraine the scale of the challenge is so enormous that international aid agencies and charities already used to responding to major humanitarian crises are best placed to respond. Their staff work with local, regional and national governments on the ground to get the right type of support to where it needs to be and they can mobilise teams, supplies and expertise quickly and respond flexibly.

Giving time, skills, supplies and money are the four basic ways in which we can support good causes whatever the need or the crisis. If we educate ourselves about how to give more responsibly and usefully then we understand that donating cash is just as generous, kind and caring as sending UBD’s and much more useful in a humanitarian catastrophe.

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If Ukrainian refugees arrive in our District we must take a similarly intelligent approach and together connect into the wealth of experience already built up by our Harrogate and Ripon City of Sanctuary groups and Migration Yorkshire, working in partnership with the local authorities. Find out more about them now via HADCA or directly, so you can be informed and ready to respond promptly and appropriately when the call comes.