Workshop 3 - support from institutions

Questions for the third workshop:

What support do we receive in meeting our needs? 

And what support do we need to stand on our feet more firmly?

During the final third workshop, the theme of difficult situations and challenges that may arise after arriving in Poland continued. Two parts were planned for this meeting. In the first, subgroups were to discuss difficult situations for people arriving from Ukraine in a refugee situation, to which there should be systemic solutions. In the second part, the participants deliberated on difficult situations and challenges with people representing institutions directly related to their institutional situation or dealing with social support. 

First, the participants divided into two subgroups. Then each subgroup drew 5 cards with a description of difficult situations they may have encountered in their daily life after arriving in Poland. The cards were prepared by the Warsaw Family Assistance Center and the Union of Ukrainians in Poland - Przemyśl Branch. 

Subgroups then held a discussion on how much the situations presented affect the lives of those who participated and how difficult they are to solve. After this, the subgroups were to create a ranking, with the situation that is most difficult to solve at the top and the situation that is easiest to solve at the bottom. 

In the next step, each participant was to create his or her proposal for a difficult situation on a prepared sheet of paper. As all people presented their proposals to the subgroup then, together, they were to supplement the existing ranking with new situations, placing them according to the level of difficulty of their solution. 

In the last activity before the break, the subgroups had one more task - to propose a procedure for solving difficult situations, starting with the most difficult one in the ranking, which the subgroup believes is possible to solve. Participants were to work out together the next steps for dealing with a given difficult situation. Once finished, they were to proceed to the next situation until the time allotted for this activity of 30 minutes ran out. 

After the break, the meeting was joined by expert persons from public institutions and aid organizations, who were to interact with the participating persons to seek solutions to the presented difficult situations within the framework of current laws and the aid system, or to point out what goes beyond the system and requires regulatory or legal changes to resolve a given situation. The subgroups took turns presenting each difficult situation, starting with those at the top of their rankings.