24th February 2024
Two years ago to this day, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine; a grim milestone but also one that allows us to reflect on our work over the past two years. Your donations and contributions have helped to change the lives of hundreds of displaced Ukrainians and Afghans and to offer them hope of a safer, more stable future for themselves and their families in the UK.
This short newsletter provides an update on what the team at USPUK have been up to so far in 2024, and some of our achievements, events and news. It has been an action-packed two months, and we are looking forward to sharing it with you!
Our Projects
USPUK continues to work on our resettlement initiative to identify, process and match prospective sponsors with Ukrainian guests. This initiative, which has enabled over 100 Ukrainians to travel to the UK and find safety with sponsors, is part of our wider Communities for Ukraine project along with Citizens UK.
In January, we sent out a survey to all our sponsors who welcomed Ukrainian guests over the last year, to enable them to inform us about the current situation with their guests, whether things were going well or not and how they anticipated the situation developing over the next year. We were pleased to receive considerable engagement with the survey and wanted to share some of our findings.
94% of the sponsors surveyed are still currently sponsoring their guests. Over half of these told us that they plan on continuing the sponsorship indefinitely, for as long as their guests wish to stay with them. A small number of sponsors are considering ending the sponsorship within the next six months, but none of these said that this was because of problems with their guests. Nearly two thirds of sponsors surveyed said that they would sponsor again in the future or recommend it to others; the others were largely unsure rather than opposed to this.
We also asked the sponsors in the survey whether there was any additional support, advice or assistance we could provide in the coming months. Most had no suggestions for improvements; one told us that “it was very helpful that your matching process enabled us all to be clear what was on offer and what the family needed.” Several outlined their concerns about how their guests would cope with finding accommodation independently once the sponsorship ends, and some asked us for advice or support in this area as well as in finding employment opportunities for their guests.
We were very pleased to have heard from so many sponsors that things were going well with their guests, and we appreciated all the feedback provided. None of our work would be possible without the sponsors’ generosity, commitment and willingness to help those in need.
Our Afghan Resettlement Project is also enjoying considerable success. In the last few months we have responded to over 500 questions from general Afghan refugees in the UK, providing valuable information and assistance, and delivered over 300 one-on-one support sessions to individuals in need. We have also assisted 30 families with job applications, ensuring they receive the necessary support and guidance. We have referred or invited 70 individuals to job fairs, facilitating their access to employment opportunities.
News and Events
We have recently had further opportunities to develop our outreach initiatives, expand our network and raise awareness of the concerns of our target communities by attending several events.
Earlier this week, we attended a reception held by the Labour Party in which the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer, met and spoke to displaced Ukrianians in order to understand their concerns and the main challenges they are currently facing. USPUK helped to organise and facilitate this event, inviting displaced Ukrainians, sponsors and representatives of partner organisations to attend. In his introductory speech, Starmer spoke about the widespread cross-party support for Ukraine and the importance of maintaining this solidarity in the future. We found his remarks incredibly encouraging and are heartened by the fact that support for Ukraine and its people will be unaffected by the outcome of the upcoming UK general election.
Next week we will be attending the 2024 Refugee Summit at the Conduit. Anil Qasemi, who leads our Afghan Resettlement Project, will be a speaker at the employment panel. The summit is about offering solutions to challenges and contributing to shaping the future of refugee integration.
Our team has also seen some changes. We were sorry to say farewell to Anastasiia Spivak, one of USPUK’s original founding members, who left the team at the end of January. USPUK’s successes and achievements over the last two years would not have been possible without Anastasiia’s dedication, commitment and brilliance. She will be missed.
We have also welcomed Anna Kanivets, who will be running our communications and social media campaigns, and are excited to see how things develop with her on board!
Thank you again for your generosity and support,
Best wishes,
The USPUK team (George, Tanya, Peter, Anil, Nasir and Anna)
