Mother&Children Day, Rakowiecka 61, Warsaw, 2023
2023 was the first full year of the JRS Poland Foundation activities. Previously, for 10 years, the foundation existed as the Jesuit Refugee Service (you can read about our history here). Time to take stock of our activities – welcome!
JRS Poland supported 2,265 people from Ukraine in 2023, working as part of the One Proposal project – the coordinated response of the Society of Jesus, through the JRS country offices and the JRS Europe regional office, to the effects of the armed conflict in Ukraine. Our joint action aimed to welcome, accompany, serve, and act for forcibly displaced people so that they can recover, learn, and decide their future.
JRS Polish offices are in Warsaw, Poznań, Gdynia, and Nowy Sącz. The support provided at these offices included: Polish language courses, legal and psychological assistance, tutoring for children, meetings to integrate migrants into the Polish community, material support, job counseling, and help finding accommodation.
| Category support |
Girls <18 yo |
Boys <18 yo |
Women | Men | Sum |
| Emergency aid | 89 | 85 | 25 | 2 | 201 |
| Shelter | 12 | 60 | 529 | 121 | 722 |
| Legal assistance | 0 | 1 | 156 | 49 | 206 |
| Psychological support | 875 | 416 | 535 | 341 | 2 167 |
| Health | 7 | 5 | 104 | 15 | 131 |
| Education | 150 | 219 | 748 | 100 | 1 217 |
| Livelihood | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 9 |
| Advocacy/Awareness | 130 | 122 | 300 | 246 | 798 |
| Integration/Peacebuilding | 336 | 244 | 600 | 165 | 1 345 |
| Sum | 1 599 | 1 153 | 3 005 | 1 039 | 6 796 |
Ways & numbers of support by categories, given at JRS Poland under the One Proposal project in 2023
The 2,265 people supported benefited from a total of 6,796 types of support, which means each person benefited from an average of 3 types of assistance. As can be seen from the table above, psychological support proved to be the most needed category – accounting for 1/3 of the assistance provided, followed by integration/peacebuilding and education, each accounting for approximately 20% of the Polish team’s efforts. In addition to people from Ukraine, our integration activities brought together local Polish citizens – 65 people – and people of other nationalities – 350 people.
The One Proposal project will continue in 2024. The types of support provided are evolving to meet the current, changing needs of the beneficiaries. You can learn about our activities from www.jrs.center and JRS Poland’s social media profiles, Facebook and Instagram. You are also welcome to call us directly or at the JRS offices – our addresses and contacts can be found on the homepage www.jrs.center.
Plaque of arriving nationalities for World Migrant and Refugee Day, 61 Rakowiecka Street, Warsaw, 2023