Czech volunteers create centralised website to help war-stricken Ukraine
Within just a single weekend, an initiative of IT experts known as Česko.Digital, has set up an online directory of ways in which people in Czechia can help war-stricken Ukraine. Called stojimezaukrajinou.cz (Stand with Ukraine), the website also works as a directory for Ukrainian refugees seeking help with issues ranging from transport and housing to legal assistance.
When wars or humanitarian catastrophes suddenly appear, people are often eager to offer support to those who have been impacted. However, it can be difficult to navigate through the wide and often uncoordinated range of NGOs and websites that offer various ways through which to pitch in.
To avoid this problem occurring during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the Česko.Digital initiative, in cooperation with several NGOs and volunteer groups, has created stojimezaukrajinou.cz, a website which seeks to provide a central platform for anyone wishing to donate or otherwise help Ukrainians in their struggle against invading Russian forces. Martina Hábová, the marketing manager of Česko.Digital, explains:
“We wanted to give all Czechs willing to help a unified platform where they can access all different forms of support. At the same time, we wanted these forms of support, whether they are through NGO projects, forms of direct aid to the Ukrainian Army, or housing options for refugees, to be verified. This is because people are of course worried about sending money somewhere where it may not actually be used for its intended purpose. So this was also our goal – to gather a wide range of verified contacts.”
She says that there had originally been several projects on how to create such a website running in parallel. However, the sheer speed of events in Ukraine, after Russia invaded the country on Thursday morning, led everyone to interconnect and create a unified website within 48 hours. To achieve this target, over 150 volunteers coordinated via platforms such as slack and Google docs over a single weekend, often working long into the night, says Ms Hábová.
“The speed, extraordinary input and broad response, both within society and among volunteers, is impressive. Many are coming to us and want to join in the help. People working in competing companies are coming together to create a unified pro-bono project. Everyone is very proactive, helpful and hard working. It’s an unforgettable experience to be part of this.”
The result is a website that offers information, as well as direct access to relevant websites, both for those offering and those requiring help. Forms of support include direct financial aid, legal help for refugees, emergency housing, transport and psychological support helplines for people in shock. There is also a special marketplace on the platform where individuals can either directly offer or select from offers of help. The website can be viewed in both Czech and Ukrainian.
Ms Hábová says that the website is largely finished, but could still be fine-tuned in the future.
“The main aim of our collaboration with We stand behind Ukraine (Stojíme za Ukrajinou) was to create this website. Now we have to keep it running and up to date. We will be focusing on that this week. Normally, our work is focused on creating systems and then handing them over to a caretaker. In previous projects this has been the case and we are looking to continue with this tradition when it comes to the current project.
“We are also discussing the option of adding maps to the website. However, this is very much in its early stages right now.”
Stojimezaukrajinou.cz is already the fourth web project of the Česko.Digital initiative in recent years. Previous projects included Učíme online, an online system that could run webinars and offer technological support to schools closed down during the coronavirus pandemic, or the government’s Covid Portal website.
