War-time volunteering and population displacement: from spontaneous help to organised volunteering in post-2014 Ukraine

Oksana Mikheieva, Irina Kuznetsova*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

The paper reveals the role of volunteering in support of internally displaced people in a context with no or few regulations regarding volunteering and when the state and international organisations cannot fulfil the demands for assistance. It argues that ‘pure’ characteristics of volunteering are not applicable in such a context. The paper contributes to the literature by combining the understanding of volunteering as a hybrid phenomenon and a process model of volunteering. Drawing on empirical studies conducted by the authors, the paper explores volunteering in Ukraine through the lens of its individual and situational nature. Volunteering manifested itself in spontaneous actions at the beginning of the war and displacement in 2014 as a reaction to urgent needs for evacuation and humanitarian help, and later in the work of NGOs established to provide further support to IDPs. The developed volunteering practices have a high capacity to support the post-war reconstruction in Ukraine.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)74–91
JournalVoluntary Sector Review
Volume15
Issue number1
Early online date11 Jan 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2024

Keywords

  • volunteering
  • IDPs
  • Ukraine
  • war
  • Civil society – NGOs
  • Civil society – Participation
  • population displacement

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