The immediate response and on-going commitment by individual citizens, informal initiatives and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) providing support to refugees crossing the Ukrainian and Belarusian borders into Poland in the last year proves, once again, the crucial role of local actors and grassroots responses in complex humanitarian crises. However, we need to establish what these civil society responses look like and how have they evolved over the last year. Do they correspond to what we know about civil society, NGOs, and humanitarianism? Or might these responses be indicative of changes for citizens’ engagement and the future of humanitarianism?

This half-day workshop is on Wednesday, 31st May 2023 from 14:00 pm to 18:30 pm at Staszic Palace (Nowy Świat 72, Warsaw). The workshop will include invited members of Poland’s civil society, the NGO sector, researchers, as well as locals and internationals involved in humanitarian relief for Ukrainians. The event is co-organized by the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Fulbright Commission, the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism at the Adam Mickiewicz University, and Grupa Zagranica.