Tech for Good for Ukraine
The invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February has sent shock waves around the world and as the effects have become apparent, we have seen a huge willingness and determination on the part of many people and organisations to do something to help in some way, especially in supporting the Ukrainians in the conflict zones and those that have left the country and are now refugees in neighbouring countries. In many ways, the reaction has been similar to what was seen in the early days of the COVID pandemic – massive impacts on large numbers of people and a similar desire to find a way to help. In the case of the pandemic, it was what gave rise to the formation of the Scottish Tech Army in April 2020 – now we see many projects springing up from a number of organisations in the tech and tech-related sectors that are aimed at helping with the Ukraine crisis. The Scottish Tech Army is keen to support these initiatives where we can and to work with partner organisations in the tech for good ecosystem.
One such initiative is being spear-headed by NatWest – a team of volunteers has already established a programme to collect humanitarian aid supplies in Scotland and to work with organisations that have experience of transporting goods to crisis-affected areas to get them to locations in Ukraine and the neighbouring countries where they can be put to use. There are many aspects to this effort, including physical storage, logistics management and matching of requests for help with potential sources of supply. A cross-organisation team including NatWest, the Scottish Tech Army and others has started working on putting technology solutions in place to help address these challenges. Once again, it is a very fluid situation, and the teams will have to be nimble and pragmatic in order to deliver this practical support in the shortest time they can.
A similar initiative has been operating in Perth and Kinross, led by PKAVS, an organisation that the Scottish Tech Army supported by delivering a digital solution to support the Tampon Taxi service. PKAVS has already been able to collect and ship humanitarian aid supplies to Poland to support refugees arriving there.
We have also been liaising with another of our partners, OpenUK, to support initiatives related to the open-source community in Ukraine in response to requests from members of that community. Both organisations have made financial contributions to organisations that are active on the ground and OpenUK is working to co-ordinate a programme whereby tech companies in the UK can sponsor long-term work visas for those that have left or are looking to leave their war-torn country.
Finally, Asia Hunt, a member of the team from Head Resourcing that has been working with us since the launch of the Scottish Tech Army has been raising funds from colleagues that are being matched by the company to source humanitarian aid supplies locally in Poland for distribution there and in Ukraine itself. Asia travelled to Poland on Friday 18th of March to take part personally in the work there. We were delighted to support Asia’s initiative and we wish her luck on her personal journey to make a difference.
These are only a handful of examples of the proactive and practical support that is being offered by so many parts of the tech for good ecosystem – it is encouraging to see such a response and we are happy to share information about initiatives like this and to support them where we can with digital solutions.