From food to clothing: how needs of Ukrainian refugees evolved since the start of the war
Clothing became the top need for Ukrainian refugees who fled abroad because of the war. It overcame food after 5 months of the war which was the key need for refugees in the first weeks after arrival to a new country. Explaining why Ukrainians need clothing so much they mention lack of seasonal items and difficulties to find them in humanitarian aid centers. These are the key findings of 2 surveys we at lalafo conducted in April and July 2022.
Surveys’ methodology
Ukrainian online recommerce platform lalafo conducted 2 online surveys: in April and July 2022 interviewing 272 and 705 Ukrainians who fled abroad because of the war. Questionnaire was distributed through online media and filled by the respondents by CAWI methodology. Almost all respondents (94% in the April survey and 100% in the July survey) fled to Poland. So it would be correct to say these surveys represent insights from those Ukrainians who moved to Poland.
Whom we surveyed
Almost all respondents in both surveys were women (96%+) with kids (86%+) mostly in their 26–50 age (69% of 26–45 in the April survey and 72% of 31–50 age in the July survey) with the rest of age split more or less equally between younger and older age.
We specifically asked about the number of kids who fled with respondents in April and it turned out 42% of Ukrainians with kids moved with 1 kid, 33% with 2 kids, 11% with 3 and more kids and only 14% without kids. The July survey results mostly repeated the split although the question did not specify whether kids fled with respondents or stayed at home.
86% of those Ukrainians who were interviewed in July already spent 3–4 months in Poland and only 10% — 1 month.
Life in Poland
In the July survey we dug deeper into where and how Ukrainians live in Poland and their plans for the future. So 50% of respondents live in a rented apartment (47%) or in a hotel (3%), 22% in a Polish family for free, 10% — at friends, 9% in a dormitory and 9% in a refugee center.
45% of those respondents plan to move back to Ukraine, 13% — do not plan moving back and 41% hesitate answering “maybe”. 44% plan to move their family to Poland and 60% are interested in receiving Polish citizenship. Kids of 57% of respondents already study in Poland.
We also wondered what were the most complicated things after coming to Poland. And for 67% it was absence of financial resources, for 51% — language barrier. 47% experienced problems with accommodation and 45% — with basic clothing.
30% already work in Poland and 45% are looking for a job.
The needs
The key goal of the survey was to understand the needs of Ukrainians who fled because of the war and we see a clear trend of food being the key need for people right after they moved to the new country (76% of respondents) switching to clothing which become the main need for refugees in July (63% of respondents) while food dropped as a key need to 53% of respondents in July. Among the other top needs there were hygiene items in April (67% of respondents) and household items (57%).
By April 63% of Ukrainians used humanitarian centers to receive help. 35% of them experienced it just once, 33% used it once per several weeks and 27% — once per week.
Why do people need clothing so much?
We specifically looked into the reasons why people needed clothing so much and asked them to explain their answer regarding a need in clothing. Analyzing their answers we picked 2 main reasons why they need clothing so much. The first one relates to the limited number of items they managed to pick with themselves fleeing from Ukraine best described by one of the answers:
“When leaving, I took the most crucial items. The suitcase was small, my daughter’s and my stuff did not all fit”
And the second reason is lack of seasonal clothing described by refugees like:
“We don’t have any spring and summer clothes, only winter clothes”
or
“The child walks in the warm boots in which he arrived. And I also. I looked in the store — very expensive.”
Some respondents explained why it’s difficult for them to get clothing in humanitarian centers mentioning difficulties with finding suitable sizes and lack of time to look for suitable clothes.
“In humanitarian aid, there are no clothes of my size or size of my children. People grab everything, even taking it from others. We need help, but we lack the courage to behave rudely with people and take it away.”
and
“I don’t have time to look for clothes for myself in humanitarian centers, since I have to stand in line for food.”
In the last question of the survey we left free space to share anything respondents wished if they wanted to, with polish citizens. We found hundreds of “thank you” words and support to not give up, to not stop help. We still need your help - this was the key message Ukrainian refugees shared with Poles.
You can download the presentation of the full July survey results
About lalafo
lalafo is an online marketplace founded by Ukrainians operating on a number of markets in Asia and Europe in 2 business models: advertising and recommerce (where lalafo sorts, photographs, describes and lists items in the mobile app).
After the Russian invasion lalafo refocused its operations in Ukraine fully on charity distributing 100k+ items to Ukrainians for free. In May lalafo launched its first processing center in Poland where it digitizes humanitarian aid and distributes it in a targeted way among Ukrainians in Poland making this process 100% transparent and efficient thanks to the proprietary technology lalafo developed in-house.
lalafo charity activities are supported by Ringier, Garvest, EQT Foundation, Poznan City, Fundacja In_Spire, Help Ukraine Center, Ukrposhta and many more partners and friends. Thanks to their support we are able to help Ukrainian refugees with so much needed clothing and other items.
