Supporting displaced Ukranians in Poland

YBI and its member Youth Business Poland have launched a new project as part of Futuremakers by Standard Chartered to support displaced Ukrainians in Poland.

YBI and is working with member Youth Business Poland on BEST (Business Employability Skills Training), a new career readiness and entrepreneurship project part of Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, the Bank’s global initiative to tackle inequality by promoting economic inclusion for disadvantaged people across our markets. BEST by Futuremakers will initially look to support 10,000 young working-age displaced Ukrainians in Poland, and is made possible due to Standard Chartered Bank's donation of $180,000.

Programme Overview

The project will be delivered by Youth Business International (YBI) and Youth Business Poland (YBP) in cooperation with Ukrainian House and is funded by Standard Chartered Bank. It aims to initially support Ukrainians looking for work, those who want to re-start their business or want to start a business for the first time to access entrepreneurship. Participants will be offered mentoring, advisory services, webinars, networking meetings and a database of entrepreneurship and employment information. Additional support will be provided to foster social cohesion, help to overcome language and culture barriers to ensure a better quality of life. Supporting participants to access livelihoods will directly contribute to their safety and security and an increase in the quality of life of the families who have come to Poland.

Special emphasis will be placed on providing services that acknowledge and are designed specifically to address the time constraints of women while they balance supporting their family and providing for their family. In order to foster social cohesion between newly arrived Ukrainians and host communities in Poland, the project will ensure that underserved local community can also access trainings and advisory services.

Standard Chartered employees in Poland will support delivery of the project as part of the Bank’s employee volunteering programme which, in 2022, provides each employee with five days of paid leave to support charitable causes in their communities.