Katiia Kharytoniuk (37) and her daughter Sofija (5) practice the alphabet together. Katiia arrived as a refugee in Poland from Uman, Ukraine, together with her two daughters. After three months staying in the home of a Polish family, she now lives with her daughters in a building at the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland parish in Bytom. The father of the family remains in Ukraine, as men aged 18-60 are not allowed to leave the country. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert

Poland

Country Program

The war in Ukraine caused the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since the end of the Second World War. As of February 2024, there are 5,67 million Ukrainian refugees registered outside their home country. Most of them, ca. 1,1 million, live in Poland. 

LWF established an emergency operation in Poland with the support from the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, an LWF member church, to aid refugees fleeing from war. LWF Poland's main priorities include providing emergency relief items, multipurpose cash assistance, mental health and psychosocial support, education, and trauma and stress referrals.  

Over the last year, Poland has made considerable progress in integrating more than 1.56 million Ukrainian refugees into the national system. Others, however, remain vulnerable, including women, children, teenagers, older people, and those with disabilities who require specialized assistance. 

LWF provides psychosocial and integration support through it’s five community centers (Wroclaw, Gdansk, Bielsko-Biala, Zgierz, and Bytom Miechowice). These centers collaborated extensively with local stakeholders, such as parishes, governmental bodies, and non-governmental organizations. 

LWF also provides humanitarian support through a local organization to migrants who have crossed the Belarussian/Polish border

What we do in Poland

Partners and donors

LWF and partners, from left: Anna Pilch (Foundation LWF in Poland), Mateusz Ploskonka (City of Cracow), Samuel Dypczyński Foundation LWF in Poland), Julius Kibet (Foundation LWF in Poland), Joanna Godfrejów (Parish Council of the Evangelical-Augsburg Parish), Łukasz Ostruszka (Evangelical-Augsburg Parish), Mariusz Siudek (The Polish Scouting and Guiding Association), Izabela Kucmin-Bemelmans (The Polish Scouting and Guiding Association), Grzegorz Grzonka (Internationaler Bund Polska) in the Cracow warehouse
  • ACT Alliance
  • All We Can
  • Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS)
  • Avalon Foundation
  • Church World Service
  • Corus International / LWR
  • DAA Austria
  • Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
  • Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland (ECACP)
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church Wurttemberg
  • Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (FELM)
  • German National Committee of the LWF
  • Humanosh Foundation
  • Icelandic Church Aid
  • Kerk in Actie
  • Municipality of Krakow
  • Neighbor in Need
  • Patchwork Foundation
  • Polska Akcja Humanitarna (PAH)
  • UNHCR

LWF is calling for donations to support the churches and people of Ukraine, who are displaced or in need following Russia’s military invasion of the country.

6
community centers
to offer cash assistance to refugees
60k
people
supported in Poland
756
children
received school supplies
6 800
refugees
refugees received medical and clothing vouchers

Photo: LWF/ Albin Hillert