Getting a job and a home at the same time or Finding a new life after two relocations

Publication date: January 3, 2024

Helping IDPs find jobs and housing is one of the areas of work of the member organizations of the Legal Development Network. These areas emerged logically in response to the challenges of the war. After the start of the full-scale invasion, many LDN member organizations began to provide comprehensive assistance*: resettlement of IDPs, humanitarian and psychological support, and facilitation of employment and adaptation in a new place. It is confirmed by another story from the practice of the NGO “Agency for Democratic Development of Donbas”.  

Alina** lived in Luhansk until 2014. She was pregnant when the war broke out. Fear for her child forced Alina to look for ways to evacuate. With the help of volunteers, she went to Sievierodonetsk, where her son was born.

A friend of Alina’s, with whom she had studied at the university, majoring in preschool education, lived in the city. They stayed together, supporting each other as best they could. Life began to improve. Alina’s son was often sick, but she found a way to stay close to him: she got a job at the same kindergarten where he went. But February 2022 came. The woman packed her bags. The road to nowhere was ahead again.

The path led Alina and her child to Zaporizhzhia, where they found shelter in a dormitory as displaced persons. A long search for work began. Then, a neighbor advised her to contact the NGO “Agency for Democratic Development of Donbas”, whose team also moved from Sievierodonetsk and helps internally displaced people in many ways.

– Our specialists constantly monitor the job market and communicate with representatives of employment centers and recruitment agencies. We were lucky enough to find Alina both a job and a place to live at the same time: a young couple from Zaporizhzhia, who travel a lot for business, were looking for a nanny for their two children and a live-in housekeeper, says Tetiana Pliasunova, a lawyer with the organization.

Soon after, Alina and her son moved in with the family. The children of both families quickly became friends. And Alina, who works as a nanny, is now mastering another profession: she is taking a course in web design.

*Read also:

 «Murashnyk» of good deeds: from legal aid to gardening lessons

“Beehive of Meanings”: about an atypical shelter, motivated IDPs, and the “bees” team

Into a new life with “old friends”: lawyers help a family of IDPs adapt to a new place

For more real-world success stories from LDN member organizations, click here.

**Name has been changed for ethical reasons.

The material was created with the support of the international charity platform GlobalGiving and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The publication’s content is solely the responsibility of the Legal Development Network.

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