By Olha Chepil | 2025-06-03

KYIV -- As war upended lives across Ukraine, women stepped forward to lead. They opened shelters, coordinated aid and turned chaos into action. Alongside them, a new generation of young volunteers helped build a humanitarian network stretching from Kyiv to Warsaw.

New research from Open Space Works Ukraine and the Ukrainian House Foundation, supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, shows just how central women have been to Ukraine's humanitarian response, and how the country's future may rest in the hands of its youngest citizens.

Humanitarian aid leaders

Half of the 70 Ukrainian woman-led organizations now operating in Poland were founded by refugees after the full-scale invasion, Myroslava Keryk, research consultant for the study and board chair of the Ukrainian House Foundation in Warsaw, told Kontur.

The Ukrainian House, established in 2004, became a key player in the humanitarian response. Since 2022, Keryk and her team have set up a crisis center and assisted more than 150,000 Ukrainians. Most aid organizations in Poland are led by women, many of whom had no prior experience in humanitarian work, she said.

"Some of these women were not socially active in Ukraine but had managerial skills. And they thought they could help, even after leaving for Poland during the war," Keryk said.

The study, based on 65 interviews and five focus groups with 22 organizations, found that woman-led groups play a central role in humanitarian aid despite limited resources and support.

About half of the organizations surveyed take a holistic approach, helping Ukrainians not just with housing and jobs but also by creating libraries and cultural events, said Keryk.

Ukrainian women are providing critical aid both abroad and in war-affected areas inside Ukraine, supporting frontline communities, de-occupied regions and internally displaced persons, researchers found.

"Women and woman-led organizations actually bind the country together geographically," Maryana Zaviyska, an analyst at Open Space Works Ukraine and one of the study's authors, told Kontur.

"If you are going from Dnipro to Kherson, or to the north of the country, you will see how woman-led organizations ... connect [Ukrainians] with each other. They create these networks, invisible bonds that are very strong."

Increased political ambitions

For many women, humanitarian organizations have become a home, a place to find financial and psychological support but also to gain new skills. According to the study's authors, many participants later become leaders themselves and feel empowered to enter politics.

"Women have developed political ambitions. I think it's great for society that women provide more than just services like education or social work, but that they can ... take on leadership functions in their lives," said Zaviyska.

Hundreds of social and micro-businesses for women took off in Ukraine between 2022 and 2024, the study found.

But after three years of full-scale war, Ukrainian organizations in both Ukraine and Poland are grappling with serious challenges. Amid ongoing fighting, they face mounting pressure to maintain their services despite shrinking resources.

Declining funding may force some groups to scale back their activities, said Keryk. But many organizations continue to rely on donations to stay afloat, supporting efforts from weaving camouflage nets to raising money for drones and helping orphanages.

A new driving force

Young Ukrainians have become increasingly active in humanitarian aid since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, especially in local organizations, according to research by Open Space Works Ukraine and Kyiv Educational Center Tolerspace.

"We see that young people are more drawn to volunteering at a time when the general population has grown weary," Natalia Harasivka, an Open Space Works Ukraine employee and one of the authors of the study "Empowering Youth in Humanitarian Action in Ukraine," told Kontur. She called the youth "a resource that is very energetic and persistent."

Conducted last September to December, the study included 40 interviews: 20 with young volunteers (ages 14–24) and 20 with members of youth-focused organizations.

Young Ukrainians are driven by a desire to help their country, support victims and contribute to recovery efforts, researchers found.

"When they find their tribe, where [the members] have the same values and goals, they analyze problems themselves," Ulyana Ustinova, co-founder and board member at Kyiv Educational Center Tolerspace, told Kontur.

"And together with them, we form a community united by a shared goal that involves them in activism."

Social networks are a key tool for engaging young Ukrainians, but they mostly reach those already active. Younger teens, meanwhile, often get involved through schools or family connections.

"It's very important to let them communicate with each other, to create connections," said Ustinova.

Ukrainian women and young Ukrainians show strong motivation to engage in humanitarian work despite the challenges, both studies find. Many start as volunteers and grow into leadership roles.

Their contribution to Ukraine's recovery is growing and stress the need for greater support and recognition at all levels, researchers note.

"We need to understand how to harness this resource sustainably for the benefit of society," said Harasivka.