The Polish-Ukrainian Sisterhood is a coalition of women from Poland and Ukraine, which was established in a gesture of solidarity with Ukrainian women fleeing the war. The Sisterhood awards funding under the "Hi Girls!" Grant Programme. Grants go to social initiatives to improve the situation of Ukrainian women and children.
– The reality of Ukrainian girls is changing for the better. Many of them started a new life by the Vistula river, trying to adapt to Polish realities. Today we are open to their next needs. Girls who have found their second home and those who want to return to Ukraine and help in its reconstruction. We think about the future and subsequent projects woven into a thread that connects us with values - empathy, understanding, sisterhood – says Dominika Kulczyk, President of the Kulczyk Foundation.
In the previous, 1st edition of the Programme, the Sisterhood received as many as 450 applications for funding. The amount of nearly one million zlotys was awarded to 11 organizations. Among the projects that have won grants there are, among others: opening a Polish-Ukrainian cafe in Bielsko-Biała, creating a safe place in Warsaw's Praga for women in a migration crisis, or a teaching course for nearly 100 teachers from Ukraine.
The 2nd edition of the Grant Programme, as well as the slogan "Hi Girls!" on which the entire initiative is based, is not addressed only to women from Ukraine. It may concern women refugees who had to leave their country in many other places around the world. The Sisterhood's activities under the Grant Programme will also be addressed to them and such projects can also count on funding.
– Thanks to the support of the Sisterhood, it was possible to organize day camps for over 300 children from Ukraine. It is a moment of breathing for them from the nightmare of war, and for us one of the examples why the „Hi Girls!” Grant Programme matters. There are thousands of women and children fleeing violence and persecution worldwide. If we can realistically help at least some of them, we will do it – adds Myroslava Keryk, President of the "Ukrainian House" Foundation.
Along with the launch of the Grant Program, Kulczyk Foundation also started the "Hi Girls!" Centre. So far, over 1,000 women and children from Ukraine took part in the workshops organized at Ogrodowa 3 street in Warsaw. This includes Polish language courses, integration, information and support meetings. Most of them are run by female refugees.
Money transferred to organizations as part of grants is collected on the "Hi Girls!" Fund. The fund was established after the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Collection for long-term help is carried out on the accounts of Kulczyk Foundation and via the Patronite portal: patronite.pl/czescdziewczyny
The Polish-Ukrainian Sisterhood includes:
- Magdalena Adamowicz - Lawyer, Member of the European Parliament
- Walentyna Berezenko - Doctor, Head of the Children’s Hepatology Center of the State Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Kiev
- Henryka Bochniarz - Economist, Chairman of the Main Council of the Lewiatan Confederation
- Elżbieta Bodio - Vice-President of the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce
- Iryna Deszczyca - Wife of the Ukrainian Ambassador in Poland
- Ewa Ewart - Journalist, Director and Producer of Documentary Films
- Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram – Attorney, Co-Founder of the "Free Courts" initiative
- Agnieszka Holland - Director, President of the European Film Academy
- Janina Ochojska - Humanitarian activist, President of the Polish Humanitarian Action
- Maryna Kaftan - Education expert, Member of the Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine
- Myroslava Keryk - Historian, President of the "Our Choice" Foundation
- Bogumiła Kaniewska - Literary Scholar, Rector of the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań
- Halyna Karp - Councilor of the Ivano-Frankivsk region, former Deputy Minister of Energy
- Aleksandra Klich - Journalist, Editor-in-chief of "Wysokie Obcasy"
- Dominika Kulczyk - Entrepreneur, President of the Kulczyk Foundation
- Nataliya Kravets - President of the Ukrainian Center for Education
- Olha Matviienko - Professor at the Department of Pedagogy of the Kiev National Language University
- Marta Lempart - Social activist, initiator of the National Women's Strike
- Joanna Mosiej-Sitek - Journalist, Deputy Publisher of "Gazeta Wyborcza"
- Monika Płatek - Lawyer, Associate Professor at the University of Warsaw
- Olga Struk - Entrepreneur, Founder of Arthur Murray Dance Studios
- Olga Tokarczuk - Writer, Poet and Essayist, winner of the Nobel Prize
- Olena Volyarska - Associate Professor of the Kiev National Language University
- Oksana Zabużko - Writer, Poet and Essayist, Institute of Philosophy of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences
- Iryna Zapatrina - Professor of Economics, Founder of the Institute of Public-Private Partnership in Kiev
