Footage Seeks Urgent Donations For Response To Refugee Crisis in Ukraine Focused on Building Dignity and Care For Most At-Risk

    NEW YORK, NY, March 23, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Since the rapid escalation of conflict, violence, and evacuation in Ukraine, international non-profit Footage has engaged deep networks in the region and evidence-based response methods to immediately and flexibly provide care for the most silenced (women, activists, LGBTQI+, refugees, and disabled and/or sick persons). Footage, with a decade of experience supporting women refugees and survivors of violence, has committed their resources to supporting those internally displaced by the conflict.

Footage is looking for urgent donations of any amount to continue on the ground emergency support for the millions left behind.

Through years of building networks and generating research, including within the conflict zones of eastern Ukraine and Crimea during 2017-2018, Footage provides care and dignity in crisis by merging compassion with action. Knowing that crises are ever-shifting, Footage works to generate data to shape responses and inform stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), policy makers, and funders.

Currently, Footage has three streams of care in Ukraine:

1. Footage was called upon to provide technical support by engaging their grassroots networks, trauma-informed methods, and research expertise. Footage is providing support for evacuation, housing, and aid.

2. Footage is engaging networks to get resources to individuals and families, grassroots and self-organized groups, independent journalists, artists, and others. By providing emergency cash transfers directly to those in need, these resources foster security and dignity, which in turn catalyze space for the circulation of needed information. As of March 21st, Footage has sent thousands of dollars to dozens of people, primarily single mothers, families, elderly women, and disabled individuals, promoting security, safety, and dignity in the region. Through cash transfers some have chosen to flee while others feel they have enough money to survive for the next few weeks. Direct cash transfers keeps agency in the hands of those impacted, promoting compassion and dignity along with improved health outcomes, positive social impacts, and access to lifesaving services and goods.

3. When appropriate, Dr. Kristen Ali Eglinton, Founder and Executive Director of Footage, will implement direct care on the borders engaging Footage's trauma-informed methods including compassionate wellbeing care for those most vulnerable. Using their extensive programming experience in the Post Soviet region (including implementing 7 State Department Diplomacy Awards with vulnerable groups of young women) as well as work with refugees across the EU, Footage is currently informing teams on the border where possible on wellbeing, compassion, and women's security.

"The humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine is the most acute crisis facing Europe and the world right now. We were already working with vulnerable women and young people displaced by violence in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. No, while not forgetting those who still need support, we are taking urgent action to do all that we can to help those who are most at risk of exploitation and trauma in Ukraine," says Dr. Eglinton.

Donations can be made by going to FootageProject.org and clicking "donate" on the pop-up.

Footage is a research-supported, evidence-forward organization. While providing compassionate action, Footage is actively generating data to understand, adapt, and respond to needs while providing recommendations for all involved in the crisis ecosystem. Footage is currently engaging a call-out for donations for their work in Ukraine. Most donations will go directly to material support for at-risk Ukrainians who remain within the active conflict zone.

To learn more, donate, or join Footage in solidarity and advocacy, visit footageproject.org and follow Footage on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

About Footage Foundation: A nonprofit organization founded by PhD colleagues at Cambridge University, Footage designs innovative, evidence-based programs that use local technology and expressive multimedia tools to improve well-being by bringing the underrepresented voices and experiences of young people into dialogue on the world's most challenging issues. Based in the U.S., Footage has been working internationally at the intersection of youth, human rights, and gender based violence for more than a decade.

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