Non-governmental organizations of the Ukrainian diaspora in Estonia

Abstract

The article analyzes quantitative and qualitative data related to the activities of non-governmental organizations of Ukrainians in Estonia, including the structure of umbrella organizations, sources of funding, frequency of cultural events, their content and attendance. A comparison with the number of members of informal online associations of Ukrainians in Estonia, as well as with official demographic statistics, shows that there is significantly low coverage of the Ukrainian community by the services of Ukrainian diaspora organizations in Estonia. Based on a survey of members of informal online associations of Ukrainians in Estonia, it is shown that despite the general awareness of the goals of diaspora non-governmental organizations, primarily young immigrants with little experience in the country feel the dissonance between the activities of these non-governmental organizations and their needs, which leads to negative views on the activity of organizations of the Ukrainian diaspora in Estonia and weak involvement in the life of the local community. At the same time, the extensive network of Ukrainian diaspora organizations in the country, the availability of basic funding for those organizations from the Estonian government and material and technical support, long experience and relevance of issues related to the Ukrainian community in Estonian society, became a necessary prerequisite for a rapid and positive response of Estonian society to the significant influx of Ukrainian refugees who arrived after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and the active mobilization of Estonian society to help war survivors.

Keywords

• non-governmental organizations
• ukrainian diaspora
• estonia
• services’ satisfaction
• capacity
• refugees