Until 08 October 2024, Poland had received 981,335 refugees[1] from Ukraine fleeing the war in the country, most of whom are women and children (UNHCR, 2024a, 2024b). Efforts to assist refugees’ economic integration are underway, including job training and language classes, with support from international and local organizations (UNHCR, 2024b). As part of these efforts, the UNITAR Division for Prosperity, with financial support from the Government and the People of Japan, organized the programme “Emergency assistance for Ukrainian women refugees in Poland with digital 4IR training: Bolstering livelihoods” between October 2023 and March 2024. 
The programme targeted Ukrainian women refugees in Poland and aimed at enhancing their employability by providing them the opportunity to acquire new digital skills for the modern job market that either reinforced their previous professional experience to adapt to their new environment or opened ways for exploring new career paths. The programme intended to develop IT and entrepreneurial skills and mindsets to bolster participants’ livelihoods, with emphasis on refugees with more disadvantaged backgrounds. 
Five hundred women out of 1,000 applicants were selected to take part in the programme, seventy-five per cent of whom are between 30 and 46 years old. Participants have diverse professional backgrounds as illustrated in Figure 1. It is also worth noting that eighty per cent of them hold a high educational degree including a bachelor’s, master’s and even PhD. 
[1] The Ukrainian Embassies in Poland and Japan prefer to use the term “evacuees” instead of “refugees” in specific contexts.

27 November 2024, Hiroshima, Japan - Emmanuel Mutabazi is a Rwandan innovator who offers inclusive training programmes, especially for women and youth in communities that lack access to digital resources. A UNITAR digital skills training programme expanded his capacity to work towards his goal to make sure technology empowers everyone.

27 November 2024, Hiroshima, Japan - Luisa Taunga is Assistant Secretary at the National Disaster Risk Management Office in Tonga, where she heads the Research and Training Division, focusing on disaster preparedness, training and response strategies to ensure that communities are well-equipped to handle emergencies. She was a participant in one of the earliest cohorts of the UNITAR disaster risk reduction training programme, in 2017. Having since established herself as a leader in building community-level preparedness and resilience to disasters, Luisa returned as a facilitator for the 2023 UNITAR disaster risk reduction programme.

27 November 2024, Hiroshima, Japan - In October 2010, as ash and smoke darkened the skies over Java, Fega Ayu Pangestika found herself in an unfamiliar place. Mount Merapi, located on the border of Central Java and Yogyakarta in Indonesia, had violently erupted. The eruptions continued into November, displacing more than 360,000 people and killing nearly 400.

27 November 2024, Hiroshima, Japan – Fahima founded a clothing company in Afghanistan through which she aims to uplift women. The UNITAR “Great Ideas Space 2023 Programme for Afghanistan: Food Security and Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship and Innovation” helped her overhaul her business model and marketing strategy.

26 November 2024, Hiroshima, Japan – Denis Opio grew up in a village in Uganda, home to a mainly lower-middle-class population. Computers were a rare sight, and knowing someone who knew how to use one was even more scarce. When he went to university to study accounting, Dennis grappled with learning how to use a computer. And that was when he realized that there was a need for IT training in his community.

26 November 2024, Hiroshima, Japan - Basma Mohammed Jasim is committed to sustainability and innovating health care for vulnerable populations in Iraq . She is spearheading a telehealth platform to provide medical services, especially to those unable to leave their homes. Basma joined a UNITAR training programme on entrepreneurship and innovation for health security in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon in 2023, where she gained the tools to help set up her platform and create sustainable, social impact.

22 November 2024, Hiroshima, Japan - Over 16 years, Iryna Markina built a successful career in sales in Ukraine. Because of the security situation in her hometown, it prompted Iryna to make a difficult decision to move to Turkey and then Poland, leaving some family members behind. Social integration posed another challenge as she navigated unfamiliar cultural norms, a constant worry for her family’s safety, language barriers and an uncertain future.

20 November 2024, Hiroshima, Japan - Jewel Luti Leao Tuitama stands as a beacon of hope and strength in the remote atolls of Tokelau, a territory nestled in the South Pacific Ocean. As the Manager of the National Disaster Management Unit within the Ministry of Climate, Oceans & Resilience, her work transcends mere responsibilities; it embodies a profound commitment to her community's safety and resilience against the encroaching threats of climate change and natural disasters. Her ties to the villages of Faleasiu and Solosolo in Samoa, along with her roots in Fakaofo in Tokelau, provide her with a unique perspective on the environmental challenges faced by her people.

14 November 2024, Hiroshima, Japan - On early morning of 24 February 2022, Viktoria Podvoiska saw the very first bombs falling on Kyiv. She immediately gathered all her family and said, “War has started. We must leave”.