UNICEF Emergency Response Office in Slovakia

Children are often the greatest victims in wars. The traumas they endure, both during active conflict and displacement, risk having long-lasting impacts on their mental health and their ability to adapt to a new country. In addition, children on the move are vulnerable to violence, exploitation, and abuse, with many – especially women and girls – facing risks of trafficking and gender-based violence. In such contexts, protection of children and women, comprising more than 80 percent of the Ukrainians in Slovakia, has been critical.

Since the early days of the crisis, a key priority for UNICEF was to support Slovak authorities in the prevention of, and response to violence, exploitation, and abuse of children arriving or transiting in Slovakia, as well as supporting the integration of those that have registered for Temporary Protection in the country. Children with disabilities, who usually face additional barriers to protection and inclusion, required particular attention.

Three Blue Dot support hubs were set up in areas bordering Ukraine and in Bratislava, providing information, safe spaces, and referral to further services. Support was provided to civil society to provide case management, and mental health and psychosocial services to children in accommodation centres such as the centre at Gabčíkovo. Other partners provided community-based protection spaces and hubs, case management, and hotline services with UNICEF support.

Mental health and psychological support were also delivered through Play and Learn Hubs and in schools. Through collaboration with the League for Mental Health, a national social media campaign #PomáhajmeSi (Let’s help each other) aimed to normalise emotions and link mental wellbeing to mutual aid. The campaign was supported by the President of the Slovak Republic, Zuzana Čaputová.

Work with civil society organizations has also focused on addressing social norms that hinder the inclusion of children with disabilities and their caregivers, and to fill gaps in services.

UNICEF provided technical support to national and local institutions to strengthen the child protection system in the long term. This included collaboration with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, and Families, and the Municipality of Bratislava. Inclusion of children with disabilities in national protection systems and services, has been key to this work.  

Education is a critical means of helping children and adolescents deal with adversity and trauma. It allows them to make sense of their experiences and feel a sense of normalcy in their new environment. For the youngest children, providing play and learning opportunities in safe spaces and supporting their parents and caregivers to provide nurturing care are critical to support their development during times of crisis.

Despite this, inclusion of Ukrainian children in the Slovak education system has been challenging. Many children and adolescents, especially those in their last years of high school, continued to follow the Ukrainian curriculum through online classes. However, as attacks on energy and communication infrastructure persist in Ukraine, online learning is often interrupted.

Despite efforts to enrol Ukrainian students in Slovak schools, many challenges remain, from learning Slovak language, to integrating into a new environment and culture, to developing new social networks and balancing learning with leisure time. For Slovak teachers, additional support was required to enable inclusive approaches to pedagogy. Furthermore, even before the war, national and local systems in many regions of Slovakia have been overstretched, lacking adequate numbers of kindergartens for young children. 

In the early days of the crisis, UNICEF established 23 Play and Learning Hubs across 13 municipalities. Services included parent support groups, mental health support, referral services, language classes, counselling, and additional support for children with developmental difficulties.

For adolescents, the Ukrainian School in Evacuation initiative provided non-formal learning including lessons on Ukrainian language, literature, and history, and learning support in mathematics and English. Career guidance, leadership, financial literacy, and Slovak language support was also provided. Psychosocial support was provided through art therapy.

The emergency response provided an opportunity to revisit and strengthen education and early childhood development services for all children in Slovakia. At the national level, UNICEF worked with the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports and the National Institute for Education and Youth (NIVAM) to ensure a system-wide approach to the inclusion of Ukrainian children in the Slovak education system. The partnership with NIVAM also provided non-formal learning activities for adolescents and young people, including Slovak language and socialisation opportunities.

UNICEF also worked with municipalities and NGOs to develop and scale play and non-formal learning services and expand municipal capacities for school enrolment as well as new, innovative services to promote children’s learning and development. 

Although Slovakia grants “urgent and necessary health services” for Ukrainian citizens registered for Temporary Protection, many Ukrainians face challenges in accessing support. What is “urgent and necessary," has often been left to the judgment of individual doctors, creating a situation in which quality of health care received by displaced Ukrainians varied significantly. Ukrainian children tend to have significantly lower vaccination rates compared to Slovaks.

With the protracted nature of the crisis, a key challenge has been the management of chronic diseases, and the provision of specialised mental health services and psychological support. A shortage of doctors, particularly paediatricians and nurses, has exacerbated challenges for Ukrainian and Slovak families alike. As part of the emergency response, UNICEF advocated with the Slovak Ministry of Health to recognize the qualifications of Ukrainian health workers to strengthen the health system amidst increasing demand for services.

UNICEF also worked with the Ministry of Health to strengthen primary health care including immunization and early childhood development support, parenting programmes, and specialized mental health care. 

Displacement can deprive families of a stable source of income which impacts their ability to find accommodation and meet their immediate needs. While some can rely on savings in the short-term, most families face challenges to their socio-economic survival. Displaced Ukrainian families are comprised largely of single-mother households or families with elderly caregivers. 

Humanitarian cash support has, therefore, played a critical role in helping families get reestablished in Slovakia. This included the provision of a one-off education grant to all Ukrainian children aged 0 to 17 years and a one-off winterisation grant to vulnerable families during the coldest months.

Since the early days of the response, humanitarian partners and the Slovak Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, set up a system to provide cash transfers to vulnerable displaced families. To facilitate social cohesion, this strategy was developed to mirror existing social benefits provided through the national social protection system. The caseload for cash schemes has now been transferred to the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family. 

Since February 2022, Slovak society mobilised an unprecedented wave of solidarity and service. Many individuals and community groups donated their time, efforts, and resources to help displaced families. However, the effects of the war, including inflation and soaring energy prices, has eroded some of the sentiments of solidarity and increased some negative sentiments towards refugees in the country. Alongside pre-existing challenges in accessing public services in Slovakia, negative attitudes have posed a challenge to the inclusion of children and families from Ukraine into Slovak society.

Social and Behaviour Change is a set of tools and approaches that promote positive and measurable changes toward the fulfilment of children’s rights. In Slovakia, UNICEF worked with communities and authorities to understand social and behavioural dynamics to inform programmes and adequately communicate with families. This included delivering messages around services for displaced Ukrainians and campaigns to promote mutual support between Slovak and Ukrainian children.

UNICEF collaborated with municipalities to address social cohesion at the local and community levels. This included the creation of integration plans for vulnerable children and families at risk of social exclusion and support of various cultural and sports activities. The Streets for Kids project implemented with the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava, created a space to facilitate the inclusion of Ukrainian refugee students through a range of activities. 

To manage and deliver the humanitarian response effectively and efficiently, UNICEF in Slovakia utilised results-based planning and monitoring processes. This included the gathering and analysis of data and information on displaced Ukrainian children and their families.

Through the refugee response in Slovakia, UNICEF was able to support public institutions to improve the collection and use of administrative data, and strengthen collaboration with academic institutions and civil society organisations.

For additional information

For details on UNICEF’s Emergency Response in Slovakia, please see: Humanitarian Situation Reports.