local research • Bucha community • 2026

Without Prejudice: Integration of IDPs in Communities

A student project on prejudiced attitudes toward internally displaced persons: where stereotypes come from, how they affect integration, and what communities, businesses, and authorities can do.

Go to Analytics
11,722 internally displaced persons were residing in the Bucha community as of 01.04.2026.
58.4%
women
19.3%
children
23.9%
elderly
84.1%
within Bucha city

What This Project Is About

Prejudice against IDPs often manifests not as open hostility, but as everyday distancing: "they receive more than us," "they're not from here," "they're only temporary." Because of this, people who have lost their homes or safety may simultaneously be seeking help and proving their right to be part of a new community.

1

The Stereotype

A person begins to be judged not by their actions, but by their IDP status or region of origin.

2

The Barrier

Prejudice complicates renting housing, finding employment, communicating with neighbors, and participating in community life.

3

The Solution

Integration works when IDPs are perceived not as "aid recipients," but as residents with experience, skills, and the right to have a voice.

A local survey and expert interviews were conducted in Bucha. The materials combine community statistics, an interview with historian Yaroslav Hrytsak, and commentary from Iryna Pasichna, Head of the Social Policy Department of the Bucha City Council.

Bucha in Numbers: Not an Abstract Problem, but Real People

The analytics are based on data from the Bucha city territorial community as of 01.04.2026.

The Number of IDPs Has More Than Doubled

From 01.01.2022 to 01.04.2026, the number of IDPs grew from 4,463 to 11,722 persons.

Socio-Demographic Composition

The community is home to 4,882 men and 6,840 women, including 2,263 children and 2,796 elderly persons.

Regions of Origin

The largest groups come from Donetsk and Luhansk regions. This explains why the topic of "insiders" vs. "outsiders" is often tied to regional stereotypes.

City and Starost Districts

9,860 IDPs reside in Bucha city, while 1,862 live in the starost districts of the community.

Source Document Scan

The source document from the Bucha community with key IDP figures as of 01.04.2026.

Reformatted Tabular Data

Indicator Number What this means for the topic of prejudice
Total number of IDPs in the Bucha community 11,722 This is not a handful of isolated cases, but a significant part of community life.
Women 6,840 Support must account for employment, childcare, safety, and social adaptation.
Men 4,882 Stereotypes about "freeloaders" do not reflect the real structure of the community or people's needs.
Children 2,263 Integration depends on access to schools, kindergartens, extracurriculars, and a safe environment.
Elderly persons 2,796 What is needed is not only financial support, but also medical, social, and communication services.
Residing in Bucha city 9,860 The majority of IDPs interact daily with city infrastructure and local residents.
Residing in starost districts 1,862 Integration solutions must work not only in the community center, but also in the starost districts.

Tabular data reformatted into a reader-friendly format without using a raw photograph of the original table.

Interviews: A Historical and Social Perspective

To avoid reducing the topic to dry statistics, we combined it with an explanation of historical stereotypes and the practical experience of working with IDPs at the community level.

Avatar portrait of Yaroslav Hrytsak View bio

"Nations are communications. When regions long lacked a shared information space, it was easier for notions of 'outsiders' to emerge between them."

Yaroslav Hrytsak Historian and public intellectual
Avatar portrait of Iryna Pasichna View bio

"The main tool of integration is normalization: IDPs must be visible as full-fledged residents, not as a separate 'problem group'."

Iryna Pasichna Head of the Social Policy Department, Bucha City Council Open interview page

Yaroslav Hrytsak: Key Theses

1. How did images of "us" and "them" form?

In the 19th and first half of the 20th century, Ukrainian regions often belonged to different states, so there was little communication between them. As a result, images of "insiders" and "outsiders" formed more around ethnic and religious groups than around the modern regions of Ukraine.

2. The role of imperial, Soviet, and Russian policies

Official regional stereotypes were not always imposed directly, but the Soviet and post-Soviet space reinforced images like "westerners," "Banderites," or "the Donbas that feeds Ukraine." Such clichés were then easily exploited by propaganda.

3. School history and regional divisions

The school curriculum often focused on Kyiv, Lviv, and partly Kharkiv. As a result, other regions could appear less "visible" in the national imagination, which sustained the stereotype of "two Ukraines."

4. Is prejudice against IDPs linked to a lack of shared history?

Yes, but only in part. The war has forced many Ukrainians to rediscover that the eastern and southern territories are not some abstract "other Ukraine," but part of a common home.

5. Historical traumas

The question of how traumas affect attitudes toward displaced persons requires separate research. It is important not to substitute assumptions for actual inquiry.

Iryna Pasichna: Key Conclusions

1. Systemic barriers to integration

The most common obstacles are the instability of the "Shelter" program, the cancellation of some housing payments, a shortage of spots in kindergartens and schools, and difficult access to subsidized housing loans.

2. The psychological impact of prejudice

Teenagers and young people may experience self-stigmatization, a sense of "living out of a suitcase," loss of identity, and defensive aggression. Discrimination is therefore not only a social problem, but a psychological one.

3. Russian propaganda and IPSO

Propaganda reinforces myths about "collective guilt," "ideological otherness," and "resource scarcity." This shifts the conversation from solidarity to suspicion.

4. What can the city council do?

What is needed is a shared information space, memorial events, integration hubs, communication monitoring, and swift rebuttal of manipulative narratives.

5. The main piece of advice

Do not treat IDPs as "aid recipients." These are people with competencies, taxpayers, experience, and the potential to contribute to community development.

How Prejudice Operates in Everyday Life

Stereotypes become dangerous when they move from conversation into decisions: who to rent an apartment to, who to hire, who to invite to a parent group chat, whose voice to consider in public discussions.

Housing

Landlords may fear compensation delays or view IDPs as "risky" tenants. This increases instability and dependence on temporary solutions.

Education

When there is a shortage of spots in kindergartens and schools, a child may spend more time at home. This hampers socialization and deepens the family's sense of isolation.

Employment

A person who has relocated often changes profession or starts over from scratch. Support needs to be not only financial, but also professional.

The Lviv Context: Budget and Procurement as Part of the Issue

Prejudice often arises where people see no transparency: how much funding is allocated, what it goes toward, and whether IDP support truly "takes" resources away from locals. That is why it is important to speak the language of open data.

Lviv Social Protection Budget

According to public announcements about the Lviv community budget for 2026, the following is allocated for social protection and support of vulnerable groups:

587.1M UAH

This is 32.6 million UAH more than last year. For our topic, this shows: support for IDPs should be seen not as a "privilege," but as part of a broader policy of social resilience for the community.

Procurement Examples under EDRPOU 26256754

Code 26256754 refers to the Social Protection Department of the Humanitarian Policy Directorate of the Lviv City Council. Individual contracts and funding sources can be viewed in Prozorro.

Furniture for the conference hall97,000 UAH
Post-construction cleaning of premises15,300.14 UAH
Electronic communication services10,080 UAH
Electronic document management support77,776.80 UAH

This is not the total amount of IDP assistance, but only examples of department procurements — which should be distinguished from myths about "excessive privileges."

Real Cases of Successful IDP Integration in Communities

These examples show that integration works when IDPs are not separated from local residents, but are involved in joint decisions, work, volunteering, education, and community development.

Pavlohrad

An IDP Council as a Bridge Between Displaced Persons, Business, and Authorities

In the Pavlohrad community, where more than 20,500 IDPs are officially registered, the IDP Council initiated additions to the local program with integration measures. Surveys of displaced persons, businesses, and local residents were conducted, with priorities including informational support, inclusion, employment, and entrepreneurship development. One concrete outcome was that over 432 families were placed on a waiting list for temporary housing.

Why this matters for our topic: the community stops perceiving IDPs solely as aid recipients and begins to see them as participants in decision-making.

Lypova Dolyna Community

An Integration Space for Support and Recovery

In the Lypova Dolyna community in Sumy region, the IDP Council together with a charitable foundation, local authorities, civic organizations, and media created an integration space. Events are held there to help IDPs adapt to community life, as well as gatherings for emotional relief for mothers with children.

Why this matters for our topic: spaces for meeting reduce the distance between people, as displaced persons become visible as neighbors, parents, workers, and active community members.

Uzhhorod

IDP Participation in Public Life and Protection of Voting Rights

In Uzhhorod, events were held in support of IDPs' voting rights, including a forum theatre where participants modeled a scenario of a displaced person defending their rights before an official. Thanks to the involvement of local deputies and civic organizations, the city council addressed the Verkhovna Rada regarding legislative changes in the area of voting rights for mobile citizens.

Why this matters for our topic: integration means not only assistance, but also IDPs' right to influence decisions in the community where they actually live.

National Example

Stories of Mutual Aid Instead of the Image of "Outsiders"

In the series "IDPs — A Great Example of Unity," displaced persons share stories of integration in their new communities. The central idea is that beyond basic assistance, people need not only housing and work, but also friends, support, socialization, and the opportunity to apply their skills.

Why this matters for our topic: real stories break down stereotypes better than abstract calls for tolerance, because they show the contribution IDPs make to shared life.

Connection to the Bucha community: for Bucha, these cases can serve as practical reference points: creating integration spaces, involving IDPs in consultations, surveying needs, supporting employment, and sharing public stories of successful adaptation. This is precisely how the "IDP" label gradually ceases to be a marker of difference and becomes part of the community's shared story.

What Actually Reduces Prejudice

The best solutions are those that replace the "us/them" divide with shared participation in community life.

For the Community

  • Use "new community residents" rather than just "IDPs."
  • Hold meetings in a "coffee with a neighbor" format.
  • Involve IDPs in housing associations, volunteering, and local initiatives.

For Business

  • Launch short internships and reskilling programs.
  • Conduct ethical communication trainings.
  • Evaluate people by their skills, not their place of origin.

For Authorities

  • Create a clear "adaptation package" for new residents.
  • Explain how resources are distributed.
  • Include IDPs in working groups and public consultations.
Final conclusion: prejudice decreases not when tolerance is merely talked about, but when people have shared endeavors, transparent rules, and the ability to see each other not through a status label, but through their real contribution to the community.

Sources

Interview profile

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