The city of Przemyśl opened the emergency refugee help center at the abandoned TESCO supermarket. During the first days of the war in Ukraine, they needed the support of volunteers to set up the management processes workflow in the shortest time possible. Reducing the crush, chaos and human bottlenecks at the center were our initial main purposes.
The Przemyśl emergency refugee help center handles 5,000 people a day and is the largest of its kind in Poland, however it was still not sufficient in tackling the amount of incoming refugees from Ukraine, and thus, we planned and opened a new center in Chelm within two weeks of Teleport’s formation.
There were not enough volunteers available on site at the Przemyśl refugee center to handle the workload, and there was no management system in place to clearly structure and focus the available volunteers on paramount tasks. To solve that problem, we have developed algorithms that help to understand exactly how we can help refugees effectively and quickly.
We trained volunteers and ensured that this training process was self-sustaining in case of a change in personnel.
We configured and tested the system to ensure its sustainability.
We made sure volunteers had phones (provided by the city administration) to call international numbers for drivers.
We made sure the refugees had the minimum waiting time for a drive to their preferred destinations to prevent the overload of the center.
We have created another system which helps to control the flow of refugees, and now we can make sure that they are registered and safe before they leave for their preferred destinations. This system helped to structure the center’s work processes and clearly understand the needs according to complete statistics. Each refugee must be registered and receive a band with the appropriate number afterwards.
As soon as we received the first reports of human trafficking, we started working on preventing further human trafficking from occurring.
Drivers have to register in our system and provide their necessary documents in order to prove a clean criminal record. All data is thoroughly verified through an API background check through Interpol’s criminal record databases, to help verify that prospective drivers have the right intentions.
It is only after all the verification stages are completed that drivers are allowed to approach refugees with driving offers. Before the verification is complete, any driver contact with refugees is prohibited and inaccessible.
We managed to connect with Artur Kazienko, the founder of the famous Polish brand KAZAR and he promoted us to continue our work in the CPH Chelm refugee center.
We met with the Belgian Minister of Immigration, Sammy Mahdi, to consult about the refugees fleeing to Belgium.
We have developed an HR system integrated into the process to understand which people are proficient on a certain position.
We visualized and created a clear structure of management processes at TESCO refugee center to enable sustainable forms of processing refugees and train new volunteers.
We helped arrange hardware (laptops and screens) and all the needed software by Monday.com at the desks for volunteers on registration points.
We cooperated with the team Monday.com on implementing IT solutions for data collection and ensuring the safety of refugees.
We created a safety system for vulnerable refugees. We created the refugee registration system in cooperation with Monday.com.
We created the driver registration system in cooperation with Monday.com.
We coordinated and implemented a verification and matching system for drivers and refugees.
We collaborated with the non-profit organization HelpBus to order and manage vehicles and busses for refugees fleeing from Ukraine to Germany. We managed donations from Germany to TESCO refugee center.
