The process of including refugees from another cultural area in the society becomes possible thanks to the use of innovative technologies.
The HumanDoc Foundation received support for conducting two projects related to the construction of prototypes of innovative solutions helping in the inclusion of the minority of Afghan refugees into Polish society.
After the Taliban took power in Kabul in 2021. almost a thousand Afghans were evacuated to Poland. Within hours, they had to pack into one suitcase and make it to the airport. They got on the plane, which saved their lives, but at the same time uprooted and threw them to the ground, where they do not really know how to plant them again. They speak Dari, not translated into Polish by any translator. Many of them are illiterate and have never been to Europe before.
The HumanDoc Foundation is now creating an information vortal and an application called “Mokamila”, which will facilitate communication and adaptation for Afghan refugees in Poland..
Social innovation prototype number 1
The “Mokamila” application is an intuitive communicator that allows Afghans to communicate with Poles. There are words and phrases divided into thematic sections related to various areas of social life, eg health, education, work, official matters, etc. In addition to words in the Dari language and their Polish equivalents, there are also pictograms for the illiterate part of the Afghan community.
The application works on the two most popular operating systems: Android and iOS. It can also be used offline, which means that recipients have access to a practical database of words and pictures at any time.
Thanks to the experience of HumanDoc employees who have been involved in helping Afghan refugees for many months, the IT team and focus research on the group that will ultimately use the application, we create a dictionary of the most necessary expressions, so easy to use that even children can use it.
This innovative solution will be applicable in the future to any group that is excluded from social life because of a communication barrier or different cultural experiences.
Prototype of social innovation No. 2
Information vortal for Afghans in Poland
The concept of creating a thematic portal containing a package of practical information, thanks to which refugees will learn and understand the realities in Poland, was born as a result of the experience of HumanDoc employees in caring for evacuated Afghans.
We have found out that in their case the standard information provided to migrants does not fulfill its role because it does not take into account the cultural context. For example, an explanation of the “insured person’s rights” that can be found in your payslip office. foreigners are illegible for Afghans because there is no universal insurance system in their country.
On the one hand, our vortal explains the information to the Afghan user in a simple way and tells him what to do with it. On the other hand, it provides Polish specialists (doctors, lawyers, officials) with the necessary knowledge concerning, for example, the Afghan health care system or customs. In this way, both sides are prepared for the course of a specific meeting, and the awareness of possible events eliminates unnecessary tensions and, consequently, facilitates the integration of the Afghan community.
The materials on the vortal are prepared in the Dari language by specialists who are aware of the dissonance between European and Afghan culture. The issues are divided into thematic sections corresponding to the most popular areas of social life, such as:
a) the education system in Poland
b) the healthcare system
c) the labor market
d) formalities: office, bank, security services, etc.
e) everyday life in Poland
f) civil rights in Poland – basic information on insurance, obligations to have personal documents, etc.
The above information is grouped into packages that can be downloaded to the phone so that they can be played offline (for example during a visit to an office).
The strength of the project proposed by the HumanDoc Foundation is the fact that the vortal structure is an ideal starting point for other information databases of this type.
Grant projects: Incubator for Social Inclusion, are co-financed by the European Social Fund under the Knowledge Education Development Operational Program 2014-2020.
