PRME's Response to the Ukrainian Crisis

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Dear colleagues,

As we rise from the long difficult battle of COVID, we are keenly aware that there are tragedies around the world, every day, that we cannot ignore. The crisis in Ukraine is no exception and we cannot be silent. This month in my Message from Morsing, despite having many exciting news and developments that the PRME community continues to produce and impress us with, I will stay brief and offer an action-oriented perspective on ways we are addressing the situation and how we – us – can support our Ukrainian peers.

Here are the actions that the PRME Secretariat is taking now:

• On 26 February, we posted a statement to our global community expressing our solidarity with our Ukrainian colleagues, drafted by our PRME colleagues closest to the situation in Central and Eastern Europe. You can read the full statement here, which has since been updated to reflect the UN General Assembly Resolution on 2 March 2022.
• We have reached out to our Signatories in Ukraine to offer our support and condolences. We are working on alleviating all financial and reporting requirements for Ukrainian Signatories.
• On 11 March, key members of the PRME community who have been spearheading these important conversations will meet to set in motion a one-two page PRME Call-to-Action for the community which would include:
  • A call for PRME Signatories (as institutions or individual faculty) to volunteer free online courses
  • Encouragement to PRME Signatories to offer scholarships to young Ukrainians wishing to continue, or pursue a course of study, and to cover costs of study and subsistence
  • Encouragement of donations to UN agencies and other organizations executing relief efforts
  • An invitation to all PRME Signatories (as institutions or as individual faculty) to report to PRME on useful examples of institutional or individual responses to this crisis. We have set up an email for submissions: ukrainecrisisresponse@unprme.org and plan to circulate responses for further inspiration, adoption or adaptation.

We ask our community to have humanity and grace, above all else, with those around you, and encourage you to extend a helping hand wherever you can. Please share your own experiences and practices for responding to this crisis with our team here: ukrainecrisisresponse@unprme.org

Warm regards,

Mette Morsing