Olexiy Haran

Despite the problems in conducting polls during the war, the Democratic Inituiatives Foundation has just finished a regional poll in the West and the Center of Ukraine. This poll included the questions on war, geopolitics, national integrity, freedoms in time of war. Hopefully, we will be able to continue the polling. Also, the DIF is now conducting different focus groups and deep-dive interviews among volunteers, IDPs, experts, and common people who went through occupation. These steps are extremely important in documenting the problems and the moods in Ukrainian society, including the attitudes of Ukrainians towards international actors and international support.
In contrast to commercial sociological companies, conducting the poll is only the first step in the DIF’s activity. The next steps are research activity, policy recommendations and its advocacy in media and among decision-makers both in Ukraine, including international missions on the ground, and abroad.
I am writing and also supervising the research activity and publications of the younger generation of DIF analysts in Ukraine and abroad, comparing pre-war and wartime situations. Support from the IWM helps tremendously to effectively continue this activity, to document public opinion and diversity of the views of Ukrainian experts on war time issues, and to promote these results in the Ukrainian and international media.