The role of the veteran community in building a democratic society research

Дослідження ролі ветеранської спільноти

A sociological study on the topic "The role of the veteran community in building a democratic society" was initiated by the YARMIZ Center at the end of 2020 and was conducted in partnership with the Kyiv Institute of Management Problems named after Gorshenin, with the support of the Representative Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine. 

As of 2021, the study "The role of the veteran community in building a democratic society" was organized and conducted with the support of the Representative Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine. The executor of the work was the Gorshenin Institute. 

In June 2021, 6 focus group discussions were held in 5 cities: Kyiv, Lviv, Kropyvnytskyi, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia. 

In September - October 2021 an all-Ukrainian survey was conducted among 1,000 veterans in all regions of Ukraine, taking into account regional distribution, type of settlement (regional centers, large, medium and small cities, villages and towns), gender quota (number of female veterans who participated in the study, is 8% of the total number of respondents) and age distribution (18-60+ years).

RESEARCH TASKS were: 

  • to form a portrait of a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war; 
  • to analyze the reasons and motives that influenced their decision to join the Armed Forces and volunteer battalions;
  • identify social values and principles shared by veterans and what social issues concern them;
  • to investigate the degree of awareness of veterans about their own socio-economic rights and social guarantees;
  • determine the degree of involvement of veterans in civic life, and other issues.


RESEARCH RESULTS showed

PORTRAIT OF VETERAN(s):

The overwhelming majority of veterans are people with higher (45.1%) and secondary special (37%) educations, married (62%) or living with a civil partner (8.9%), have children (75 ,6%). 

By 2021, every fifth of those surveyed served in the Armed Forces (27.4), 20.3% were skilled workers, 8.9% were specialists, and 7.0% were private entrepreneurs. The share of the unemployed in 2021 was 6.2%.

Retired people (including unemployed persons due to disability) 6.1%.

For the year 2021, 59.9% estimated the financial condition of the family such that families have enough money to live, but they cannot afford to buy expensive things (59.5%). 17.8% answered that they have no financial difficulties, except for particularly expensive purchases (housing, cars). 16.4% answered that they have enough for food, but buying clothes or shoes causes difficulties. 1.1% responded that they had no financial difficulties, while 1.8% responded that they were barely making ends meet.

The vast majority of respondents named peace (62.2%), the value of human life (44.8%), human rights (39.0%), the rule of law (37.8%), personal freedom (24.6%), democracy (18 ,3%), equality (18,3%).

As a motivation to go to the front from 2014 to 2021, 71.81 TP2T respondents indicated civic duty.

83.1% veterans of the ATO/OOS declared in 2021 that they are ready to take part in hostilities in the event of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by an aggressor.

PROBLEMS:

Psychological problems were indicated most often (24.4%), 24.0% did not feel dignified by society. Loss of health, injuries prevented a full return for 20,9% veterans.

They did not receive decent material assistance and benefits from the state (17.0%).

Relations with family and relatives worsened in 10, 11 TP2T respondents. Lost their job 9.6% and couldn't find their place in civilian life 7.4%. Housing problems were indicated by 6.61 TP2T veterans.

The majority of veterans believe that they have enough information about their rights and social guarantees (62.5%), but these rights are not sufficiently protected at the state level (64.3%). 65.9% faced a violation of their rights as a veteran, first of all, in matters of provision of a plot of land (61.0%), travel in public transport (46.0%), provision of housing or housing repair (29.0%), treatment, provision of free medicines (22.3%).

The Russian-Ukrainian war (56.1%), bad economic situation (42.9%), and corruption (37.6%) were considered by veterans to be the most painful social problems in 2021.

Veterans consider voting in elections (41.7%), participation in demonstrations, strikes, meetings (18.6%), cooperation with public organizations, volunteer movements (12.3%) to be the most effective way of political participation of citizens. At the same time, 20,2% found it difficult to answer this question. For 73.6% respondents, the political power with which a veteran enters politics matters.

The European Union (72.0%) and joining NATO (73.8%) were the foreign policy orientations in 2021 among veterans of the ATO/OOS.

Read the full report based on the results of the sociological research: http://fes.kiev.ua/n/cms/fileadmin/upload2/FES_VETERAN_M_final.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1NseQaCP7naLsa4LzPehraBFIWcuHNoqY7y74ubDqo-S9cZaX7VeHj9Kc