Responding Together: Volunteering and Community Resilience in the Reception of Ukrainian Refugees

In contexts of forced migration, volunteering and grassroots civic engagement can play a crucial role in building community resilience. This study explored how stakeholders involved in the reception of Ukrainian refugees in Italy perceived community resilience and its promoting factors. Adopting a Community-Based Participatory Research approach, the study engaged 19 stakeholders through four focus groups and participatory ecological mapping activities. The analysis developed an overarching theme of community resilience as an ecology of support, articulated across six subthemes as follows: Trusted leadership, community engagement, resources, social support, religion and spirituality and communication and information. Volunteering emerged as a key mechanism for mobilising resources, connecting actors, facilitating collaboration and promoting trust and social cohesion. Ecological maps further revealed both collaborative strengths and significant gaps, particularly in relations with institutional actors and access to formal support structures. The findings suggest that coordinated, culturally sensitive and community-based support systems are essential for strengthening resilience and fostering more sustainable and inclusive refugee reception practices.