Scottish Warm Welcome Surge Team – hilarybrownlie.co.uk

19.03. 22

On behalf of the Scottish Government – and the people of Scotland – I warmly welcome you, and your family and friends, to Scotland.

I want you to know that you are now safe.

Please know that you will be treated with care, dignity and respect, for however long you stay.

We have been shocked by what has happened to the people of Ukraine. We want to help, and to provide you with the support and the services that you need.

As we open our doors to you, we also open our hearts. We offer not just a refuge, but a warm Scottish welcome and a nation of helping hands to you and your loved ones.

Welcome to Scotland, our home – and, for as long as you need, yours too.

A welcome to Ukrainians arriving in Scotland, from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

In week 1 of the war, Scottish Government sought volunteers in user-centred design and IT to develop the ‘warm welcome service’. I was seconded for 4 months to a surge team.

Ukrainian guests were not refugees, they held visas, and normal protocols did not apply.

I worked in 3 spaces:

Emergency telephone service for inbound Ukrainians
- Initial contact with visa holders via SMS
  (translated Ukrainian & Russian)
- Daily debrief from call centre staff
- Ethno research at welcome centres
- Briefing stakeholders (MPs)
Scottish ‘Homes for Ukraine’ volunteers
- User research
- Survey design & telephone testing
- Surveyed all 5k volunteers
- Updated data modelling
‘Matching Service’ (councils, volunteers & Ukrainian guests)
- User research with 6 Council refugee teams & COSLA
- Service blueprints
- ‘Matching’ prototype (using teams planner)
- Model office/pilot