Unlocking Forced Migrant Agency in Civic Ecosystems: Local Mobilisation of Support for and by Ukrainian Forced Migrants in Poland

ABSTRACT In Poland, the mobilisation of help for refugee assistance and support in light of Russia's full‐scale invasion of Ukraine was swift, agile and unprecedented. Decentralised and informal networks of local leaders, amongst them Ukrainian nationals, neighbours, businesses, aid organisations and, crucially, forced migrants themselves, mostly women, formed largely on an ad hoc basis. This research focuses on the development of these networks on a local level through which new forms of association and agentic opportunities emerged, particularly for Ukrainian women with forced migration experience. Through qualitative social network analysis and mapping techniques from semi‐structured interviews and focus groups with key civic actors in the city of Krakow, we analyse two emergent civic ecosystems of migrant support, analysing the role of interactants with forced migration experience and their positioning, resources and types of relations which typified their networks. Our findings point to the building of both strong and weak interdependent connections between diverse stakeholders, laying the foundation for local civic ecosystems wherein the agency of previously marginalised actors, particularly forced migrants, becomes the driving force.