KYIV, 4 August 2022 – Under the EU4Dialogue program, the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine awarded first 19 grants to the civil society organizations (CSOs) to support the first-line response and recovery among women and men from especially hard-to-reach and vulnerable communities in Ukraine.

Selected projects cover psychological, legal and administrative aid provision to both IDPs and their host communities, as well as frontline communities, including the areas where the government of Ukraine regained control. In partnership with the civil society, UNDP helps bridge the gap between local authorities, humanitarian organisations and the most vulnerable groups, to ensure fair, inclusive and effective delivery of humanitarian and recovery assistance.

“The EU is working on all fronts to support Ukraine and its people. Since the Russian aggression started, the EU has mobilised around €6.8 billion to support Ukraine's overall economic, social and financial resilience in the form of macro-financial assistance, budget support, emergency assistance, crisis response and humanitarian aid,” said Lawrence Meredith, Director of Neighbourhood East and Institution Building at DG NEAR, European Commission. “In addition, we have been tapping into our ongoing cooperation programmes to respond to the immediate needs on the ground. Within the framework of EU4Dialogue, we aim to support those civil society initiatives that are providing relevant assistance to the most vulnerable and conflict-affected people in their communities.”

The projects will be implemented across Ukraine in Donetsk, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Zakarpattia, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. For instance, NGO “Pokrovsk Society of the Blind” will work to ensure communities in Donetsk Oblast have access to clean drinking water. Another project in Donetsk Oblast by the Center for Local Community Development NGO aims at creating a hotline for the residents near the contact line.

Acting UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine Manal Fouani said that from day one of the war, UNDP has scaled up its support package to the people of Ukraine, focusing on immediate crisis response, maintaining core government functions, and laying the groundwork for early recovery. “We’re also focusing on resilience and development for the millions of displaced people who have fled the violence, enhancing the capacity of their host communities to avail services for all people in need in close collaboration with the civil society. Locally led recovery efforts have shown immense speed, relevance and impact on war affected people.”

According to the latest estimates, almost 6.3 million Ukrainians have been displaced inside the country, while around 5.5 million have fled for temporary protection to neighbouring countries. As estimated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), nearly 16 million people in Ukraine are in immediate need of humanitarian aid.

The EU and UNDP agreed to redirect the funds of the EU4Dialogue project to address the most urgent needs of war-affected communities in Ukraine. The regional project aims to contribute towards building a durable foundation for peace by creating better socio-economic conditions and improving human security for war-affected communities.

The grant competition  “Civil society response to the needs of women and men, especially hard-to-reach and vulnerable groups” is still ongoing. Up to 40 CSOs in total will be supported within the competition. UNDP Ukraine invites civil society organizations to submit their proposals.

Media enquiries

Yulia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Communications Lead, yuliia.samus@undp.org