DNIPRO, 25 January 2023 — From the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine provided grants to support more than 50 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including those forced to move from the active combat zones to safer parts of Ukraine to continue their activities.

Thus, the “Slavic Heart” Charity Fund from Sviatohirsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast and “MARTIN Club” NGO received a joint grant from UNDP and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to open the “Zatyshok” Anti-Crisis Transit Hub for internally displaced people in Dnipro.

The hub will help with evacuation from dangerous areas in Donetsk Oblast, provide a wide range of legal, social and psychological services for displaced people, and also facilitate the search for permanent places of residence and further employment in new communities.

Christophoros Politis, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Ukraine, emphasized that the UN Development Programme will strengthen support for NGOs that seek to help Ukrainian men and women during the war. “The Hub is a bold initiative that we are happy to support and develop,” he said. “It demonstrates the powerful potential of Ukraine’s civil society, which with its titanic efforts is already laying a solid foundation for the recovery of Ukraine.”

The Department of Family and Youth Affairs of Donetsk Oblast State Administration and private business will also contribute to the project. The grant project will be implemented with financial support from the Government of Denmark, provided within the framework of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme.

Background

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). Eleven international partners support the Programme: The European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland.

Media enquiries: Yuliia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Head of Communications; e-mail: yuliia.samus@undp.org