Ukraine - As the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) passes half a million (540,000) and with temperatures dropping below -15 C in eastern Ukraine, IOM supported by the European Union (EU) and Germany will provide urgent assistance to vulnerable people from Donbas and Crimea. This humanitarian intervention is supported by EUR 6.5 million the EU and EUR 680,000 from Germany.

IOM will provide direct cash payments to over 5,300 vulnerable families and disabled people to meet their urgent needs in Kharkiv region, which borders Donbas and hosts about one-fourth of the Ukrainian displaced population. Many of them fled the conflict area with minimal belongings and resources. The intervention is funded by the EU’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO).

“Cash assistance is the most effective practice in such circumstances to help vulnerable families in the most dignified way and offers them an opportunity to meet their needs, including rent, warm clothes, medicines and other vital items,” said ECHO Head of Office in Ukraine Mamar Merzouk.

In order to scale up its assistance in the East of Ukraine, IOM will also open a sub-office in Kharkiv: “We aim at strengthening our field presence for assessing the needs of IDPs and providing immediate humanitarian assistance, as well as developing long-term solutions for the social and economic integration of displaced populations and host communities in Ukraine,” said IOM Ukraine Chief of Mission Manfred Profazi.

Assisting IDPs through income-generating activities and supporting those communities which host large numbers of IDPs will be in focus of another EU-funded programme IOM has just launched. Community and IDP representatives in 34 post-conflict and displacement locations will be encouraged to jointly decide on small social or public infrastructure projects, like the renovation of a school or a kindergarten, or improvement of a first-aid station. The project aims to boost social cohesion and understanding among communities and IDPs.

Another 1,000 displaced persons will benefit from a self-employment scheme or participate in professional training courses, making them self-sufficient and contributing to the well-being of their families and host communities.

In addition to that, a special hotline will be set up by IOM to provide information on the general situation in post-conflict areas to allow displaced persons to make an informed decision in case they consider returning. Finally, the project will improve the information technology capacity of the Government of Ukraine in Kyiv and the regions to register IDPs.

Additional warm clothes, winter shoes, blankets, heaters, bed linen and other household items will be provided to another 1,400 IDP families under a new German-funded contribution to IOM’s humanitarian assistance programme.

The German contribution will also cover improvement of living conditions in collective centres. According to estimates, collective centres house about 10 per cent of the total IDP population in Ukraine. They include some of the most vulnerable, who have no relatives in safe areas or funds with which to rent private housing. These centres often lack proper heating, sanitary and other types of facilities, which the project seeks to improve.

Since the beginning of the crisis, over 7,500 IDPs have been assisted by IOM and received warm clothes, shoes, blankets, household and hygiene items, as well as medicine, psychological and other forms of assistance with funding provided by the United States, the UN, Norway and Switzerland.

For further information please contact

Varvara Zhluktenko

IOM Ukraine

Email: vzhluktenko@iom.int

Tel. +38 044 568 50 15 or +38 067 447 97 92