Ukraine - With the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Ukraine approaching 1.5 million, IOM is expanding its donor-funded cash assistance programmes in the country to help some of the most vulnerable IDPs.

Under the new programme – funded by the European Union (EU) and Norway – some 9,500 elderly people, families with three or more children, single parents, and people with disabilities in the conflict-affected Kharkiv Region will receive unconditional cash assistance of UAH 1,000 (USD 40) per person. Kharkiv is close to the conflict zone and hosts almost 180,000 IDPs.

To fund the intervention, the EU provided EUR 1 million through its Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) and the Government of Norway provided EUR 400,000 in co-funding.

Between December 2014 and April 2015, the EU – through IOM – helped over 23,000 vulnerable IDPs in Kharkiv with similar cash payments.

“We must target our assistance to those most in need, those who cannot support themselves,” said Mamar Merzouk, Head of the ECHO office in Kyiv. “Cash grants are not only the quickest way to provide assistance. They also preserve the dignity of the people, allowing them to decide how to best meet their most urgent needs.”

IOM plans to use an additional EUR 1 million donated by Germany to provide cash payments to another 6,500 vulnerable IDPs in nine other regions of Ukraine hosting some 130,000 IDPs.

“Displacement is continuing and IDPs are still facing harsh living conditions. It is important for us that they can independently determine priorities for spending the money, be it buying school supplies for children, purchasing medicine, clothes or any other essentials that they need,” says IOM Ukraine Chief of Mission Manfred Profazi.

In the autumn, IOM plans to conduct another round of cash support in the same 10 regions, targeting people identified in the summer intervention and new arrivals. The amounts have yet to be determined.

For more information, please contact Varvara Zhluktenko at IOM Ukraine, Tel: +38 044 568 5015,

Email: vzhluktenko@iom.int or IOMKievComm@iom.int