In response to the war in Ukraine, on the 8th of April 2022, our Project launched a call for Ukrainian civil society organisations and activists to propose initiatives which could respond to the diverse needs triggered by the war.
Support was made available as ad-hoc support for civil society projects, fellowships as well as referrals to other organisations.
Through our ad-hoc mechanism we directly supported 14 initiatives, covering a wide range of topics: support to pregnant women during the war, support to IDPs in specific regions, first aid and safety trainings for volunteers and citizens, educational programmes for children, as well as support to preparatory work for economic recovery.
In addition, 13 smaller scale initiatives were supported through the EaP Civil Society Fellowship programme. Two initiatives were also successfully referred to an EU Framework Partner (the Framework Partnership Agreements are established strategic partnerships between the European Commission and selected civil society organisations with recognised knowledge, local political awareness and experience in supporting civil society in the wider Eastern Neighbourhood region).
Learn more about the supported initiatives below.
SafeBIRTH: Support to pregnant women during the war
by Viktoriya Luchka, 2017 EaP Civil Society Fellow
The war has forced many expectant Ukrainian women to give birth at home, in cellars, subway stations and air raid shelters. Pregnant women and their partners need information about the delivery process outside a medical facility (safety, essentials, delivery process, late pregnancy, early postpartum period, etc.) and they need help to prepare for the delivery in times of war.
The project is responding to these needs through the production of information materials and media stories, as well as the organisation of live webinars with leading international obstetricians and childbirth specialists.
Providing psychological support to IDPs in Ukraine
by Uliana Sydor, 2020 EaP Civil Society Fellow, and Mothers of Prykarpattia CSO
In cooperation with local activists and authorities, the project team is supporting over 2,000 Ukrainians, mostly women and children, who were forced to relocate to Ivano-Frankivsk from the war-affected cities and towns of Ukraine.
Assistance is being provided in different forms: psychological support and trainings for internally displaced women, help with finding jobs and direct employment of IDPs, creating conditions for women’s professional activities by holding leisure activities for children, and collecting and voicing their needs at the level of local authorities.
Trainings for volunteers and support to the office in Bucha to facilitate aid
Andrii Chubyk, 2017 EaP Civil Society Fellow, and Plast Education Center for Children and Youth in Bucha
The main value of the Plast Education Centre is its team of volunteers, who returned to Bucha and started to work on the recovery of the town immediately after its de-occupation in early April 2022. The project helps to prepare over 60 local volunteers who provide humanitarian support to local residents to carry out their activities in a safer manner: keeping safe in areas affected by hostilities and around explosive items (mines, shelters, grenades etc.), providing pre-medical first aid in emergency cases (injury, explosion, health problems), and evaluating their own psychological/mental state while staying resilient under difficult circumstances.
In addition, the project allows the Plast team to replace some key office equipment destroyed by the Russian soldiers and facilitates the delivery of humanitarian aid to almost 400 local families in need.
Support to the Humanitarian Headquarter for Citizens of the Temporary Occupied Territories of Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Valeriia Ovcharova, 2018 EaP Civil Society Fellow, and NGO YES
Zaporizhzhia is among the most affected regions by the war in Ukraine, with roughly two-thirds of the oblast territory being temporarily occupied. The project supports the operations of the Humanitarian Headquarter for Citizens of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, a joint initiative of local civil society and authorities, that supports those in the occupied communities and fosters their de-occupation by counteracting Russian disinformation.
Within the action, the Headquarters team:
- assesses the needs of the local population (healthcare, business, education, media, etc.) in order for the local authorities and civil society to better adapt their work;
- develops a communication guide for local state actors and media;
- responds to the emergency needs of over 1,000 people residing in the temporarily occupied communities in Zaporizhzhia oblast and keeps them informed about the Ukrainian and international help available and ongoing efforts to de-occupy their homes.
HelpNikopol
by Mariia Poloz, 2020 EaP Civil Society Fellow, and Solidarity and Evolution CSO
The Ukraine-controlled city of Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk oblast is only several kilometres away from the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, and shelters thousands of IDPs. The team is addressing the emergency needs of more than 2,500 IDPs and vulnerable group members (elderly, families in need, etc.), providing them with supplies, legal advice, consultancy, and training on premedical first aid.
The action also helps to promote and strengthen cooperation between CSOs and activists in Ukraine and abroad on issues of common interest in support of Ukraine. In addition, it aims to inform the residents of Nikopol and nearby settlements about the situation in the region and country, international support to Ukraine, and circulated misinformation.
Informing Citizens about Safety Issues and IDPs on the Rights and Services Available
by Agromegapolis CSO
The 5-week occupation left Ukrainian territories in the north of the country in ruins and full of mines. The project is addressing these two problems by:
- raising awareness of the people in Kyiv, Chernihiv and Kharkiv oblasts about what constitutes secure behaviour in war-affected territories and about the threat of landmines, ammunition, and any explosive remnants of war, and
- informing IDPs and other vulnerable groups about their rights and the services available to them.
Internationalization of Ukrainian Cluster Alliance
by Ukrainian Cluster Alliance
The action promotes cooperation between professional communities, business associations and the relevant governmental bodies in Ukraine and the European Union on mobilising and supporting the critical industries in Ukraine to address the challenges posed by the war.
The Alliance’s team organizes cluster-to-cluster meetings of European and Ukrainian producers, seeks to develop a network of professionals from the Ukrainian diaspora to act as ambassadors of Ukrainian business abroad, keeps EU stakeholders informed of the situation in Ukrainian professional communities and strengthens the image of Ukrainian companies by sharing their success stories with potential partners.
Economic Recovery Initiative
by Center for Innovations Development (CID)
CID brings together key stakeholders – businesses, national and local governments, civil society and local self-government bodies – to identify the key economic clusters that suffered the most during the war in order to jointly develop at least 10 ideas for quick and effective recovery of the Ukrainian economy.
The action contributes to the implementation of a larger national initiative for economic recovery, entrepreneurship development and export of Ukraine launched by CID, the Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office and Diia.Business national project in May 2022.
Rehabilitation Summer Camps for Children in Zakarpattia ‘Nebokray’
by Nebokray Active Leisure Club
At least 60% of Ukrainian children have been forced to leave their homes due to the war. Many children lost their homes, families, were under shellfire and fled the occupied cities.
In summer 2022 Nebokray Club is organising a series of rehabilitation summer camps in Zakarpattia for children from the war-affected territories of Ukraine to facilitate their physical and psychological recovery through immersion and contact with nature, active leisure, outdoor sports and regular meetings with psychologists. These camps also give the opportunity to parents and legal guardians to deal with different urgent needs and improve their children’s living conditions.
Support to IDPs and Residents in Kryvyi Rih
by Anna Iemelianova, 2018 EaP Civil Society Fellow, and the Union of Responsible Citizens CSO
From the first days of the war, Kryvyi Rih has become a powerful humanitarian hub near the hostilities zone in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast. The project is assisting IDPs and communities on the frontline and in some of the liberated settlements by:
- addressing the emergency needs of at least 1,500 persons (food, medicines, clothes, personal hygiene items), and
- providing consultations to IDPs and residents on their rights for compensation and legal procedures for filing damaged/destroyed property reports.
Offline educational hub for IDPs (schoolchildren) in Uzhgorod
by Inspiration Café educational hub
The war has deprived Ukrainian children of their basic rights, including the right for education. Hostilities have damaged more than 2,000 educational institutions in Ukraine, completely levelling at least 286 of them. Five million school-aged children are estimated to be in need of educational support.
The team of Educator Lyceum from Kyiv initiated its Inspiration Café, an education hub in Uzhhorod, Zakarpatska oblast, for children who were forced to move to Uzhhorod because of the war from Popasna, Rubizhne, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kramatorsk. The hub allows 500 children aged between 6 and 17 not only to continue their school learning to deepen their knowledge of school subjects and iron out knowledge gaps, but also discover inspiration to create a successful future for themselves and Ukraine.
Facilitating the inclusivity and accessibility of shelters and housing for IDPs
by Charitable Fund “Jewish-Ukrainian Social Initiative” (JUSI)
The JUSI team works to improve the inclusivity and accessibility of shelters and housing for IDPs focusing on providing proper living conditions in temporary shelters, ensuring barrier-free and universal design principles during the restoration and rebuilding of destroyed residential property, by:
- organising online sessions to educate at least 150 volunteers, leaders and activists of local CSOs and relevant representatives of local self-government in the host communities about the principles and practices of accessibility and inclusivity in housing and related infrastructure design, and
- and delivering offline hands-on workshops in at least six selected host communities to introduce small practical improvements to the design of shelters, temporary housing for IDPs and public spaces.
At the end of the action, the team expects to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of at least 3 shelters and temporary housing for IDPs in the participating communities.
Irpin. Chronicles of Recovery
by ArtPole Agency CSO
The action supports the efforts of local activists and engaged citizens to contribute to the recovery of the city of Irpin in Kyiv oblast that was severely damaged in March 2022. While locals, volunteers, landscape and urban designers, businesses and the international donor community will gather for tolokas (work parties) in Irpin to restore at least six public spaces there, the team will collect evidence from residents who stayed in Irpin during the occupation, in order to document the war crimes and damages.
Their stories turned into short documentaries will be further used for raising awareness of the war in Ukraine and advocating for anti-war measures.
United for Changes: Support to the Displaced Ukrainians in Ireland
by Anna Krys, winner of the 2019 EaP Civil Society Hackathon, and Debate for Changes CSO
Having become refugees in Ireland themselves, the team of the Ukrainian CSO ‘Debate for Changes’ decided to help those Ukrainians who also fled to Ireland to settle down and better integrate socially. The team will:
- produce short onboarding & awareness videos for their compatriots who are planning to come or have recently arrived in Ireland on the existing services and opportunities, Irish culture and lifestyle, and on the Ukrainian culture and specificities of hosting a refugee family for Irish citizens;
- organise virtual weekly meetups and webinars to help Ukrainian refugees to settle down, integrate and socialise, in order to form a self-supporting and contributing Ukrainian community in Ireland;
- bring together the Irish authorities, the Ukrainian community and local stakeholders to develop recommendations on the implementation and adjustment of Ireland’s National Action Plan(s) regarding the humanitarian and economic issues caused by the war in Ukraine.
