Providing Non-food Assistance and Support in the field of Sanitation and Hygiene to the Most Vulnerable Households The purpose of the project is to address the consequences of the prolonged conflict, subsequent socio-economic hardships by reducing risks of COVID-19 pandemic for low-income vulnerable and elderly families and also to increase humanitarian access into NGCA. The project will focus on covering the hygiene needs of 1,100 vulnerable, low-income families with elderly and disabled family members who reside in underserved areas in NGCA where critical humanitarian needs have largely been unmet. In addition, the project will also seek to improve the hospital conditions in a neurological ward of a public healthcare facility in Donetsk, NGCA, by supplying furniture and linens. This will benefit an estimated 2400 patients per year who stay at the hospital ward. .

For this action, DRC-DDG will partner with Charitable Foundation Humanitarian Aid and Development Centre (HADC) on identifying beneficiary families and providing them with hygiene kits, special kits for people with special needs (PSN), medical masks and hygiene promotion and COVID-19 prevention messages. The composition of the hygiene and PSN kits will be in line with the WASH cluster standards. The objective of the project is to contribute in meeting the immediate hygiene needs of the conflict-affected vulnerable people by preventing the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases through the distribution of hygiene kits, personal protection supplies and hygiene promotion and COVID-19 prevention messages, and to increase the response capacity of humanitarian actors in NGCA. DRC-DDG, in partnership with HADC, will also significantly improve conditions at Donetsk City’s Central Clinical Hospital No. 9 by providing furniture and linens. 

This action will aim at increasing HADC’s capacity as a humanitarian actor in NGCA through capacity building in project cycle management inclusive of rapid needs assessments, proposal and report writing, monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) financial management core humanitarian standards. DRC-DDG also intends to improve its access into NGCA through this jointly implemented project. Such activities will require a higher level of effort and input from the DRC-DDG management staff, which has been reflected in the increased staffing cost portion of the budget. 

The areas targeted for this project are Illovaysk and Zuevka, both in Khartsyzsk area and Donetsk city for the donation to the Central Clinical Hospital No. 9. The selected locations are in the area 20+ km from the contact line, which have received very limited WASH assistance to social institutions. Many internally displaced persons (IDPs), who moved from the areas in close proximity to the contact line due to insecurity and loss of property, can be found there. The different needs and priorities of the elderly and vulnerable women, men, girls and boys of varying age groups, will be considered when planning the assistance. 

The project will target 1100 households in which elderly persons (65+) with low income live with hygiene kits which are expected to last three months. It is assumed that the total number of persons in these households will be at least 2650 people, of whom men - 1029, women - 1365, children - 256. It is expected that these households will include persons with disabilities of groups 2 and 3 (136 men and 204 women). Additionally, 100 persons with disabilities (groups 1 and 2) or persons with special needs will receive specialized hygiene kits for people with special needs. Moreover, estimated 2400 patients per year will benefit from the improved hospital conditions through supplied furniture and linens at the Donetsk Central City Hospital.