Multi-sectoral basic needs assistance program in conflict-affected rural areas in Khersonska, Zaporizka, Donetska and Kharkivska regions ltp style="" class=""gtWith this project, Estonian Refugee Council (ERC) continues its efforts to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance in the most hard-to-reach areas in east and south of Ukraine.lt/pgt
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ltp class="p1"gtOn 2nd March 2022, ERC was the first INGO to roll out post-escalation multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) in Ukraine, reaching more than 200 000 people in need in the first year, including in recently liberated and areas temporarily occupied and hard-to-reach, remote locations. This includes actions funded by OCHA UHF (projects number 21668, 21882, 23499), ECHO, and other donors.lt/pgt
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ltp class="p1"gtWith this proposal, ERC will carry out a multi-sectoral assistance program to support crisis-affected communities and people displaced due to military actions to meet their immediate basic needs in line with the needs identified by the humanitarian community. This proposal builds on ERC’s experience and current work done on the ground and the lessons learned, and considers the humanitarian community’s newly available information and strategic objectives. lt/pgt
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ltp class="p1"gtThe proposal is developed in line with the 2023 HRP objectives, focusing on three sectors (MPC assistance, in-kind food assistance, and shelter/NFI assistance) and targeting four regions (Kherson’ska, Zaporizh’ka, Donetska, and Kharkivska). The focus of this project is on rural areas in the Ukrainian government-controlled territories. The project provides MPCA to 4000 individuals in need in the hard-to-reach areas in the targeted oblasts, in-kind 2-month food assistance to 7 000 individuals who have limited access to functional markets, and 1000 households with different types of shelter assistance (cash for light repairs and cash for heating/utilities in the winter season). The choice of the target regions and target vulnerable households to be reached by ERC is based on the needs assessments done by the humanitarian community and highlighted in the HRP as the most in need regions and also in the Standard Allocation priorities. ERC’s own monitoring and needs assessments from these areas confirm the high need of assistance in these regions. Based on that, ERC is confident that the proposed multi-sectoral intervention is a valuable addition to the humanitarian operations in Ukraine, alleviating human suffering and securing the basic needs of the target populations.lt/pgt
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ltp class="p1"gtBeneficiaries are selected to the program through vulnerability assessments. The project targets vulnerable host communities, IDPs, returnees, persons in hard-to-reach areas, recently liberated territories, and people living under occupation. Examples of the vulnerabilities that are taken into account are loss of the primary breadwinner, loss or damage of the dwelling, disability or chronic illness, single-parent households, women-headed households, households with minors, newborns, pregnant or lactating women, and the elderly. ERC maintains a call center and a secure online platform for beneficiary identification, information sharing, and complaints and feedback collection purposes. Monitoring is carried out via different channels and methods to ensure that ERC has constant overview of program quality and beneficiary needs and feedback.lt/pgt
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ltp class="p1"gtMPCA transfer value is 2220 UAH (currently ca $61) per household member, per the harmonized transfer value agreed by the Cash Working Group (CWG). ERC ensures deduplication of MPC beneficiaries by using the commonly agreed deduplication platform. Cash for Heating/Utilities transfer value of $375 is based on shelter cluster’s and ERC’s own calculations of solid fuels in the 2022 winter season, while the Cash for Repairs transfer value of $1500 is calculated using information from SNFI cluster and other actors (since no harmonization has been enforced yet). The main transfer mechanism is through bank transfers to the personal bank accounts of beneficiaries. The value of in-kind food assistance package is $40, calculated based on ERC’s market monitoring data and currently ongoing food kit distribution program experiences.lt/pgtltp class="sceditor-nlf"gtltbrgtlt/pgt