Supporting contact-line Hromadas and vulnerable population through distribution of hygiene kits, improving WASH facilities and capacitating local authorities in remote provision of social and administrative services The Norwegian Refugee Council by means of its WASH and ICLA Programmes, in collaboration and partnership with local Hromadas, will address critical sanitation and protection needs by delivering hygiene kits to vulnerable population in contact-line communities improving WASH facilities of collaborating institutions with focus on water storage, PSN accessibility,and gender considerations to prevent GBV risks equip and capacitate local authorities to increase access to social and administrative services in decentralized communities through remote service provision to ensure that vulnerable conflict affected populations can exercise their rights. The proposed Project aligns with all the strategic objectives of the UHF First Standard Allocation (2021) as well as the Strategic Objective 1 “Provide emergency and time-critical assistance and ensure access to basic essential services for 1.9 million people affected by the conflict (including 189,000 IDPs), exacerbated by COVID-19” and Strategic Objective 3 “Ensure implementation of a humanitarian exit strategy in Government-controlled areas from 2021-2023” of the HRP 2021. The Project aims to secure the critical WASH support to contact-line Hromadas with emphasis on facilitating access to women and vulnerable populations (elderly, PSN), while also assisting those Hromadas in reaching durable solutions vis-à-vis uninterrupted provision of social and administrative services to their residents so that the latter can claim their rights, documentation, solve HLP questions and utilize livelihoods opportunities without necessity to travel from their locations to remote Hromadas’ centers. By putting Hromadas at the center of the intervention and creating community-led systems for the provision of feedback and monitoring, the project ensures local ownership of the response.  

The Project creates synergies with ongoing NRC’s initiatives, including the Community-Based Paralegal Network (hereinafter – CBPN) – a network of residents of the contact line communities, which provides basic legal aid and conduct protection referrals free of charge and on voluntary basis. These paralegals have a presence in several project locations and have proven to be a sustainable option to address basic humanitarian legal-related needs of contact line residents while facilitating in-depth outreach to target communities. The paralegals will lead monitoring efforts in order to strengthen linkages with local authorities while ensuring the sustainability of results by establishing a community-based feedback mechanism. 

The implementation of the WASH activities will be supported through collaboration with social and territorial institutions in the Popasna and Hriske Hromadas and the social organization, the Luhanska Association for people with disabilities (LAPwD), to build capacity of local actors including programming best practices and advocacy to contribute to the nexus approach. The content of all NFI kits will be based on NRC assessments and current cluster guidance that will be contextually tailored through beneficiary engagement sessions to ensure they are user driven and address their critical needs for essential WASH items. This approach will allow for the incorporation of specific seasonal items aimed at meeting beneficiary needs during the upcoming winter months.