Winterization and hygiene support to conflict affected populations in Luhansk NGCA The project proposes a multisectoral intervention that addresses humanitarian needs and helps build resilience of the conflict-affected population in Luhansk NGCA. The project will consist of three key components and aims to provide assistance to 4040 persons.
IOM will provide life-saving winterization assistance through the rehabilitation of six social facilities and NFI support, benefitting 1500 community members. IOM has long standing experience in rehabilitation within the non-government controlled areas of Ukraine and recent post-distribution monitoring (PDM) conducted in Luhansk NGCA highlighted the continued need for infrastructure rehabilitation in social facilities. Due to limited financial capacity, social facilities suffer from a lack of structural maintenance and upgrades, which leaves them unable to meet the needs of the populations they serve. In particular, WASH and winterization capacity is often inadequate and they are unable to meet sufficient indoor temperatures to ensure the comfort and health of the residents. The envisaged rehabilitation works will focus on both external structural improvements – such as roofing, replacement of doors and windows to maintain indoor heat – and internal rehabilitations including upgrading of water and heating systems. To ensure accessibility for individuals with mobility issues, accessibility rehabilitations will be conducted in conjunction with other works. To compliment the rehabilitations, IOM will advocate with the de facto authorities (DFA) to integrate rehabilitations with the distribution of in-kind winterization assistance that will allow to cover a wider range of personal and institutional needs. 
Finally, WASH related needs remain high and have increased throughout 2020-2021 due to COVID-19. During the early stages of the pandemic, increased demand caused shortages in hygiene items (IOM Rapid Assessment April 2020), and prices for hygiene increased by 7% near the “contact line” (ACCESS Consortium market survey, April 2020),. To assist institutional WASH needs, IOM will provide hygiene kits for 16 social institutions, to help facilities meet the increased hygiene requirements of COVID 19 and increase the health security of residents.  Kit content will be in line with WASH cluster recommendations and adapted as per IOM's hygiene kit experience and that gender needs are taken into consideration, with packages of minimum 3 months support provided.  . IOM will prioritise social institutions that serve the most vulnerable COVID-19 groups including homes for the elderly and people with disabilities. 
To compliment hygiene efforts and in response to cluster priorities, waste management items will be provided along with hygiene kits. Gaps in effective waste management systems have been identified by both the health and the WASH clusters, as reflected in the HNO 2021 and has become increasingly concerning with the increased medical waste as a result of COVID-19. To assist with enhanced waste management IOM will pilot the distribution of waste management supplies in Luhansk NGCA that include multicolored bins and waste bags to ensure waste sorting as the first step of waste management. Due to DFA restrictions on trainings and other soft components, it is unlikely that IOM will be able to supplement the in-kind assistance with any educational components. 
The proposed activities are in line with cluster priorities for Humanitarian Response Plan 2021 and IOM's Crisis Response Plan 2021-2023 on winterization.