Ensuring sustainable delivery of social service in Eastern Ukraine By targeting areas and public services that serve vulnerable populations, the 9-month project is designed to contribute to all 3 strategic objectives of the 2021 HRP by providing protection focused, time-critical humanitarian assistance and access to essential services to affected populations, in particular, elderly people and persons with disabilities, while strengthening local governments ownership and response capacity in coordination with development actors. The project also aligns with the HCT’s 2021 priorities – Protection, Community Development and the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus. While focused on responding to humanitarian needs R2P with expert assistance from HelpAge will work through methodologies, partnerships with local authorities and by building synergies with development programs to strengthen the sustainability of the response.
The project will target 5 hromadas (territorial communities, TC) in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts: Sartanska TC, Mariinska TC, Svitlodarska TC, Girska TC, Nizhneteple TC. Thus it will complement the on-going UNHCR-funded program implemented by R2P aimed  to ensure that selected TCs/CMAs along the Contact Line take the necessary steps to ensure that essential administrative and social services can be functional as soon as possible. It will increase the value of current expert and institutional support to the communities by strengthening technical capacities of social service provision institutions and social workers operating in the communities through equipment and professional training support. 
These hromadas are among the most vulnerable due to: 1) most of their villages are located in the 0-5 km zones along the contact line (CL) that expose them to a higher risk of being conflict affected and 2) compounded vulnerability (limited economic opportunities, exposure to hazards, remoteness of settlements, and demographic profiles). In one of them (Svitlodarsk TC) the situation is aggravated by the crises of governance since no head of the community was nominate. 
This project will support and strengthen hromada capacities through targeted activities under  Protection cluster and will contribute to preparing an effective and sustainable humanitarian exit from GCA. All activities are designed to be implemented in support of governance changes deriving from the decentralization process. Prior consultations with the communities were convened to design the response.

Protection: To build the capacities of local authorities so that they are better able to provide quality and non-discriminatory essential services, while protecting the most vulnerable in the population (elderly and people with disabilities), R2P with expert support from HelpAge will conduct trainings, provide instructions, support the establishment of sustainable mobile and community level social service provision mechanisms. Technical capacities of the social institutions will be strengthened through purchase of the equipment necessary to serve persons, especially those with little mobility and the need of homecare. The community resilience and sustainability will be supported through the community-based initiatives identified and implemented in direct cooperation with social institutions.  Efforts will be made to build authorities’ capacity on humanitarian standards and distribution best practices.