Ukraine Emergency Response -DFC- 2023 SUMMARY
Aid organizations are very concerned about the consequences of the large-scale hostilities in Ukraine. Since the onset of the war in Ukraine in February 2022 many people who are trapped are unable to meet their basic needs including food, water, and medicines. 11 Dutch collaborating aid organizations join forces under Giro555 to launch a rapid response program to the Ukraine crisis. 
This funding will be used to provide protection, MHPSS, Food, and Non-food assistance to children, adolescent and caregiver IDPs and host communities in Ukraine, giving priority to delivering life-saving assistance to meet the basic and protection needs of IDPs, and host communities in Ukraine. Strengthening psycho-social support and emergency aid to conflict-affected children in Ukraine.
The project aims to increase access to protection for children in 11 conflict-affected regions and 5 hosting regions in Ukraine, with gender-sensitive and special attention for internally displaced and evacuated children & their families, children with disabilities, and most vulnerable children, with specific attention to the needs of girls including girls at risk or survivors of gender-based violence. Plan International Netherlands (NLNO) in partnership with Defence for Children Netherlands (DFC) and through their national partner All-Ukrainian Foundation for Children’s Rights (AUFCR) are extending their humanitarian response project in Ukraine funded by SHO/GIRO555. The project is implemented by NGO partner AUFCR. It aims to increase access to protection for children in war-affected regions (particularly Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk,  Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Odesa), and hosting territories (Chernivtsi, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpatska, Poltavska), with special attention for evacuated children from war-affected territories, children in need (children in bomb shelters, child hospitals, maternity hospitals, orphanages, institutions), children with disabilities, and children from vulnerable families (low-mobile, single-parent and refugee/IDP families). this will be achieved through:
-Provision of protection, GBV, and child protection prevention and response services.  
-Provision for Food assistance for children living in residential care institutions.
-Provision for Non-food assistance to evacuated children (boys and girls under 18) in orphanages, including sanitation and hygienic supplies. Since the escalation of conflict in Ukraine on February 2022, children continue to be killed, wounded and deeply traumatized by the violence all around them. Schools, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure on which they depend continue to be damaged or destroyed. Families have been separated and lives torn apart. According to the report of the GPO of Ukraine, as of the morning of 20 January 2023, more than 10,368 children have been affected as a result of the conflict, in particular: 459 children were killed; more than 909 were injured in various degrees of severity; at least 9,441 children were deported to the territory of the Russian Federation. The largest number of children affected, i.e. killed or seriously wounded is in Donetsk oblast (429). At least 3,126 educational institutions (schools and kindergartens) were damaged due to bombing and shelling, and 337 of them were completely destroyed. Children with disabilities are recently almost completely hindered access to education, because of the destruction of schools, damaged infrastructure, blackouts, the danger of being outside of shelters, lack of equipment to meet the special educational needs of the children, etc. Project focuses on providing immediate assistance and protection services to children (boys and girls), and caregivers. There is particular attention for most vulnerable, such as children with disabilities, disabled parents with children, IDPs, UASCs, single mothers with young children, adolescents girls and Female-headed households The project mainly focuses on raising awareness and mitigating child protection risks in affected-war areas and host communities. The psychosocial support includes individual and group therapy, art therapy, light rehabilitation, involvement in fun football and other sport/art activities for active leisure of affected children, development of civic activity and leadership among youth, team building, communication, and interaction in youth environment, social activities, using football as a means of social integration and inclusion, preventing negative effects of war. AUFCR is currently active in 340 local communities across 11 conflict-affected oblasts, namely Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zhtomyr, and in 272 local communities in 5 hosting oblasts, namely Rivne, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn. In these 11 conflict-affected oblasts, AUFCR has established 10 Child-friendly spaces as well as mobile teams for the provision of psychosocial support.  AUFCR has created a solid network of sports coaches, volunteers, and psychologists and, on the basis of this network, in the follow-up project, AUFCR aims to establish 5 Child-friendly spaces, to provide structured psychosocial support for boys and girls (aged between 6-14), including children with disabilities, and to provide parenting and adolescents life skills for parents and adolescents.
AUFCR will expand with mobile outreach teams. As a rule, each mobile outreach team consists of 3 people: a psychologist or 2 psychologists (child/adult), a social pedagogue, and a police officer/child protection officer, to provide psychological first aid (PFA), unstructured PSS (recreational activities), in IDPs compounds and other locations with no static centers available. Mobile outreach teams will also conduct protection monitoring in alignment and coordination with the protection cluster. where they identify and report the most prevalent and newly emerged child protection issues, and provide referrals to specialized service providers, coordinated with the protection cluster at OCHA. In addition to the provision of basic food and non-food assistance for children in 4 vulnerable child institutions in 3 hosting & conflict-affected oblasts. The project aims to support the most vulnerable host communities and IDPs in Ukraine with unconditional and unrestricted cash assistance. According to the Cash Working Group, the proposed amount for cash assistance is 56.59 Euro (2200 UAH). Thus, with a budget of 15.000 Euro, AUFCR can help at least 178 persons in 11 war-affected oblasts (Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr, Donetsk, Luhansk oblasts). The payments are to be conducted through the National banks