UKRAINE RESPONSE TWO YEARS ON: IMPACT REPORT
On 24th February 2022, the lives of millions of Ukrainian people changed forever.
The war in Ukraine triggered the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War, with over 6 million refugees recorded globally. ACT Members have been at the forefront of the humanitarian response to the Ukraine crisis.
Two years on, the conflict has not stopped. Neither has the commitment of our members. Our commitment lies in people-led humanitarian assistance.
Millions of Ukrainian refugees have been supported, consoled, and welcomed everywhere.
ACT Alliance is grateful to its members who have been investing their skills, staff, resources, and time in helping humanity.
HOW ARE YOUR DONATIONS AND SUPPORT HELPING THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE?
WHAT WERE OUR KEY GOALS?
Thanks to your help, we have made a difference in the lives of 404,586 Ukrainians across 6 countries – Ukraine, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, with a budget of almost 47 million USD.
Bringing together our know-how and experience, we managed to provide immediate life-saving multisectoral emergency support.
We enabled access to and restoration of basic services for conflict-affected people in Ukraine and five neighbouring countries.
We aimed to strengthen the resilience of host communities and build social cohesion with internally displaced people and refugees.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Together with more than 80 local organisations, churches, and community groups, the six members of the Ukraine appeal (AIDRom, Church World Service, Christian Aid, Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER), Hungarian Interchurch Aid, Lutheran World Federation) worked in 67 locations in six countries (Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and Slovakia), and were engaged in advocacy activities at the local, regional and international levels.
Photo: Havard Bjelland/NCA
Photo: LWF/ Anatolyi Nazarenko
FOREWORD | ACT APPEAL – UKR221
ACT Alliance members have worked tirelessly since February 2022, providing humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of the Ukrainian people. More than two years later, we find ourselves at an important juncture, as we reflect on the support that has been provided and we consider the needs of the affected populations in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.
At the end of 2023, we commissioned an external evaluation of the ACT Alliance Appeal UKR221, to assess overall programme performance and delivery, against OECD and reflecting Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) evaluation criteria. The findings of the evaluation indicated that the vast majority of aid recipients reported a positive impact on their lives and well-being through receiving support that fostered a sense of community empowerment, cultural integration, and emotional resilience.
Your support is what gives them hope for a better future.
Niall O’Rourke Head of Humanitarian Affairs
ACT Alliance’s approach throughout implementation of the appeal to date, has remained community-based, relying on local partnerships to ensure our response is rooted in needs identified by the communities affected.
Looking ahead, ACT members continue to engage locally to identify ongoing and changing needs with local communities at the centre of our decision making. In this impact report, you will find highlights from the appeal UKR221 in figures, charts, stories, and photos presenting some of the work undertaken by ACT Alliance in one of the most complex humanitarian responses in our history.
Thanks to your support we have been able to help more than 400,000 people in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. They are in need of hope – to recover, rebuild their lives and maybe one day return home, and for peace.
VOICE OF UKRAINE
“HIA/ACT ALLIANCE HAS BECOME MY SECOND FAMILY, I CAN´T IMAGINE DOING ANYTHING ELSE.”
Vita
Nesterenko, ACT Ukraine Forum Coordinator
Vita joined ACT Alliance member, Hungarian Interchurch Aid as a project coordinator in 2015. She was responsible for overseeing the office management of Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv offices. She oversaw capacity-building activities, psychosocial assistance program coordination, as well as program design, implementation, and coordination. In 2022 she was invited to coordinate the activities of the new ACT Ukraine Forum where she serves as a connecting link between ACT secretariat and members.
On Ukraine Forum
On getting involved in humanitarian work with HIA/ACT
“At some point, I realized that I can’t feel happy and fulfilled in my life unless my job involves helping my country and its people.”
“Seeing ACT Ukraine Forum members come strongly together to help those who suffer in my country – reminds me of the kindness of true humanity, of strong bonds of kind hearts across the world, of a powerful shoulder we can rely on, and it gives me strength to keep on going.”
Lesson Learned
“The biggest lesson learned for us as the ACT Ukraine Forum was the constant need for security coordination, especially closer to the front lines… I also believe we need to unite more around advocacy, as we are stronger as ACT Forum when we advocate in a unified voice.”
Full article available on : ACT website
Photo: Vita Nesterenko
OUR RESPONSE IN UKRAINE AND NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES
Since February 24, 2022, ACT Alliance has helped through UKR221 appeal 275, 492 Ukrainian women and 129,094 men, providing them with food, security, nutrition, education, livelihoods, cash grants, protection, and shelter.
The huge humanitarian needs make it necessary to coordinate the activities of different actors at multiple levels. ACT Alliance members present in Ukraine have been harmonizing their activities since the escalation of the conflict.
ACT members strategize and coordinate humanitarian work in Ukraine within the ACT Europe Forum, ACT Ukraine Forum, and the Ukraine Appeal Task Group. These shared platforms also allow for flexible crisis management and funding that provides a contextaware response.
The ACT Ukraine Forum is a shared platform for ACT Alliance members engaged in humanitarian work in Ukraine. This is a forum of consultation and coordination where the members seek ways to provide quality humanitarian assistance transparently and to develop closer collaboration.
Thanks to the ACT Europe Forum, ACT Ukraine Forum, and the Ukraine Appeal Task Group we shaped a dynamic response and served more than 400,000 people of all ages and genders in two years.
Reach of people by sectors
Implementing Members and people reached
RESPONSE HIGHLIGHTS
ACT Alliance members have been working in Ukraine for many years, in communities with faith-based and secular organisations to support vulnerable populations.
Together with more than 80 local organisations, churches and community groups, the six members of the UKR221 appeal worked in 67 locations in five countries (Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova), and were engaged in advocacy activities at the local, regional and international levels.
ACT Alliance assisted 5,000 children who relocated from eastern and southern Ukraine with support to help them to adapt to new places and schools, and to participate in educational programmes, through flexible and small grant-funded activity.
804 children received school supplies, 291 received equipment to attend online classes.
Within food security, ACT Alliance aims to ensure that all obtain sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs. People from affected communities, inside Ukraine and in the refugee hosting countries, received emergency food assistance items, based on their needs.
ACT Alliance organised rehabilitation camps for children with disabilities and their caregivers, provided social vouchers for medicines and emergency basic service restoration of health, child and family protection facility. 6,340 refugees in Romania received social vouchers for the purchase of medicines and medical devices. 2,099 people in Moldova received medical screenings, consultations, and in-house treatments and were referred to specialists. In Poland, 602 refugees with disabilities received assistive devices.
ACT Alliance assisted 5,380 people with job integration. ACT also distributed power banks, ceramic heaters and fuel generators.
Launching the appeal in just one week, organisations immediately started their life-saving support to affected communities, highly praised by programme participants for the timeliness, professionalism and impact of their activities, as the recent programme’s external evaluation revealed.
ACT Alliance distributed vouchers/digital vouchers to 31,340 people which proves to be a transparent way of providing humanitarian assistance because it ensures that they have the freedom to decide on their recovery
Multipurpose means the recipients are entitled to make their own decision on how to spend it.
This sector has had by far the biggest reach with 176,508 people assisted in in total. ACT Alliance has provided more than 26,630 consultations within mental and psychosocial support, and social and legal counselling. 15,271 people have been provided with information to raise awareness on the prevention of human trafficking.
Children’s Safe Spaces in 6 community centres in Poland saw children participating 25,735 times in the activities they organized, while 133 children participated in the activities in a children’s safe space in Moldova.
ACT Alliance worked closely with partners to distribute emergency shelter and household items to repair damaged houses or to build temporary shelters. ACT Alliance provided 10,622 vouchers for winterisation support. 17,026 people received support for heating. 114 houses were assisted with repair: provided with construction material, received sealing-off kits and light and medium repairs after shelling. 1,535 Ukrainian and Moldovan children received winter clothing and footwear.
45,186 people from affected communities inside and outside Ukraine received basic hygiene kits and items to maintain personal and domestic hygiene.
ACT Alliance provided dignity items to 1,954 women in Ukraine.
ACT Alliance ensured constant access to drinking water and satisfactory sanitary and hygienic conditions through the provision of equipment for independent power supply to the local water supply station (Ichnya, Ukraine for approximately 12,000 people) or restoration of emergency WASH facilities for refugee communities (Csepel, Hungary for more than 400 people) and distributed bottled water to 2,635 people. ACT distributed 3,243 baby-hygiene-specific items (inc. diapers).
Serving the most vulnerable has always been at the core of Marta Bolba’ s work as an evangelical minister. With the opening of the Devai Fogado Refugee Centre on Nov 30, 2022, which was funded through the ACT Alliance´s Ukraine appeal, she has taken her leadership role, which is rooted in the biblical ideal of “loving your neighbour,” to a whole new level.
Pastor Bolba not only engaged in the first wave of refugee coordination but launched a complex package of programs that included assistance with basic needs, education, mental health support, donation coordination, employment counselling, and public relations and funding.
Seeing the communities coming together and acting in alliance with the Spirit of love brings me hope.
Marta Bolba, Director of Devai Fogado Community Centre and Evangelical Minister in Hungary
Photo: contributed by Marta Bolba
DEVAI FOGADO
Devai Fogado caters to about. 5,000 refugees per year, focusing on the integration of the Roma people, providing aid to pregnant women, the illiterate, people with chronic illnesses, and disabled children. All of them receive care in the Devai Fogado, which derives its name from the parable of the Good Samaritan. Marta Bolba is not only a pastor at a local church community in Budapest – Józsefváros - but she also leads a staff of 18 teachers and social workers at Devai Fogado.
How does the humanitarian and church work go together?
“I do this work as an act of resistance to a political situation where racism and xenophobia seemingly triumph over a welcoming loving culture in Europe and Hungary. I make an effort to work for social cohesion following the law of Christ of loving your neighbour. Seeing the communities coming together and acting in alliance with the Spirit of love brings me hope. I see a vision coming through, I live the dream of a loving community.”
“It’s an ethical standpoint that reflects Christ’s Spirit in the host community in hand with global faith.”
Read more about empowering refugees at Devai Fogado Community Centre here For a full interview go to the ACT website.
“Faith means solid ethical grounding following Jesus’ teaching and actions reflected in the Gospels. Faith means a pre-existing network of local and global communities to support the crisis response. Faith is also a resource for the lasting effort to build up welcoming spaces and integrate the goodwill of the host community.”
Photo: Contributed
WE WORK WITH LOCAL CHURCHES
Our approach to humanitarian response is faith-sensitive and people-centered. We take their faith identity seriously when shaping our response – it is our common ground – yet respect the uniqueness of each individual. We rely on local faith leaders, as evidenced in the testimony of pastor and humanitarian Marta Bolba of Devai Fogado Community Centre. Mutual respect and trust of the communities is key. Shaping our multi-sectoral approaches takes place by engaging with local communities and seeking their guidance as to what is appropriate in the current situation and using monitoring and assessment tools.
HOW IS THE UKRAINE RESPONSE UNIQUE?
WE RELY ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES TO LEAD THE RESPONSE
At the heart of our programming is to help recover and build resilience are crisis-affected local communities. We provide community grants aimed at community restoration – which is a key for ACT programmes in Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Hungary. We have reached 28,229 individuals until the end of February 2024, including 1,591 people with disabilities.
Survivor and Community Led Response has become the new focus of our Ukraine response, along with psychosocial support. The advantages of this approach go hand in hand with ACT’s
Photo: FCA/Anti Yrjonen
focus on going down to local levels. Instead of providing distant support, the local level such as church groups, village councils, or even school parents are integral in shaping the programs. This model where local people are empowered to decide their futures is a way to empower civil society. Local people collaborate on what they want, how to do it, and who to involve.
Christian Aid, a leading practitioner in SCLR that has shared capacity and supported ACT member organisations, will join HIA and HEKS/EPER in implementing SCLR projects in Ukraine and Romania, by 2024.
WE BELIEVE IN COMMUNITY CENTRES
Providing safe spaces where people can come together to fight isolation and receive support, has proven invaluable in processing trauma at times of uncertainty of war. Community centres represent a haven and a key alternative to standard educational facilities, and space for leisure activities like music, art, or sports. They provide much-needed psychosocial support by allowing people to share experiences and gain a sense of belonging, validation, and understanding, significantly reducing isolation. And since safety always comes first, they also provide the security of a bomb shelter.
They reflect the multi-sectoral and needs-based approach of the Ukraine appeal, with their open doors, specialized professionals, and community members all under one roof ready to address the specific needs of any family, people of all backgrounds, and ages seeking that safe public space. ACT members operate community centres in Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine.
Photo: András D. Hajdú / HEKS
Photo: Christian Aid
OUR APPEAL
Bielsko-Biala, Bytom, Cieszyn , Medyka, Ostroda, Radom, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Zgierz, Zosin-Dorohusk
5: SLOVAKIA
Nationwide (advocacy only)
4: HUNGARY
6 ACT MEMBERS PROVIDED AID IN 6 COUNTRIES AT 67 LOCATIONS
• Budapest, Csepel, Miskolc, Sopron, Debrecen, Kaposvár, Barabás (HiA)
• Center, North-East (HEKS/ EPER)
3: ROMANIA
• Bucharest, Iasi, Galati, Constanta, Valcea, Brasov, Prahova and Hunedoara (AidRom)
• Cluj-Napoca (HEKS/EPER)
2: MOLDOVA
• Balti, Glodeni, Riscani (HEKS/EPER)
• Anenii Noi, Balti, Basarabeasca, Cahul, Calarasi, Cantemir, Causeni, Chisinau, Briceni/ Lipcani, Ceadir-Lunga, Cimislia, Comrat, Criuleni, Glodeni, Ialoveni, Leova, Nisporeni, Ocnita, Vulcanesti, Orhei, Singereni, Straseni, Stefan-Voda, Taraclia, Ungheni, Drochia (CWS)
34 ACT Alliance members across the globe have mobilized more than 28.8M USD until February 2024 to support humanitarian emergency activities for affected communities in Ukraine and the neighbouring countries, addressing crucial and immediate needs, filling capacity gaps in the local support systems, and complementing existing local interventions and strategies. This generous support has covered 61,6% of the necessary budget to address the identified needs.
FUNDING OUR RESPONSE
34 ACT Alliance members across the globe have mobilized more than 28,8mUSD until February 2024 to support humanitarian emergency activities for affected communities in Ukraine and the neighbouring countries, addressing crucial and immediate needs, filling capacity gaps in the local support systems and complementing existing local interventions and strategies. This generous support has covered just 61,6% of the necessary budget to address the identified needs.
OUR PLAN FOR 2024
From 2024 onwards, ACT Alliance’s response will engage in more locations inside and outside Ukraine, implementing signature programmes, such as the Survivor and Community Led Response (SCLR), addressing the continuous humanitarian needs of the local communities and investing in more activities that improve affected populations’ livelihoods.
major sectors that member’s contributions have supported so far,
Photo: András D. Hajdú / HEKS
Act Church of Sweden
LIST OF FUNDERS | UKR221 APPEAL
Act for Peace
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria
Anglican Overseas Aid - Anglicord
Anglicans in Development
Australian Lutheran World Service
Canadian Lutheran World Relief
Chellaram Foundation Limited
Christian Aid
Christian World Service New Zealand
Churches of Christ Overseas Aid
Churches of Christ Overseas Aid -Australian
Churches Christ Global Mission Partners
Cordaid -Icco
DanChurchAid
Diakonia Sweden
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
Dignus Burkina Faso
Episcopal Relief and Development
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Icelandic Church Aid
Norwegian Church Aid
Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission
Disciples of Christ - Week of Compassion
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance-Presbyterian
Presbyterian World Service & Development (Agency) PWS&D Presbyterian Church of Canada
The United Church of Christ in Japan
United Church of Christ, USA
World Neighbours
World Renew
The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund
United Methodist Committee on Relief-UMCOR
Photo: András D. Hajdú / HEKS
Your continuous support is vital in addressing the needs of the displaced Ukrainians and host communities.
We truly are Hope in Action!
Your help matters. Take action
Your commitment makes a difference. It is possible and it is necessary.
UKRAINE RESPONSE
TWO YEARS ON: IMPACT REPORT
Photo: LWF/ Anatoliy Nazarenko