social protection enjoy in their rural communities, is an important asset to build upon for humanitarian NGOs. Workers in the “social sector” are also often more vocal, active in public life, and responsive to innovative proposals. It may be worthwhile for Caritas to think in the direction of support for municipal infrastructure, schools and clinics, as well as for teachers, doctors and social workers (for instance, ways to encourage and support municipal workers include conferences and trainings, sponsored visits to bigger cities to gain new skills and experiences, provision with educational hand-out materials to use in their work, and collaboration on identifying material infrastructural needs where NGOs could step in to offer assistance).
Vulnerabilities: Elderly women, single mothers and femaleheaded households Women in our study were more likely to be classified as vulnerable. Respondents identified two categories of women, who in their view are in greatest need to support: the elderly, and mothers with children. Paradoxically, at a national level poverty is not feminized (in 2017 according to the Institute of Demography 24.2% of women and 24.6% of men were below the poverty line). But at the same time one can clearly identify specific social categories that are at greater risk of poverty, and women are overrepresented in many of them, for instance among the rural elderly. According to the FAO report, rural population is at a higher risk of poverty with 42.2% living below subsistence minimum as opposed to 23.8% of urban population, women’s pensions tend to be lower than that of men, the share of older widowed women is higher in rural areas, and the largest group of elderly persons in Ukraine are rural women). Furthermore, high prevalence of non-monetary forms of poverty (living conditions, deprivation / lack of access to basic goods and services, social exclusion and insecurity) has lead FAO to insist on the prevalence of rural feminization of poverty12. Children’s vulnerability was also singled out in our study in the context of war (that increased the need for psychological support, speech therapy), as well as lack of recreational facilities and activities to keep children and youth engaged — a possible area for Caritas intervention (consequently, as women are generally main caregivers for their children, these concerns indirectly affect women more than men). There is also evidence to suggest that poverty rates increase with the number of children. Women are generally responsible for unpaid care work within a household, and approach social service providers not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of their children. Thus, presence of children indirectly affects women’s subjective sense of poverty and deprivation. Single mothers and large families are at a particular risk, especially in rural areas with poor social service provision. At the same time, while clearly identifying these vulnerable categories, social workers, in particular those employed by Caritas, were skeptical of targeted assistance following lists of beneficiaries (“We understand why it’s easier for donors – you just take a list of beneficiaries and go giving out parcels. But it would have been better to offer something more substantial”). Social workers pointed to cases of “overlap” between different humanitarian projects (like assistance to the elderly offered by several different NGOs, while other vulnerable groups may be omitted). In Zolote, Caritas workers mentioned participating in regular planning meetings with representatives from other NGOs, but complained that such meetings are often
Reduced-mobility beneficiaries, most of whom are women receive social payments on their banking cards, but lack a possibility to withdraw funds, thus being forced to lend their cards and share pin-codes with neighbours who are heading off to cities, asking to withdraw money on their behalf. The need for ATMs could be seen as a case of infrastructural intervention, to be taken into consideration.
12 http://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/CB4501EN/ p.8
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