Ukraine: ACTED provides cash assistance to internally displaced persons

According to a situation report by OCHA Ukraine, there are already 7,1 Million Internally Displaced Persons (as of 31 May 2022). The majority of Ukrainians are evacuating from territories where hostilities are taking place. They are fleeing only with backpacks and do not have enough funds. Seeing the disparities in the categories and importance of needs, cash assitance is one of the most effective interventions in humanitarian aid to respond to the emergency. 

Providing humanitarian aid through money transfers 

Among internally displaced people receiving aid are persons whose houses were destroyed, single parents, elderly people, pregnant or lactating women, families with three or more children and with newborn children up to 1 year. There are also households with people with disabilities or in need of expensive medical treatment or care. Usually, people spend money on food, hygiene products, medicines, and transport.  

Before the escalation of the armed conflict in Ukraine, Halyna lived in a village in the Luhansk region. On February 24th, her husband and her had to leave their home immediately. After a hard journey that lasted several days, they reached Lviv and were sheltered by relatives. The family did not have a lot of savings and ran out of money in 3 weeks.

“At that moment, I was lucky to take part in the ACTED IDP Assistance Program. A week later I received cash assistance. Thanks to this, we bought the medicines and food we need”, – Halyna wrote in her message to the members of the Cash Working Group in Ukraine.

How does ACTED and BHA provide cash assistance in Ukraine? 

People fled to Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Kropyvnytskyi, Dnipropetrovsk, Volyn, and Lviv regions who belong to the above-mentioned groups can apply to ACTED’s cash assistance project through different means of communications. 

The Project Team during the registration process distributed leaflets with detailed information about the program and hotline numbers for registration for the program and placed posters with related information and QR code for pre-registration. The Cash Project Team has been using two ways for registration: in-person and remotely through phone to those who were pre-registered or were referred by other civil society organisations (CSOs),  volunteers or local authorities. In just a couple of weeks, people who applied and fit the criteria were able to receive financial aid.   

The amount of cash assistance is calculated according to the endorsed amount and recommendation by the Cash Working Group in Ukraine. At the moment, 7983 individuals have already received financial aid funded by BHA. The members of the Cash Working Group note that people constantly send them feedback and gratitude for the support.  

The ACTED Cash Team received a call from a woman who evacuated with a child from Bucha, Kyiv region. “I have just gotten an SMS today. My daughter and I have received financial aid. Thank you very much again. You helped us a lot. You are doing the right thing”, – told the woman through a call.

Another story shared by our teams is about a woman from the Donetsk region evacuated to the Chernivtsi region. Her house was destroyed. “I left my hometown with one small backpack. I am an old and a pensioner with minimum income. On my way, I had to buy some things, and I had very little savings. It is good that I received money from ACTED to spend on food”, – told the woman through a phone call.

Currently, the Multi-Purpose Cash assistance program is continuing. The Cash Working Group is processing applications and providing assistance according to the planned targeting to support people who need it most. “In general, more than 29 000 people affected by the conflict in Ukraine have already received financial aid from ACTED with the support of BHA and other international donors.“