€12 million for victims of the war in Ukraine: we‘re getting aid to those in need; in the Czech Republic, we‘re supporting the integration of Ukrainian children into Czech schools.

Published: Apr 7, 2022 Reading time: 8 minutes
€12 million for victims of the war in Ukraine: we‘re getting aid to those in need; in the Czech Republic, we‘re supporting the integration of Ukrainian children into Czech schools.
© Foto: Alyona Budagovska

Thanks to the fantastic support of Czech donors, over one hundred of our colleagues are working directly in Ukraine. Since the invasion, we have dispatched eleven trains and twenty-six trucks loaded with humanitarian aid. In Moldova, a country that has been overwhelmed by the influx of refugees, we are supporting local organisations. In the Czech Republic, we are helping hundreds of people on our Ukrainian helpline; we are also financially supporting other aid organisations and helping children to enter Czech schools.

Since the beginning of the war, our SOS Ukraine emergency appeal has raised over €65 million. In the last month, we have provided aid worth €12 346 751 to the victims of the war. Read the latest summary of People in Need's assistance in Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

TABLE OF CONTENT

We‘re sending help by rail and truck

> Helping in the worst affected areas of ukraine

> Helping with the refugee crisis in Moldova 

> In the Czech Republic, we‘re helping in half of the regions

> Donation, contacts

WE‘RE SENDING HELP BY RAIL AND TRUCK

TOTAL VALUE OF AID: €8 676 432

Despite the difficult situation, we are continuing to transport aid by rail. At the beginning of the week, we sent another humanitarian train to Kyiv. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, we have dispatched eleven trains of material aid. We have purchased and distributed aid according to the needs on the ground. With the help of our partners, we‘re continuing to distribute aid to the Kyiv region and to the inhabitants of war-torn villages and towns in the east of the country, where food and other materials are most needed.

"We are able to transport large amounts of freight most efficiently by rail. There is still a shortage of basic food and hygiene products in places of fighting or in places where the Russian army has recently withdrawn, so we would like to continue to run three trains a week in the coming period," says Petr Drbohlav, PIN Regional Director for Eastern Partnership and Balkans.

Twenty-six trucks loaded with aid were sent to Lviv, where the cargo was transferred to smaller cars for distribution to villages and towns in western Ukraine. This aid was mostly hygiene supplies, but it also included equipment for collective centres where refugees from other parts of Ukraine are taking refuge.

We continue to deliver aid to the most affected areas in the east. On Thursday, 31 March, trucks delivered food and hygiene supplies for 4,000 people to the besieged town of Sumy in the northeast of the country. The shipment was part of a UN convoy that delivered food, hygiene kits, medicines, medical kits, blankets and bottled water to the town. Thanks to the efforts of our colleagues in Ukraine, thousands of people, including particularly vulnerable groups such as children and hospital patients, are receiving much-needed aid in the places hardest hit by the war in Ukraine.

More aid for 5,500 people arrived on 5 April in Severodonetsk in Luhansk Oblast. This oblast is currently the most affected by the fighting, and thousands of people are cut off from gas and water supplies. Civilians mostly remain in their homes and bunkers awaiting help. The PIN supplied aid was provided as part of a UN-organised convoy that delivered food rations, flour, plastic sheeting, blankets, and four hospital electricity generators.

HELPING IN THE WORST AFFECTED AREAS OF UKRAINE

TOTAL VALUE OF AID: €2 234 176

Since the invasion, we have financially supported nearly 150 smaller NGOs working on the ground inside Ukraine. We have provided € 1 548 519to these organisations so far. This money has been used to buy and distribute food parcels, water, and infant formula; these local partners are also equipping bomb shelters to protect people during the fighting. We are also financially supporting associations that are equipping collective centres for internal refugees.

We‘re giving financial support to two thousand of the most vulnerable people. From our experience in other conflicts, we know how important it is to give people cash to buy the essentials themselves. We plan cash distributions as part of our support in places where the market is at least partially functioning.

In addition, we are equipping collective centres for IDPs in western Ukraine. In the last week, we have equipped these temporary accommodations—for people fleeing the war—with mattresses, washing machines, electric stoves, blankets, and baby diapers, for example. In total, we‘ve already helped several thousand vulnerable people with similar equipment.


In the east, we continue to distribute hygiene kits with a particular focus on the needs of people with disabilities. Together with partner organisations, we are supplying people in the worst affected areas with durable food and water. We have distributed financial aid to more than 1,000 people in the east and another 1,000 in the west.

HELPING WITH THE REFUGEE CRISIS IN MOLDOVA

TOTAL VALUE OF AID: €146 745 EUR (AID TO MOLDOVA €78 208, AID TO ROMANIA €68 537)

In Moldova, which has received the largest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita of any country, we‘re financially supporting local NGOs. Since the invasion, we have awarded grants to fifteen organisations. The People in Need team has been working in Moldova since 2003, so we know the local context well and have extensive experience with many local organisations.

One organisation we’ve supported is running a psychosocial centre; another is taking care of child leukaemia patients who need to be moved from a bombed hospital to safety. We‘re also financially supporting an organisation helping members of the Roma community.

In Moldova, only 5% of refugees live in state-run facilities. 95% of refugees are accommodated in the households of ordinary Moldovans. Providing facilities for refugees is financially challenging, which is why People in Need, in partnership with the UN World Food Programme, is focusing on setting up financial support for people who house refugees. This assistance will be paid for by the WFP and EU ECHO—the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department.

IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC, WE‘RE HELPING IN HALF OF THE REGIONS

TOTAL AMOUNT OF AID: €1 152 268 ( MILLIONS OF CROWNS IN ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PLEDGED TO PROVEN ORGANISATIONS)  

Our colleagues are helping to run the Regional Assistance Centres for Ukrainians, and they’re helping with other integration points: they’re providing information, advice, checking offers of accommodations, translation, looking after children and continuing to cooperate with other organisations. However, we‘re still dealing with hundreds of individual requests for assistance. We are creating Ukrainian teams in our branches; for example, in Kladno, we have hired three new Ukrainian field workers.

In Beroun, we have created a platform for cooperation between the municipality, NGOs and other entities that support refugees. Our Pilsen branch is now in charge of organising the integration centre there. In Prague, in cooperation with other NGOs, we continue to monitor and support the responsiveness of the city districts to the challenges presented by the influx of refugees.

We‘re financially supporting aid organisations across the country

In the cases of acute need, we have used the emergency appeal funds to manage situations that have no other support. So far, we‘ve supported forty-nine helping entities. Smaller local grants help bridge funding gaps for activities at schools or children's centres. We‘ve also helped schools and organisations with project applications to join Ministry of Education programmes that provide adaptation activities.

For example, the money from the SOS Ukraine emergency appeal helped provide childcare and the operation of the children's corner of the regional assistance centre, a children's adaptation group, and the implementation of leisure activities and Czech language courses for Ukrainians. A significant cost was the purchasing of food, hygiene products, mattresses, bed linen and towels. We also participated in financing the purchase of a van to transport material and food aid. We’ve also paid for the operation of professional psychotherapeutic assistance and crisis intervention in Ukrainian and Russian languages—conducted mainly by Ukrainian therapists. 

We’ve talked to hundreds of people on the Ukraine helpline

People fleeing from the violence in Ukraine are being assisted by our multilingual counsellors on our free helpline number 770 600 800. Over the past month, PIN supported counsellors have dealt with hundreds of requests regarding accommodation, interpretation of the Lex (Ukrainian law), residency complications and health care issues. We’re providing counselling, which is often accompanied by social work. With some of the people who have called us, we solved their problems within several days.

We are trying to facilitate the entry of Ukrainian children into Czech schools

We’re helping families enrol their children in primary schools and borrow laptops needed to participate in Ukrainian-led online classes. In some cities, we’re planning to open adaptation groups with leisure activities and an accompanying programme aimed at developing speech skills.

We’re preparing Czech teachers, and we want to involve Ukrainian teachers as soon as possible, which we are working on intensively. We are inviting applications for the positions of Education Support and Career Counselling staff who will specifically assist pupils and students coming from Ukraine.

We are continuing our regular debate programme for schools, Studio JSNS, where students can ask journalists, psychologists, and representatives of aid organisations questions about the war in Ukraine live on air.

We want to improve the integration system and provide feedback from the field

Together with other organisations supporting municipalities, communities and families fleeing the war, we coordinate and meet regularly with the leadership of the National Center for Assistance to Ukrainians. We very much welcome information from the Minister of the Interior Vit Rakusan that strategic material is being prepared for the second phase of assistance. We want to improve the system and provide feedback from the field.

A clear division of tasks between municipalities, regions, relevant ministries, and central coordination will help to better manage the risks that the current situation entails. As most refugees are mothers with children, i.e., particularly vulnerable people, maximum attention must be paid to their protection.

People in Need’s assistance to people in Ukraine is possible thanks to donations from the public and private sector to PIN Ukraine Emergency Appeal, financial contributions from Alliance2015, CARE, Stichting Vluchteling, King Baudouin Foundation, Avast Endowment Fund – Stichting Avast and partnership with international non-governmental organizations and institutional donors European Union, Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic or World Food Programme.

SOS Ukraine Fundraising




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Autor: People in Need

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