This is Us, Aid Workers, This is Ukraine: spotlight on humanitarian workers supporting conflict-affected people in eastern Ukraine
Published: Apr 12, 2021 Reading time: 2 minutes
This is Us, This is Ukraine. Sound familiar? Two years ago, we gave five phones to five people in five villages along the contact line in eastern Ukraine, and asked them to document their daily lives with videos.
The result of this initiative was a popular series called This is Us, This is Ukraine.
As armed conflict in eastern Ukraine continues to rage, much as it has for the last seven years, we have decided to focus on life through the eyes of the aid workers who have been helping conflict-affected people on a daily basis. In many cases, these workers have themselves been displaced by the conflict, and for a variety of reasons, they have decided to help their fellow countrymen and women.
We asked these aid workers to become YouTubers for a few weeks, and to show the impact of the conflict on people living close to the last, active frontline in Europe. They also managed to capture the ordinary, everyday “human” moments of their lives.
Step into the shoes of Dmytro, Inna, Viktoria, and Maryna, and see what it’s like to provide aid in a conflict zone located just 2,000 kilometres from the bustling capitals of the European Union. New episodes are broadcast on Mondays and Thursdays at 8pm CET on People in Need’s YouTube channel and on Facebook. Subscribe now and don’t miss the next episode.
This is Us, Aid Workers, This is Ukraine
The conflict in eastern Ukraine in numbers:
- Over 5 million people are affected by the conflict;
- 3.4 million of them are in need of humanitarian assistance;
- The conflict has caused the deaths of over 3,300 civilians, while more than 7,000 have been injured.
- Some 3.2 million people live within 20 kilometres of the 427-kilometre-long contact line, and they continue to face hostilities, food insecurity, a lack of access to healthcare, a dearth of job opportunities, and limited public transport;
- The elderly are among the most vulnerable, representing over 30 percent of those in need; children of vulnerable families make up an additional 20 percent.
This documentary series is part of the ACCESS project, funded by European Union Humanitarian Aid and implemented by People in Need, Médicos del Mundo, ACTED in partnership with IMPACT Initiatives, Help Age International, and Right to Protection. Since 2017, with support from EU Humanitarian Aid, the ACCESS consortium has reached almost 340,000 people on both sides of the contact line.
