Cash assistance is providing timely, and vital, support for displaced Ukrainians

Dnipro, Ukraine - World Vision’s cash assistance program has reached out to support more than 357,000 Ukrainian who were displaced by the ongoing war. The recent cash registration was facilitated by one of its partners on the ground, the Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA), in Kamianske, Dnipropetrovska Oblast.

“Today the weather in Dnipro Oblast is gray and cold, but what makes me sad is not the weather, but the stories of people who as they share their life and how everything has changed for them and their families”, says Blerina Lako, World Vision’s Chief of Party for the project funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), in partnership with ACTED Ukraine and the Ukraine Response Consortium.

The assistance in the area will benefit more than 800 people who have sought refuge in Kamianske, many of the are among the most vulnerable including the elderly and women who became heads of their families while their husbands are away. 

“Many of these people have no place to live, have lost their homes in the occupied territories, and will not be able to return. The cash assistance is great support for the displaced, not only financially, but also psychologically. They will feel that organizations care for and ready to support them,” shares Katerina Krasilnikova, HIA Team Leader.

Whatever savings we have before the war were already spent. I now put aside any embarrassment in asking for help because the whole country is in this situation.

Lako adds, “I am glad that with our modest support efforts, we can bring a smile to people's faces as we provide them with clothes and gas to keep them warm. Our support is not enough, but World Vision and our hardworking partners are here to look into the people’s needs and find ways to address them, and show we care.”

A 63-year-old pensioner from the Donetsk Region Inna Belousova plans to use the assistance on the essential needs of her three grandchildren such as on food, utilities, and winter clothes. Her daughter, a mother of three, is jobless and takes care of the children full-time.

“I rely on my meagre pension to support my family, and there is no available work to augment the gap. Whatever savings we have before the war were already spent. I now put aside any embarrassment in asking for help because the whole country is in this situation”, explains Belosouva.

Alina Bohatko, the HIA Coordinator and displaced herself, doing the registration understood their problems very well. She fled abroad when the war started but decided to return to Ukraine and help people in need who are suffering from the war. "It is painful it is to be forced to move from your native home."

World Vision and partners launched the Multipurpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) Project in the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, Donetska and Dnipropetrovska, and soon in Mykolaivska and Khersonska,  Oblasts where most of the displaced have moved for safety.

Story and photos Tetiana Dolhiier, Communications Officer