Ukraine: Unlocking a more effective humanitarian response

Ukraine has rapidly become one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises as a result of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Millions remain displaced within Ukraine and other countries and many communities have been devastated by the conflict.

Cash transfers have been prioritised as the main form of humanitarian assistance to respond to the Ukrainian crisis, which is entering its second year. As a result of the very high visibility of the crisis and outpouring of funding, international humanitarian actors achieved one of the fastest and largest scale ups of humanitarian cash programming to date.

However, although the funding, capacities, systems and political exist to deliver an effective, locally led response – the international response in the first six months of the crisis did not make the best use of these resources to reach the most vulnerable populations, including people closer to conflict zones. 

International humanitarian actors neglected the capacities and networks of local NGOs and civil society organizations to develop and design CVA programming. The largest cash intervention by international actors was not through unified – or harmonised – action with government actors, but largely in parallel to the Government of Ukraine’s (GoU) social protection program for internally displaced persons (IDPs). In addition, many other crises are now severely under-funded due to the re-directing of human and financial resources to the Ukraine response.

The evidence, knowledge, research and policies needed to deliver aid more effectively already exist – we can and must do better, both in Ukraine and in humanitarian responses globally. It is imperative for humanitarian actors to ensure that CVA programming is as effective and efficient as possible, and that every dollar of humanitarian funding is well spent.

Join us for a discussion in which we will consider how humanitarian actors could:

• Shift approaches to delivering cash transfers in Ukraine to be more user-centric,
• Deepen the involvement of local actors in cash transfer design and delivery,
• Unify parallel programs and strengthen existing systems and financing,
• Collaborate and coordinate more effectively,
• Tackle the systemic issues leading to this major missed opportunity, (and how they apply to regional and global context),

Organisers

The CALP Network is working in partnership with Ground Truth Solutions and Humanitarian Outcomes to organise this event.

Facilitator:

Paul Harvey, Partner, Humanitarian Outcomes BASIC research work on humanitarian action and social protection in crises.

Speakers:

• Konstiantyn Koshelenko, Deputy Minister of Social Policy for Digital Transformation
• Oleksii Marchenko, Director, Youth Movement “Be Free”
• Jana Bok Toužimská, Deputy Regional Director, People in Need
• Quentin Le Gallo, Regional Thematic Expert Food Security & Basic Needs, ECHO

Date:

8 February 2023

Time: 1:00 – 2:30 PM (UTC)

The event will take place in English and Ukrainian. Simultaneous interpretation in these languages will be available.

Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with humanitarian actors and leaders around the world and discuss the future of CVA in Ukraine. Register now to secure your spot:

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