Access Consortium to Support more than 85,000 People Affected by Conflict in Eastern Ukraine
Published: Sep 18, 2019 Reading time: 8 minutes
The ACCESS Consortium, a group of humanitarian non-governmental organizations is launching its 2019-2020 program with € 5 million funding from the European Union. The Consortium has been delivering multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance to thousands of conflict-affected people in government and non-government controlled areas of eastern Ukraine since 2017.
The conflict in Eastern Ukraine has directly affected 5.2 million people since its start in 2014. As fighting continues for the sixth year in Donbas, an estimated 3.5 million men, women and children are in need of humanitarian assistance.
The ACCESS Consortium has reached over 260,000 people since it was formed in 2017. With support from EU Humanitarian Aid, its member organizations People in Need (PIN), Médicos del Mundo (MdM), ACTED in partnership with IMPACT Initiatives, Help Age International (HAI) and Right to Protection (R2P) will continue to provide critical humanitarian assistance. In 2019-2020, consortium partners will support over 85,000 people affected by the hostilities on both sides of the contact line through multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance by means of protection activities; health services including sexual and reproductive health, mental health and psychosocial support services; water, sanitation and hygiene activities; shelter rehabilitation and winterization; and multipurpose cash and vouchers to meet food and other basic needs.
The most vulnerable groups are the elderly, single-headed households with low income, people with chronic deceases and disabilities, women and children. "I want my daughter to forget all the horrible moments she has survived, and to have a normal and dignified life in the new place. We live in the center for people with disabilities and internally displaced persons that opened in Sviatohirsk. Now, our children are able to spend some time with others, to play and even to visit a psychologist,” says Olga who was displaced from Donetsk and is staying at the Sviati Hory sanatorium with her daughter, who has a disability.
Humanitarian help in Eastern Ukraine
In parallel, ACCESS will engage with over 250 organizations in Ukraine to improve the humanitarian response and further raise awareness of the ongoing conflict. The Consortium will also continue to advocate with national and international decision makers to ensure that essential needs of the conflict affected populations are met; movement of people and transport of goods are facilitated across the Line of Contact; and humanitarian assistance can reach those in need.
“The EU and its member states are committed to support the civilian population affected by the ongoing conflict. It is our humanitarian and moral duty to stand by the people of Ukraine. Supporting the dedicated work of the ACCESS Consortium for the third year in a row is an expression of this commitment. This initiative is a good example of strong partnership and coordinated humanitarian response,” says EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides.
Learn more about the conflict in Eastern Ukraine:
The ACCESS Consortium
In 2017, a group of humanitarian non-government organizations decided to work together to deliver some of this much-needed humanitarian assistance: People in Need (PIN), Médicos del Mundo (MdM), ACTED in partnership with IMPACT Initiatives, Help Age International (HAI) and Right to Protection (R2P). The ACCESS Consortium has since reached over 260,000 people with support from EU Humanitarian Aid. ACCESS partners have developed significant experience of collective humanitarian intervention in Ukraine and a thorough, evidence-based understanding of the context.
The 2019-2020 Program
The 2019-2020 program will build on the past two years of collaboration between the partners. Through capitalizing on members’ complementary sets of skills and enabling the exchange of best practices and experience, the ACCESS Consortium will continue to deliver timely and critical humanitarian assistance, across the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk (GCA and NGCA), with support from the European Union:
- Cash and voucher support to help over 3,500 women, men and children meet their basic needs in an informed, empowered, and dignified manner. At least 1,300 people in need in the non-government controlled area (NGCA) will have access to food and hygiene items.
- Shelter assistance to approximately 1,900 people in remote communities. The needs in this sector remain high, and this assistance will enable the rehabilitation of conflict-damaged houses through light and medium scale repairs, and the delivery of coal to those most in need in Donetsk NGCA, to help them cope with the harsh Ukrainian winter conditions.
- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) projects in both GCA and Luhansk NGCA will provide the spare parts, equipment, fuel and material needed by social services to provide water as well as waste water and solid waste disposal services to affected communities. More than 11,500 people will be supported through WASH efforts.
- Health programs for close to 26,000 men, women and children. These programs include Primary Health Care (PHC) services, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services (MHPSS) and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), free-of-charge medication and cash for referrals (transportation and medical examinations in the Sexual Health Centers) as well as capacity building to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV).
PIN is one of the biggest nonprofit organizations in Central Europe focusing on humanitarian aid, development, cooperation, human rights and social integration. PIN has a long-lasting presence in Ukraine starting from 2003 and was in position to provide immediate humanitarian assistance after the onset of the conflict in August 2014. PIN has been implementing a number of emergency food, NFI, shelter, protection, livelihoods, WASH, medical and cash-based interventions along and on both sides of the frontline.
MdM is an international independent humanitarian organization that works to make the right to health a reality for all the people, especially for the victims of a humanitarian crisis. MdM has been operating in Luhansk oblast of Ukraine since August 2015 aiming to improve access and quality of health care services for vulnerable conflict affected populations; since 2019 MdM expanded its activities onto Donetsk oblast as well. MdM is currently running two health outreach teams in Luhansk Oblast and outreach unit in Donetsk oblast to deliver a comprehensive care package (Primary Health Care, Mental Health and Sexual and Reproductive Health) in the locations close to the Contact Line. In Luhansk oblast - GCA and in Luhansk oblast - NGCA, MdM provides support to health authorities through donations of medical equipment and supplies, and capacity building of national health staff aiming to strengthen the local health system.
ACTED is a French humanitarian organization present in 37 countries and supporting over 14 million beneficiaries worldwide. ACTED works to save lives and support people in meeting their needs in hard to reach areas. ACTED first responded to the crisis in Ukraine in 2015, with its partner IMPACT through the REACH Initiative. In 2017, ACTED also started implementing emergency preparedness and contingency planning activities jointly with local authorities in conflict-affected areas. Since 2018, ACTED distributes emergency cash assistance to cover the basic, food security and winterizations needs of the most vulnerable populations in Eastern Ukraine.
IMPACT Initiatives is a leading Geneva-based think-and-do tank. Together with sister organization ACTED and UNOSAT, IMPACT launched in 2010 the REACH Initiative, which provides granular data, timely information and in-depth analysis from contexts of crisis, disaster and displacement to feed into evidence-based aid response and decision-making. Since 2016, the REACH initiative has been leading annual interagency humanitarian needs assessments to inform the Humanitarian Needs Overview and Response Plans in Ukraine. REACH also provides continuous information management support and capacity building to humanitarian agencies and clusters.
HelpAge International (HAI) has a unique mission on supporting older people around the globe to claim their rights, challenge discrimination and overcome poverty, so that they can have dignified, secure, active and healthy lives. HAI has opened its office in Ukraine in November 2014, and the main goal is to provide comprehensive psycho-social support to conflict-affected older people, strengthen their resilience and well-being, provide them with stress coping mechanisms. This is achieved through two components – Psychosocial support; Protection, Coordination, Advocacy and Information.
R2P is an all-Ukrainian NGO dedicated to protecting the rights of asylum seekers, refugees, stateless and undocumented persons, as well as internally displaced and conflict affected persons. The organization seeks to lessen the impact on its beneficiaries from armed conflicts, repressive regimes and natural disasters. Right to Protection does this by protecting rights, providing assistance, and helping create the conditions necessary for safe and dignified lives.
The European Union and its Member States are the world’s leading donor of humanitarian aid. Relief assistance is an expression of European solidarity with people in need all around the world. It aims to save lives, prevent and alleviate human suffering, and safeguard the integrity and human dignity of populations affected by natural disasters and man-made crises. Through its Civil Protection and Humanitarian aid Operations department (ECHO), the European Union helps millions of victims of conflict and disasters every year. With headquarters in Brussels and a global network of field offices, the EU provides assistance to the most vulnerable people on the basis of humanitarian needs.
Contact information
Stuart Kent, Head of ACCESS Consortium kent.stuart@peopleinneed.cz, +380663071242
Samuel Marie-Fanon, Head of Office, EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), Samuel.Marie-Fanon@echofield.eu, +38971859766
Lisa Hastert, EU Humanitarian Aid Regional Information Officer, Lisa.Hastert@echofield.eu, +905334125663
