You're reading: US to launch $2 million program for displaced persons in Ukraine

The United States will launch a two-year, $2-million program to help integrate people displaced from the war-torn Donbas region and “build societal resilience in the face of Russia’s aggression,” the U.S. Embassy announced.

Officially called “Cohesion Through Youth-Led Action,” the project will be jointly run with IREX, a U.S. international non-profit that supports education, independent media and civil society. In Kyiv, IREX administers America House, which is aimed at fostering a good relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine. It also helps support local NGOs, cultural exchanges, programs for veterans, and community cohesion in eastern Ukraine.

According to data provided by the United Nations and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, there are around 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine. In Donetsk Oblast alone, there are an estimated 500,000 internally displaced persons, almost half of whom are pensioners. This has placed a great strain on government-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, which have rehomed many displaced persons from the conflict in the Donbas. 

In a comment to the Kyiv Post, Daniel Langenkamp, a press attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, stated that the project includes capacity-building workshops on adopting and applying conflict resolution skills, creating youth centers, helping youth IDP activists become community advocates, supporting local and regional authorities, and raising awareness to advance IDP integration.

“The program seeks to advance Ukraine’s stabilization by fostering the integration of its internally displaced persons (IDPs), advocating locally-driven conflict resolution, and reducing IDPs’ vulnerability to exploitation by destabilizing forces, including Russia’s malign influence,” Langenkamp said. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IDPs in eastern Ukraine find themselves in an increasingly precarious situation. According to the International Organization for Migration,“70% of female-headed displaced households with children stated in the IOM survey that they have enough money only for food or that the lower income compelled them to save on meals.”

The pandemic has been described as a “double-burden” for displaced communities, demonstrating the acute need for financial support to protect vulnerable groups in Ukraine.