The Republic of Korea and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) have announced a new partnership to support the government of Ukraine in its efforts to respond to the war.
“With this announcement the ROK will underpin emergency livelihoods and community recovery in Ukraine with a flexible contribution of $3 million, which will allow UNDP to adapt its operations to reach those most in need and enhance the response to the ongoing war,” the press service of the UNDP in Ukraine said on Friday.
UNDP’s acting Resident Representative in Ukraine Manal Fouani said the Republic of Korea’s investment in the humanitarian development nexus action for Ukraine comes at a critical time for continuing to strengthen the Ukrainian government’s ability to serve its people while planning for recovery.
“The complex humanitarian, development, and peace challenges now emerging in Ukraine underscore the importance of programming that responds to the multiple dimensions of the war,” she said. “The ROK strategic investment in further enhancing a decentralized approach for crisis coordination capacities, restoring basic infrastructure, and keeping Ukrainian businesses of all sizes up and running is just a demonstration of how investment in institutions and services can reduce the impact of a humanitarian catastrophe,” Fouani said.
To ensure resilience interventions have the maximum impact, leaving no one behind, the project will focus on the following four areas. In particular, Sustaining and increasing government crisis coordination capacities in areas impacted by the war and in locations hosting displaced people, taking into consideration the needs of people with disabilities and mine victims. In addition, supporting the restoration of basic infrastructure and essential utilities to mitigate physical harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure, and to facilitate the safe return of displaced people; mitigating the displacement of human capital and the dislocation of markets and productive capacities due to the war; supporting authorities and civil society in assessing and sustaining social service provision for vulnerable populations – especially in war-affected regions.
According to UNDP preliminary estimates, by the end of 2022, up to 90% of the population of Ukraine may face poverty and be vulnerable to poverty. There is a danger that eighteen years of social and economic achievements will be brought to naught.
