Attachments
SUMMARY
As of 15 September 2022, more than 7.2 million refugees have reportedly fled Ukraine, with 606,000 refugees arriving in the Republic of Moldova, more than 90,000 of whom are reportedly in the country.1,2 While 97% of refugees are residing in the host community, limited information is currently available to response actors regarding their demographic profile, household composition, humanitarian needs, movement intentions, or coping capacities.3 REACH Initiative (REACH), in partnership with UNICEF, ECHO, UNHCR, and in cooperation with the Refugee Coordination Forum, the sectoral working groups and taskforces, conducted a Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (MSNA) to ensure these response actors have the necessary evidence base to effectively respond to the needs of Ukrainian refugee families.
This assessment was implemented through a quantitative approach, in which primary data was collected through a structured, multi-sectoral survey which included questions pertaining to both the individual and family level for all surveyed households. The questionnaire was designed in cooperation with UNICEF and sectoral leads, and the survey was conducted using a purposive sampling for families living inside the community, and randomly selected families for the RAC strata. Data was collected between 16 and 31 May 2022 and covered a total of 664 refugee families in Moldova.
The sampling frame for refugees living inside the community was produced using the numbers of registered refugees as reported by local authorities in Moldova. Notably, the sampling frame excluded settlements with less than 50 registered refugees. This is to account for the potential operational challenges related to the large movement of refugees in and out Moldova observed from other assessments. For the refugees living in RACs, sampling frame was developed based on the number of hosted refugees reported by RACs to the National Agency for Social Protection (ANAS), with RACs with less than 20 refugees excluded from the assessment. For more details on the methodology, please refer to the Terms of Reference.
This report presents findings and analyses across the sectors of demographics, cash and livelihoods, protection, health, education, accommodation and intentions, accountability to affected population and WASH for refugee families living in the host community and RACs in Moldova. Key findings from the MSNA include, but are not limited to, the following:
Cash and livelihoods: findings show that the respondents have a high level of education, and most of them have worked in productive sectors in Ukraine before coming to Moldova. Their perception about accessing the labor market in Moldova is positive, as more than half reported that language is not a barrier for finding work. In terms of sources of income, the largest majority of them reported relying on savings or humanitarian assistance, the later also being a coping strategy signifying a level of socio-economic stress for the family. In the case of protracted displacement, and the depletion of these resources, refugee families in Moldova may experience heightened vulnerability and difficulties to cover for their basic needs may increase.
Protection: in general respondents did not report in a high proportion safety or security risks for women and children in their household. Discrimination and persecution were the mostoften reported threats towards women, albeit in a relatively low proportion (2%), whereas for children the perception of the threat of violence in the community was reported as a risk for boys (2%) and girls (3%), alike. Gaps in terms of access to extracurricular activities to children were observed, as only 40% of respondents with children in the community reported the participation of their children to these kinds of activities, compared to 62% of respondents living inside RACs.
Health and nutrition: access to healthcare does not appear to be difficult for Ukrainians in Moldova, as virtually all of respondents whose families accessed healthcare services did not report any challenges. However, only two out of ten Ukrainian family members were reported to need healthcare services, mainly for preventive consultations, acute illness or chronic disease. A small, but important, proportion of Ukrainian family members were found not to access healthcare services. While lack of information about healthcare providers or cost of consultation were reported to be reasons for not accessing these services, the largest majority of respondents reported their family members who needed healthcare services but did not go to a healthcare facility due to relying on self-medication. Vaccination of children against poliomyelitis and measles coverage appeared high, however the large amount of nonresponses require further investigation. In terms of people at risk of disability, as defined under the Washington Group set of questions, only 4% of Ukrainian family members were found to be in this situation, with the largest majority of them being elders (over 60 years of age).
Education: The large proportion of children among family members make education a corepriority of the refugee response. However, respondents with school-aged children reported in a high proportion not enrolling their children to school, due to their attendance of Ukrainian online education classes. While this seem to be generally the case for older minors (6-17 years old), kindergarten age children appeared to be more likely to prefer in-person education in Moldova.
Accommodation and intentions: as noted from various sources, the Ukrainian families in Moldova mainly reside in host community, in rented accommodation or with relatives. The majority of respondents, who arrived in March or April, reported that they want to stay in Moldova in the month following the interview. Notably, respondents interviewed in RACs (12%) were more likely to report moving abroad, compared to their counterparts, mainly to Germany.
Accountability to affected population: respondents were found to largely benefit from assistance and report a high satisfaction with the behavior of aid workers. The majority of respondents reported benefiting of food, cash or hygiene items assistance; however, need of cash and food still remain high. UN agencies were found to be the main sources of assistance, followed by international NGOs or aid groups. Information needs remain relatively high, as respondents reported still needing information about healthcare services, aid registration or integrating into the labor market in Moldova.
WASH: basic WASH needs appear to be satisfied across Moldova, with respondents reporting in relatively low proportion difficulties to accessing WASH services. There were some instances of water access and quality issues as some respondents reported issues with the taste or the schedule of distribution of the water.
As the Ukraine crisis seem to be protracted and Ukrainian refugees experiencing a displacement status over a longer period of time, it becomes important for humanitarian actors to have an understanding of the risks, constraints, and future opportunities that Ukrainian families can develop in order to increase their socio-economic resilience. These findings aim to develop a clearer understanding of these needs and are a first step toward developing a durable solution to alleviate the vulnerabilities of refugees.