ReliefWeb

Background

Since the spring of 2014, the conflict in the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine has left 3.8 Million people in need of humanitarian assistance (HRP 2017). While the conflict, since the signing of the Minsk II agreements in February 2015, is of relatively low intensity, daily cease-fire violations affect the civilian populations on both sides the frontline. The toll of the conflict is exacerbated by severe humanitarian access restrictions by the de-facto authorities of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) - commonly referred to as the NGCA or Non-Government Controlled Areas. In addition, a strict commercial embargo by the Government of Ukraine on the NGCA aggravates the humanitarian and livelihoods situation on both sides of the contact line. By early 2017, over 2.3 million people continue to live in “Areas of High Concern” (i.e. along the contact line) – 1.5 million people in NGCAs, and 800,000 people in Government Controlled Areas (GCAs).

GOAL operated in Ukraine from May 2015 to January 2017 providing multi-purpose cash assistance to over 7,500 people in GCAs living within a few kilometres of the frontline under the daily threat of heavy weaponry. In NGCAs, although severe access restrictions were a significant obstacle to aid delivery, GOAL was one of the few humanitarian agencies able to provide support. Over the course of 2016, GOAL supported over 3,000 isolated and/or homebound elderly people with psychosocial support, hot meals (in canteens or delivered at home on a daily basis), monthly dry food rations, hygiene kits and/or winterization kits.