Ukraine Humanitarian Fund: Review of Small Grants Programmes to CSOs and Volunteer Organizations - Quarter 3 2023 [EN/UK]

BACKGROUND

The war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine in 2022 constituted a major escalation compared to the previous eight years of conflict and necessitated a rapid scale-up in humanitarian activities. In the first six months of the scaled-up response, the delivery of humanitarian assistance in remote areas and closer to the front line was undertaken almost exclusively by national civil society organizations (CSOs) and volunteer organizations (VOs), who work in close coordination with local authorities and receive goods in kind from multiple donors.

While these organizations delivered the bulk of last-mile assistance, they often faced significant challenges in accessing humanitarian funding, particularly from institutional donors. In 2022, less than 1 per cent of the US$3.9 billion tracked by the Financial Tracking System (FTS) went directly to local actors.

In September 2022, the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF) launched a Standard Allocation of $75 million, including a $20 million envelope, to enable humanitarian actors to partner with national and local partners, including CSOs and volunteer groups, to continue to provide inclusive and contextually relevant humanitarian assistance in remote and front-line areas, areas with high concentrations of internally displaced people and returnees.

The allocation was launched to support the August revision of the 2022 Flash Appeal and sought to (a) deliver transformative impact on partnerships with local actors to continually enhance their capacity and the reach and quality of their assistance to affected people and (b) to provide appropriate training and other capacity-strengthening support to small CSOs and VOs to be partnered. The allocation strategy paper and supporting Localization Guidance Note are in annexes to this report.

Given the interest, particularly from donors and the UHF Advisory Board, in deriving lessons from this allocation to support CSOs and volunteer organizations, in August 2023, the UHF conducted an in-depth review of the impact of the funding provided and the support given.