UN Business Brief: Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis (February 2023)

The ongoing war in Ukraine has resulted in large-scale displacement, including refugee outflows, and a humanitarian crisis on a massive scale.

Close to 16 million affected people inside of Ukraine and over 5 million refugees in neighboring countries received assistance in 2022.

Unfortunately needs are still great, and a total of 21.8 million people are expected to require humanitarian assistance in 2023.

Since the war began, there has been an unprecedented outpouring of support from the private sector. In this updated Business Brief from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), learn more about how the private sector can help.

OVERVIEW OF RESPONSE PLANS

OCHA is the part of the United Nations (UN) that is responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response effort. Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs) are the result of OCHA’s work with humanitarian partners around the world to identify the most critical humanitarian needs in a given context, plan responses, prepare budgets, and determine which organizations are best placed to provide assistance to people in need.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also known as the UN Refugee Agency, has a mandate to provide international protection to refugees and support the efforts of host governments. Regional Refugee Response Plans (RRPs) are prepared by UNHCR to serve as the base from which to implement a strategy and activities in support of refugees. RRPs provide an overarching vision and coherent engagement in refugee responses in alignment with host government strategies.

Both HRPs and RRPs are prepared following significant efforts to assess overall humanitarian requirements and prioritize assistance for those who are most in need. However, HRPs are focused on affected people who remain within a country (including internally displaced people), while RRPs are focused on affected people who have left their country.

For more information, see the 2023 Ukraine HRP and/or the 2023 Ukraine RRP.