Kyiv, 30 June 2022 — The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced this week a new partnership to support the Government of Ukraine in its efforts to respond to the ongoing 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 war in Ukraine has already resulted in significant loss of life, unprecedented displacement, and devastating destruction of infrastructure. Early UNDP projections suggest that up to 90 percent of the population of Ukraine could be facing poverty and vulnerability to poverty by the end of 2022. Eighteen years of socio-economic achievements are at risk of being lost.

Manal Fouani, UNDP’s acting Resident Representative in Ukraine, reiterated that the ROK’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.”

To ensure resilience interventions have the maximum impact, leaving no one behind, the project will focus on the following four areas: 

• 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;
• 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.

“We are pleased to join other donor countries in supporting this important UNDP initiative to strengthen the Government’s resilience to respond to the needs of its people, while also helping it plan for rebuilding and recovery,” said Kim Hyung Tae, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Ukraine.

This project is part of the UNDP’s integral response to the UN system-wide Flash Appeal launched on 1 March 2022 and revised in April 2022 to support immediate efforts to protect and assist those most affected in Ukraine. The initiative also falls under the UNDP Resilience Building and Recovery Programme for Ukraine, supported by a number of development partners including the European Union, the European Investment Bank, the Governments of Canada, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Background

UNDP has been supporting the people and Government of Ukraine for almost 30 years. The Resilience Building and Recovery Programme for Ukraine is grounded in working in partnership with sister UN entities and other international development partners. Immediately after the war started in February 2022, UNDP fully integrated within the humanitarian response architecture, including the Humanitarian Flash Appeal and the Regional Refugee Response Plan. With this programme, UNDP is joining up with its sister humanitarian and development agencies and development partners to support and invest in the resilience of the Government, private sector, and civil society in Ukraine to help ensure no one is left behind in the rubble of war.

For more information

Contact: Yulia Samus, UNDP Ukraine, yuliia.samus@undp.org