In the past weeks, an estimated 12.65 million people have been affected in the areas hardest hit by the war within Ukraine. About 3 million refugees have fled the country and another 1.85 million people are internally displaced. Many more remain trapped in areas of escalating conflict where essential services are disrupted, and basic needs such as food, water and medicines can scarcely be met. In the face of this human catastrophe, Dorcas seeks to identify the most vulnerable groups and provide them with shelter, food, medical aid and other basic care. These include persons with disabilities, older people and people at risk of human trafficking.
Persons with disabilities
About 3 million persons with disabilities live in Ukraine. They face multiple barriers in accessing safe evacuation, shelter and humanitarian assistance. For example, shelters like metro stations and bunkers are often inaccessible for persons who use wheelchairs. And blind and deaf persons experience difficulties accessing information on emergency evacuation and shelter locations. Therefore, many people with disabilities are forced to stay at home when shelling occurs. Furthermore, thousands of children and adults with disabilities are trapped in institutions where they face the risk of being abandoned or suffering serious neglect.
Older people
Older people are also disproportionately harmed by the war, especially older women and people with disabilities or chronic diseases. They face difficulties in escaping or avoiding fighting, which means they can become separated from their family. Access to the healthcare, medicines and assistive devices (such as walking frames and toilet chairs) they need can also be severely curtailed. And where humanitarian support and targeted services are available, older people often fail to access these because they are unable to wait in the long queues for hours.
Risk of trafficking
Finally, refugees run the risk of human trafficking. Displaced persons may have limited access to financial resources or opportunities for income generation. That gives traffickers a fertile environment to promise safe migration routes, employment and education or skills training. Refugees are then deceived into entering exploitative situations to pay off the smuggler fees. Children who are displaced or separated from their families without support networks are particularly vulnerable to becoming targets for traffickers.
Heavy conflict in Ukraine threatens the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people across the country. The violence has destroyed homes, torn families apart and damaged essential services. Many lives have already been lost.
Hundreds of thousands are trapped in conflict areas, cut off from food, clean drinking water, electricity and health services. More than 2 million people have fled the country in the past days. The UN projects that millions more will be displaced from their homes by escalating violence.
Acute Joint Response Ukraine
The Dutch Relief Alliance (DRA) initiated an Acute Joint Response in Ukraine to provide immediate humanitarian relief to victims of the conflict and support communities that host displaced people. The Joint Response, led by Dorcas in cooperation with Cordaid and Save the Children, works with local partners in Ukraine to deliver urgent support such as food parcels, nonfood items for shelters, clean drinking water, hygiene kits to those affected, focusing in particular on the areas in and around Poltava, Ternopil, Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Transcarpathia and Zaporishya.
In the next 6 months, the DRA will improve shelters for displaced people by providing mattresses, blankets and cooking supplies. The DRA offers psychosocial support and mental healthcare to help victims deal with stress and trauma resulting from the conflict. Support to marginalised people, such as people with a disability, older persons, pregnant women, children and vulnerable families is central to the response.
Flexible, immediate response
The DRA is able to respond rapidly to the crisis in Ukraine due to the DRA partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which provides direct funding for Joint Responses. Humanitarian support is delivered by DRA members together with local organisations in Ukraine.
About the Dutch Relief Alliance
The Dutch Relief Alliance (DRA) is a coalition of 14 Dutch aid organisations in partnership with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The DRA partners are: CARE Nederland; Cordaid; Dorcas; Oxfam Novib; Plan International; Help a Child; Save the Children; SOS Children’s Villages The Netherlands; Stichting Vluchteling; Tearfund NL; Terre des Hommes; War Child; World Vision; and ZOA. The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BZ) partners with the DRA by funding Joint Responses.
Dorcas is deeply concerned about the unfolding crisis in Ukraine. CEO Leo Visser states: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a terrible fact today. It is one of those moments in history that we will remember for a long time. We fervently hoped and prayed that it would not come to this. Many people will experience the consequences of this terrible war. As Dorcas we will do everything possible to support them.”
In the weeks and days before this invasion, Dorcas already started preparing an aid operation in case people would be forced to flee their homes from the violence of war. Our local colleagues are monitoring the situation in Ukraine but also in Moldova and other surrounding countries, where many IDPs and refugees are expected to arrive, and we are preparing a humanitarian response together with our local and international partners.
Dorcas Ukraine country director Ferenc Katko: “This is a nightmare. Everything is uncertain now.”
Dorcas has been active in Ukraine for 25 years with programmes for people in extreme poverty and for people who previously had to flee the violence in the Donbas region of Ukraine.
Keep updated on Dorcas’ response to the crisis in Ukraine via the updates page.
For the third time in a row Dorcas Moldova organised a food collection campaign. In a time where a lot of Moldovan struggle with high prices and a worsening health and economic situation, Dorcas Moldova still distributed more than 3,000 buckets full of food. Many people in Moldova are suffering and living under difficult circumstances, especially those without financial stability, who are suffering from an illness or simply have no ways to provide for their basic needs.
Dorcas Moldova organised food collections, in blue buckets, and offered these buckets to marginalised people, such as older persons and families living in difficult circumstances. In the context of the situation created by the pandemic, which led to isolation, fear, stress and concern about what’s coming, Dorcas Moldova continued to support people who struggle with difficulties every day, helping them look to the future with hope. A total of 3,278 families received a bucket full of food products during the Blue Bucket Campaign 2021 edition. This is the third year in a row that Dorcas Moldova is organising the Blue Bucket Campaign. In the first two editions of the campaign, more than 3,000 buckets full of food arrived in the homes of families facing difficulties or at risk.
The campaign team is deeply moved by the generosity of the people, and the results far exceeded expectations. For the 2021 edition, they wanted to support 1,500 families in need. The actual number of buckets that needed to be filled with food reached 3,278. But the “Blue Bucket” means more than just a bucket of food. It’s a way to show love and empathy for their neighbour through concrete deeds, to meet the needs of those in difficult circumstances. The Blue Bucket Campaign is a joint contribution to bring the joy of the winter holidays to the families of those who fight for existence every day.
On this occasion, Dorcas Moldova would like to thank everyone who contributed to these wonderful results: the local partners and churches, the team of teachers, students and parents from the private institutions and high schools, and the diaspora. Additionally, people donated money which resulted in 60 buckets of food for families with limited possibilities of existence.
Dorcas Moldova also received great support from our International Office in the Netherlands. Through our shared vision, we exchange knowledge and other resources. Together, we speak out against injustice. This is how we amplify our impact.