New effort aims to strengthen Ukrainian women’s organizations aiding people affected by war

Ukraine is experiencing unprecedented crisis within an all-out war. The UN estimates that 12 million people, out of a population of 44 million, need assistance, with that number expected to reach 18 million. The war has already displaced nearly a quarter of the population, the vast majority being women and children. 

With funding from the U.K. Government, Pact will implement a new project, Women Leading Response and Recovery in Ukraine, in collaboration with local women's organizations, the Center for Supporting Public Initiatives “Chaika”, Dom4824, Gender Creative Space, Oleksandria Gender Information Space, and Vidrodzhennya Natsiyi. The project aims to support and bolster the active contribution that women, women’s rights organizations and excluded groups are making in their communities and on the frontline of the response during the unfolding crisis in Ukraine.  

Already stretched thin prior to the war, women's rights organizations have had to quickly pivot to new and unfamiliar activities to meet the urgent needs of their communities. Most have done so without either dedicated funds or pre-existing capacity for humanitarian response.  

Building on the network of women’s rights organizations across the country that Pact has worked with since 2019, the new project will empower these organizations to advance a localized and inclusive Women, Peace and Security agenda; to meet the urgent identified needs of women, girls and excluded groups in the communities they serve, including older women and women with disabilities; and to improve social cohesion, community services and coordination with humanitarian and recovery efforts. The project will also enable women's rights organizations and wider actors to continue to identify those with specific needs for humanitarian assistance and to provide lifesaving gender-based violence prevention and response. 

The program supports the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security and expands Pact’s program portfolio promoting gender equality and women's empowerment in the country.