Ukraine and Refugee Outflow Appeal
Humanitarian Action for Children
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it
provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition,
education, health and protection services. Return to main appeal page.
Ukraine and Refugee Outflow snapshot
Appeal highlights
- The war in Ukraine has devastatingly impacted the wellbeing of children and families. Prolonged exposure to distress impacts children’s immediate and long-term health and development. Women and children risk gender-based violence when sheltering, moving and seeking asylum.
- In Ukraine, 7.1 million people are internally displaced, including up to 2.8 million children. Hospitals, water facilities, schools and kindergartens have been destroyed. Access to WASH, education, health, livelihoods and social services support is interrupted.
- Over 4.5 million refugees, 90 per cent women and children, have fled to neighbouring countries and beyond, seeking protection and requiring critical assistance.
- Children in Ukraine and living as refugees urgently require protection, including for unaccompanied and separated children, psychosocial services and prevention of trafficking, sexual and labour exploitation and abuse, along with critical health, nutrition, education, WASH services and livelihoods and social support.
- UNICEF is appealing for US$ 948.9 million to provide multi-sectoral life-saving support for children and their families, including US$ 624.2 million to respond to critical needs within Ukraine (Pillar 1) and US$ 324.7 million for the refugee response (Pillar 2).
Key planned results for 2022
5.3 million children and women accessing health care
3.7 million people accessing a sufficient quantity of safe water
2.2 million children/caregivers accessing mental health and psychosocial support
307,500 households reached with UNICEF funded multi-purpose humanitarian cash transfers
Funding requirements for 2022
Pillar 1: Ukraine needs and strategy
Humanitarian needs
The war in Ukraine has uprooted children and families from their homes, creating a child protection and child’s rights emergency. Over 11 million people have fled their homes; nearly a quarter of the total population of Ukraine. The majority, over 7.1 million people, have been internally displaced, of which an estimated 2.8 million are children.
Displacement has placed women and children at increased risk of gender-based violence (GBV), abuse, psychological trauma, trafficking, and family separation. The most vulnerable children, including those living outside their families, the nearly 91,000 children, half with disabilities, living in residential institutions for children without parental care or boarding schools, unaccompanied and separated children (UASC), and children with disabilities, have been particularly impacted. To date, 121 children have been killed and over 170 injured.
Civilian infrastructure and basic services continue to be attacked. Nearly 100 health facilities and 870 educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed, interrupting access to critical medical supplies and services and leaving the majority of children in Ukraine without access to in-person education services. Water supply services and infrastructure, particularly in eastern Ukraine, have been damaged leaving over a million households without access to water. Hygiene and dignity items are in limited supply, putting displaced families at increased health risk. With approximately 80,000 women expected to give birth in the coming three months, access to essential health care services is becoming an urgent need. Further outbreaks of measles and polio are possible, particularly given decreasing childhood immunization rates, the high number of people on the move and overcrowding in temporary shelters. Over 2 million children under five years of age and pregnant and breastfeeding women are in need of life-saving nutrition services inside Ukraine as the nutritional status of children is expected to decline as family’s resources are stretched.
The operating environment in Ukraine has become extremely complex. The public sector workforce, including teachers, pediatricians, social workers and engineers, has been severely disrupted and displaced. The banking system has been impacted, limiting fund transfers to partners and staff salaries. Access constraints, active fighting, air strikes and rapidly changing front lines are posing significant challenges to UNICEF and partners in delivering critical life-saving services to vulnerable children and families. Several cities are in dire need of humanitarian assistance and protection with civilians trapped inside for several weeks, experiencing constant shelling, and prolonged disruption of essential services such as access to food, medicine, heating, water, and mobile connections. As the war continues, humanitarian needs continue to worsen, taking a heavy toll on the wellbeing of Ukrainians.
UNICEF’s strategy
UNICEF is rapidly scaling up its multi-sectoral humanitarian response, working closely with UN agencies, the Government of Ukraine, and partners under an inter-agency framework. UNICEF is Lead/Co-Lead of the WASH, Nutrition and Education clusters, Child-Protection sub-cluster and Maternal Child Health Care subgroup, and a key member of the Cash working group.
UNICEF continues to operate countrywide, using different modalities. In eastern Ukraine, continuous attacks on the frontline make many areas difficult to access requiring measures such as mobile response mechanisms and humanitarian corridors to operate. In central Ukraine, ongoing attacks are occurring, but humanitarian operations can continue. In the west, millions of IDPs are seeking shelter and support away from the fighting, requiring significant support to expand capacity of existing services to meet their needs.
UNICEF’s response prioritizes working through national and local systems where possible. UNICEF is also rolling out mobile programmes, including in underground shelters and train stations, and establishing a Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) to reach displaced populations with life-saving supplies.
The Rapid Response Mechanism will be used to provide timely and efficient minimum package of response to sudden population movements (displaced/returning IDP children and families and host communities) and provide essential live saving services such as emergency WASH and Health services.
UNICEF will continue working with partners to resume and increase child protection and GBV services, including psychosocial support, case management, referrals and family reunification, and jointly with Government to urgently address critical child concerns, including border crossings, evacuations, support for UASC, prevention of trafficking and tracking relocation of children in state custody.
UNICEF will continue working with government and other partners to roll out multipurpose cash transfers to enable vulnerable households with children to meet a range of financial needs. While these play a critical role in supporting vulnerable populations, UNICEF will also continue to support national authorities to maintain the national social protection system.
UNICEF will support local emergency response efforts by positioning critical supplies in strategic municipalities to support resumption of health and nutrition services, including primary and maternal healthcare in communities. UNICEF will also support the establishment of critical medical stocks and pipelines to maintain health and nutrition service provision and will support procurement and safe delivery of essential medical equipment and vaccines. Polio and measles vaccination are a particular focus given recent outbreaks, as well as increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates.
UNICEF will work with partners to reinstate in-person education and early learning for displaced children. This will include temporary enrolment of children in local facilities and within safe learning spaces.
UNICEF has resumed water trucking where infrastructure is damaged and is providing critical equipment and will support reestablishment of water and sanitation facilities as access resumes. UNICEF will procure and distribute essential supplies for institutions and people seeking shelter.
Pillar 1: Ukraine programme targets
Pillar 2: Refugee Outflow needs and strategy
Humanitarian needs
Since late February, over 4.5 million people have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries and beyond, resulting in the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since the second world war. With fighting ongoing, population outflows are expected to continue. Over 2.6 million people (almost sixty percent) entered Poland, 692,501 have gone to Romania, 411,365 to the Republic of Moldova, 424,367 to Hungary and 317,781 to the Slovak Republic. With application by European Union (EU) member states of the Temporary Protection Directive, and many other countries admitting Ukrainian refugees, secondary movements are expected. Many have already moved beyond countries of first arrival to seek resettlement in other countries in Europe: in Belarus, Moldova and Romania, over 85 per cent of people arriving from Ukraine have moved on to another country, while Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Italy received over 91,300 Ukrainian nationals in March.
Women and children constitute about 90 percent of those who have left Ukraine. UNICEF estimates that over 2 million refugees are children, and majority have been exposed to trauma and distressing events, including displacement itself. Many are being cared for by a single parent, are separated from immediate family or are unaccompanied. Nearly 91,000 children, around half with disabilities, have been in state residential institutions and boarding schools in Ukraine and need safety. All are vulnerable and at significant risk, including to violence, trafficking, sexual and labour exploitation and abuse. Preventing family separation, ensuring immediate identification, reunification registration, emergency care arrangements and safe spaces linked to national child protection systems and safety, stability and adequate child protection standards services in reception facilities, remains an urgent priority.
Significant movements of people have put pressure on sanitation and hygiene services at border and reception points, strained national health and social protection systems, and expanded the potential for disease outbreak due to low vaccination rates for measles, polio, and COVID-19. Minority groups face increased risk of discrimination while people and children with disabilities face a lack of specialized support. Mental health and psychosocial support needs of women, adolescents and children need to be more systematically addressed, while access to these and other critical services in hosting countries is challenged by language barriers. The expansion of national health, education and social welfare services to include refugee children and families will require strengthening and capacity enhancement of national systems to ensure equitable, quality access and services for refugee as well as host communities.
UNICEF will support access to information, engage affected communities in response design and delivery, facilitate social cohesion between refugee and host communities and ensure accountability mechanisms for a dignified, people centered response. UNICEF will reinforce inclusion and prevention of discrimination, including for children with disabilities, Roma and third party nationals.
UNICEF’s strategy
UNICEF will partner with national and municipal governments, UNHCR, other UN agencies, civil society organizations, national networks, youth and communities to ensure programmatic and advocacy support and to strengthen systems and capacities to address needs of refugee children and families in neighbouring countries and beyond. UNICEF will continue to co-chair the Child Protection Sub-Working Group with Government and UNHCR, under the Protection Working Group.
UNICEF will advocate with governments to strengthen child protection services. This will include screening for at-risk children at border points, providing technical support and safeguarding programming through Best Interests procedures for UASC and assisting identification and registration of children evacuated from residential care in Ukraine. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on April 7th establishing a clear partnership between the Ministry of Social Policy and UNICEF to monitor and support the wellbeing of children in institutions and other alternative care facilities and arrangements both inside Ukraine and across borders, covering short, medium and long term needs. UNICEF and UNHCR will scale up ‘Blue Dots’ in strategic locations. These child and family protection hubs provide multi-sectoral humanitarian services, including child protection, health, education, early childhood development, mental health and psychosocial support, and critical information.
Recognizing the central role of host governments, UNICEF will work with sectoral counterparts and local municipalities to strengthen capacities, including in prevention of trafficking, GBV and SEA, and expand national systems to integrate refugee families, including providing specialized technical assistance, critical services, supplies and financial support.
UNICEF will support access to information, engage affected communities in response design and delivery, facilitate social cohesion between refugee and host communities and ensure accountability and feedback mechanisms to enable a dignified, people centered response. UNICEF will reinforce social inclusion, including for children with disabilities, preventing stigma and discrimination of at risk groups.
UNICEF will deploy specialized technical and operational support to augment national capacities and scale up response capacities, undertake assessments and roll out sequenced, operational plans with government and partners. Child rights monitoring will be prioritized, working with Child Ombudspersons and national human rights institutions.
UNICEF will scale up essential nutrition and primary health services, support referrals to GBV and specialized child protection services and assist governments to mitigate impacts of COVID-19 and prevent outbreaks of measles and polio. UNICEF will support multi-purpose cash transfers for households with children in transit, and integration of refugees into national social protection systems. Access to early learning and education will be facilitated through temporary learning and recreational activities and support to host-governments to include refugee children in national education systems. UNICEF will support provision of adequate, safe water and sanitation, hygiene and dignity items and infection prevention control measures in reception sites, transit centers, shelters and schools.
Pillar 2: Refugee Outflow programme targets
Find out more about UNICEF's work
Highlights
Humanitarian Action is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate to realize the rights of every child. This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the ongoing crises affecting children in Ukraine; the strategies that we are using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.
