Korea pledges further US$8 million to help UNICEF support children and families in Ukraine

The Government of the Republic of Korea has allocated an additional US$8 million to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) humanitarian response in Ukraine, helping to ensure the sustained delivery of essential services and social protection to war-affected communities, especially vulnerable children and families living in frontline areas.

Priority regions include the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk oblasts in eastern Ukraine, and the Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts in southern Ukraine.

“The war in Ukraine remains a child protection crisis,” said Veera Mendonca, Deputy Representative of UNICEF Ukraine. “There are an estimated 14.6 million people in need of assistance across the country, of whom 22 per cent are children. This year, UNICEF continues to address the immediate humanitarian needs of vulnerable children and families, especially those living in frontline areas in dire conditions. Thanks to the generous support from the government and people of Korea, we will continue delivering life-saving support and protection to affected communities.” 

With the help of these funds UNICEF aims to assist 11,550 of the most vulnerable children in hard-to-reach frontline areas across the east, south and north, through various approaches including mobile teams and child protection hubs, child protection case management, mental health and psychosocial support for children and their families, and gender-based violence response, prevention and mitigation. UNICEF also plans education interventions for young children in communities where access to in-person learning is unavailable, as well as winterization support to low-income families with children and support to government services, including building its capacity to provide a minimum package of social services.

“As the war drags on, robbing children of their childhood, we want to reaffirm our strong stance on our continuous support to the people of Ukraine, to make sure that the most vulnerable have access to the critical services and the means to sustain through these horrific times,” noted Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Ukraine Kim Hyung Tae. “We are confident that with this additional support provided to our longstanding partner UNICEF, families and children in the east and south of Ukraine will be more resilient in the face of the ongoing challenges.”

Along with protection risks, children are heavily impacted by attacks on civil infrastructure and disruption of essential services like water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). According to the government’s latest figures, approximately 1.7 million children in Ukraine lack access to safe water supply. This latest funding enables UNICEF to continue providing life-saving assistance by delivering essential WASH supplies to 70,000 people and restoring critical water and sanitation services for 330,000 people.

Last year, Korea significantly contributed to UNICEF’s humanitarian efforts across various sectors. This support included, but was not limited to, the delivery of digital devices for Ukrainian school children who must continue their studies in online or mixed format due to the security situation, the rehabilitation of shelters in health care institutions, and water supply and sanitation projects.