Humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees in the Republic of Moldova

Within the last months, the situation in the Ukraine has escalated due to the conflict with the Russian Federation. The entire territory of the Ukraine is under attack by the Russian army and thousands of victims are registered every day. Many people are therefore fleeing to Western Europe or the neighbouring Republic of Moldova.

This humanitarian project provides emergency aid for refugees from the Ukraine who are seeking protection in the Republic of Moldova. It is implemented by Speranta 87 Moldova, the local partner organisation of HOPE’87, together with its partners RTL – Wir helfen Kindern, Deutsche Postcode Lotterie, the Rotary Club, “ZF hilft” and the YOU Foundation – Education for Children in Need in order to help children and women in need as well as the elderly who have been forced to leave their homes in the Ukraine for fear of their lives.

In order to identify all the refugees in need, the team of Speranta 87 travelled across the Republic of Moldova and established contact with refugee organisations who know where the refugees live and helped to gather them for the distribution of humanitarian aid supplies. This way, also refugees in more remote areas could be identified and so far more than 44,000 Ukrainian refugees living or transitioning through the Republic of Moldova could be provided with ready-made meals and other food items such as tea, wheat, cereals, sugar and vegetable oil as well as with non-food items, including hygiene products, washing powder, school material, educational games and toys, baby products, sets of clothes for children and youth and first-aid kits, containing a variety of the most common medicines like paracetamol, ibuprofen etc. and medical products like plasters. The project team further organised events for the distribution of humanitarian help on special occasions such as the Children’s Day and the first and last days of the school year. During these events, over 2,000 children were provided with humanitarian support.

Background information

So far, more than 700,000 Ukrainian refugees have already entered the Republic of Moldova. Often people are on foot and have only a few personal belongings with them. Due to compulsory military service for men between the age of 18 and 55, only women with children and the elderly come – two extremely vulnerable groups in immediate need of help. These people have basic needs and need emergency medical care. Therefore, an immediate relief effort has been launched, providing accommodation and food as well as baby products such as baby food, diapers, baby oil, etc., daily necessities such as pharmacy items, newspapers, phone card, internet access, books and school supplies, etc. and personal hygiene products such as soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, towels, sanitary napkins, etc.

If the war situation in the Ukraine goes on, a way must be found to continue to produce and buy basic food products at reduced prices in order to produce and buy basic food products in Moldova. As the Republic of Moldova, an agricultural country with low means of production, has only 3.7 million inhabitants, the refugees from the Ukraine who are in need of food represent an additional burden for an already weak agricultural production system. In this context, contacts are being established with local farmers and a coupon system is being developed that will allow refugees to buy food directly from producers without having to rely on costly distribution chains. Through this assistance, direct contacts will be established with local producers. The social project “Our Farm” with its approach to introduce modern and efficient farming techniques, especially among small farmers, which is supported by the YOU Foundation, will thus be able to supply and distribute food at fair prices. It will provide emergency assistance immediately in order to exclude any commercial dependency.