Fast, effective, flexible: DEC launches major report on its Ukraine response as amount raised in its 75th appeal tops £400 million
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) today launches a major report Ukraine: How your donations are helping on its response to the ever-changing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine over the first year of the conflict.
Based on programmatic data, detailed interviews with aid workers and testimonies gathered from people affected, the digital report provides a powerful insight on how donations from the UK public have enabled DEC charities to provide vital aid to millions of people in need, both inside Ukraine and in neighbouring countries.
The incredibly generous response of donors in the UK means that the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has now raised over £400 million. The UK Government match funded £25 million of public donations to the appeal.
This makes the DEC the biggest charity donor to the response inside Ukraine and for the regional refugee response, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Financial Tracking Service.
DEC charities have used funds to work directly while also supporting a range of local organisations across five countries, reaching vulnerable and marginalised people.
Examples of aid delivered by DEC charities and their local partners included in the report are:
- Projects to provide food to people in war-torn areas, including a team of volunteer cycle couriers delivering food and medicines to vulnerable people in their homes.
- Working with Ukraine’s Ministry of Health to deliver 75,000 life-saving trauma kits for civilian use and 34 incubators for premature babies.
- Providing generators for people in bomb shelters to keep them safe and warm over winter as the targeting of Ukraine’s power grid leaves them without electricity and heating.
- Programmes giving refugees and people displaced from their homes within Ukraine cash payments so that they can decide how best to meet their own needs.
- Supporting special schools in Poland for refugee children with Ukrainian teachers, as well as 20 ‘digital learning centres’ for children and parents.
- Providing mental health support to people recover from their experiences of the conflict.
In the first six months of the response alone, DEC charities reached millions of people with aid, including but not limited to:
- 1.9 million people provided with access to clean water
- 392,000 people who received food assistance, including hot meals and food parcels
- 338,000 people who received cash payments to meet their basic needs
- 127,000 people who accessed basic services at transit centres for displaced people
- 71,000 people who accessed primary healthcare services
- 114,000 people who received legal help and support
- 10,000 people who were provided with temporary accommodation
The majority of DEC funds spent in the first six months were used inside Ukraine itself (59%), with the rest being spent on the refugee response in Romania (17%), Poland (16%), Moldova (4%) and Hungary (2%) and on region-wide safeguarding and capacity building initiatives (2%).
DEC Chief Executive Saleh Saeed said:
“This report gives a comprehensive picture of how donations from the UK public have played a vital role in supporting people affected by the conflict in Ukraine. Throughout each phase of the crisis, and each new challenge that’s arisen, DEC charities and their local partners have been there to help people get through this - and that wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the UK public, businesses, governments and other organisations that have made this appeal such a success.
“The crisis has been so huge, so widespread and so devastating that we wanted to take the time to detail how donations have helped different people at every stage of the year. What’s more, the level of funds raised mean that we can keep providing that support, as we know that this crisis is far from over with needs developing and changing all the time as the situation unfolds. I’d like to thank each and every person who has donated, fundraised, got their company or organisation involved. The response has been truly remarkable and we are so grateful for the support.”
The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal is the 75th DEC Appeal in its 60-year history. The DEC is still accepting donations to the appeal to allow member charities to continue to bolster and adapt their plans.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:
“Through our work with the DEC, the UK government has matched, pound for pound, £25 million in generous donations from the British public - our largest ever commitment through UK Aid Match. This funding is a life-line for those Ukrainians who have lost everything. Thank you for your remarkable support.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Media enquiries please call 020 7387 0200 or 07930 999 014 (out of hours).
Interview requests: Spokespeople are available for individual interviews. B-roll available on request. For more information please contact: pressofficemanager@dec.org.uk
About the DEC: The DEC brings together 15 leading UK aid charities at times of crisis overseas to raise funds quickly and efficiently. In these times of crisis, people in life-and-death situations need our help and our mission is to save, protect and rebuild lives through effective humanitarian response. The DEC’s 15 member charities are: Action Against Hunger, ActionAid UK, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide UK, International Rescue Committee UK, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Oxfam GB, Plan International UK, Save the Children UK, Tearfund and World Vision UK.
Thirteen of the DEC’s 15 member charities are responding either directly or through trusted local partners in Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Moldova and Romania. The members responding are Action Against Hunger, ActionAid UK, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide UK, International Rescue Committee UK, Oxfam GB, Plan International UK, Save the Children UK and World Vision UK.
The UK Government match funded up to £25 million of public donations to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. This is the largest commitment ever made to a DEC appeal through UK Aid Match and will double the impact of public donations, ensuring that charities working on the ground can reach those in urgent need.
Through UK Aid Match the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) gives the British public the opportunity to have a say in how the UK aid budget is spent whilst boosting the impact of the very best British charities to change and save the lives of some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
UK Aid Match has increased the impact of a number of DEC appeals to help those in need around the world, including most recently their Pakistan Floods Appeal in 2022 and Afghanistan Crisis Appeal in 2021.
Enquiries about UK Aid Match and UK Government support for Ukraine should be directed to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Newsdesk. Please email newsdesk@fcdo.gov.uk.
Find out more about how donations are helping: http://ukraine.dec.org.uk
