Building Resilience on Ukraine’s Frontline

As the conflict in Ukraine enters its third year, the humanitarian crisis has escalated to alarming levels. With over 14.6 million in need of humanitarian assistance and infrastructure severely damaged, the need for increasing local capacity has never been more critical. 

The citizens of Ukraine have suffered the devastation of war since 2022. OCHA/Matteo Minasi

Our recently launched Capacity Building initiative, led under iMMAP Inc.’s wider project in Ukraine titled ‘Provision of Information Management Support to Ukraine Crisis Response Clusters’, has emerged as a crucial mechanism for humanitarian actors, including frontline responders, to swiftly address the emerging humanitarian needs and efforts across the country.

Over 3.3 million people are in need of assistance in the front-line communities in the east and the south of the country. The increasing need and dependency for humanitarian assistance in these communities have left humanitarian and frontline responders overwhelmed, and unable to attend trainings which are usually held in the capital, Kyiv. In response, our Capacity Building team, in collaboration with the Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL) Cluster, conducted an ambitious mission across the conflict-affected front-line regions, visiting five key cities directly impacted by the ongoing conflict —Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Odesa.

An overview of the areas targeted during the iMMAP Inc. capacity building sessions.

The conflict has severely disrupted agricultural production and supply chains, and food security has become a major concern in many parts of Ukraine. By collaborating closely with the FSL Cluster, iMMAP Inc. is helping to strengthen the capacity of organizations working to address this critical issue.

Over three weeks, the team conducted ten intensive training sessions for front-line responders and actors, engaging 191 participants from 53 local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the FSL sector.

Participants engage in the iMMAP Inc.capacity building session in Zaporizhizhi. Photo: iMMAP Inc. 2024

The training sessions which were informed and developed following a Needs Assessment conducted earlier in the year in collaboration with the FSL Cluster, and focused on two vital areas:

1. Coordinated Needs Assessments, which allows organizations to accurately assess the humanitarian landscape and pinpoint the most urgent needs of affected populations.
2. Effective Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) practices, which help to ensure that humanitarian projects achieve their intended impact and allow for quick adjustments when necessary. In Ukraine, where resources are stretched thin, and needs are vast, efficient and impactful project implementation is crucial.

As the conflict in Ukraine continues with no clear end in sight, our approach to Capacity Building is an innovative response to the unique challenges posed by the ongoing conflict. Through equipping local organizations with essential skills in these areas, the program is not just imparting knowledge but also building a sustainable foundation for humanitarian response. This initiative has been made possible through the generous support of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA).

Project Overview: Provision of Information Management Support to Ukraine Crisis Response Clusters

This project aims to provide critical information management (IM) support to humanitarian actors to facilitate the enhancement of coordination and cross-sectoral mechanism including the Health, Food Security, CCCM, WASH Clusters, the GBV and Nutrition Sub-Clusters leading to better identification of the needs and gaps of humanitarian assistance across the country.