Uzhhorod/Ukraine – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has begun rehabilitating unused and damaged buildings including school dormitories and hotels to provide safer temporary accommodation to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Zakarpattia Region, Ukraine, as part of a new shelter rehabilitation programme targeting almost 1 million IDPs.

“Residents of these newly established, and in many cases improvised collective centres, include pregnant and single women, families with many children, persons with disabilities and the elderly,” said Marco Chimenton, IOM Ukraine’s Emergency and Stabilization Programme Coordinator.

“IOM-led rehabilitation work will improve accommodation conditions for these vulnerable populations, at the same time providing jobs for local communities and indirectly supporting the local economy.”

The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the governments of Germany and Japan, and the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are providing initial funding of USD 30 million. IOM, which has been working in Ukraine since 1996, will hire and train mobile technical teams to refurbish buildings where vulnerable families fleeing in regions affected by the war have sought shelter.

According to the IOM country-wide representative survey on displacement released yesterday, over 7.7 million people were forced to flee their homes and relocate to other areas of the country since the war began. Ukraine’s western regions remain the primary destination for those newly displaced.

The on-going work is focusing on replacing and fixing windows, doors and roofs, rewiring electrical systems, improving sanitation facilities and installing temporary partitions to ensure privacy.

Initially, the programme will cover the five western regions of Ukraine (Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Vinnytsia and Chernivtsi), with a possibility of expansion to other regions depending on the needs and the security situation. The programme will be implemented in coordination with local authorities, other humanitarian partners and local civil society organizations.

IOM is present in Zakarpattia, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Donetsk and Luhansk, working with dozens of NGOs across the country to provide lifesaving and life-preserving humanitarian assistance to IDPs, host communities and other war-affected groups, including migrants who are stranded in Ukraine and need support to ensure their safety during and after crossing into neighbouring countries.

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For more information, please contact:

In Geneva:

Safa Msehli, smsehli@iom.int, +41794035526
Paul Dillon, pdillon@iom.int, +41796369874

In Ukraine:

Varvara Zhluktenko, vzhluktenko@iom.int, +38 067 447 97 92
Karolina Krelinova, kkrelinova@iom.int, ++380 503635331

In Vienna:

Joe Lowry, jlowry@iom.int , +43660 3776404