UNHCR and Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration solidify ongoing collaboration to support displaced and other war-affected people

Dnipro, 26 June 2024: Today, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding that sets out concrete areas of cooperation, aimed at supporting residents of the region who are impacted by the hostilities and internally displaced people who have been received in the region.
The Dnipropetrovsk region hosts around 500,000 internally displaced people, which places it amongst the regions hosting the largest numbers of IDPs in the country.
Since the escalation of the war in February 2022, UNHCR together with its NGO partners – under the leadership of the regional and local authorities – has provided different types of assistance and services to more than 825,000 affected people in Dnipropetrovsk region.
UNHCR’s programmes support and complement the national, regional and local response. They include protection services such as psychosocial counselling, community mobilization, provision of information and legal counseling, as well as shelter and housing support, comprising both emergency materials as an immediate response to attacks, and construction materials or repair work to enable people to have their homes repaired.
In addition, UNHCR provides essential aid items to help people address their basic needs as well as support collective sites for the most vulnerable IDPs, while also working on finding alternative and more durable housing solutions for displaced people to allow them to move out of the collective sites.
“I am very grateful to the Head of Dnipropetrovsk regional state administration and his team for the efficient cooperation we have had so far and will continue in the future. This directly supports displaced and otherwise war-affected people and returnees in the region. People who have fled from frontline regions under occupation and attack have been warmly welcomed and received here, and I am glad that UNHCR and our partners have been able to support the fast response of the authorities and people’s urgent need for protection, assistance, and accommodation,” said UNHCR’s Representative in Ukraine, Karolina Lindholm Billing.
"I would like to note that UNHCR is one of the first and most active organizations to provide assistance to residents of the Dnipro region since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion. After the missile strikes, they arrive at the scenes of emergencies and help the victims. Effective communication has been established between the Dnipro Regional State Administration and UNHCR, which allows us to address the problems of IDPs and residents of the region more accurately. The memorandum we signed today is a confirmation of our readiness to deepen the cooperation," said Serhiy Lysak, Head of the Dnipro Regional State Administration.
Today’s Memorandum of Understanding is the 19^th agreement between UNHCR and regional state administrations in Ukraine, and in addition, UNHCR has signed cooperation agreements with four central ministries.