According to Oleh Kulinich, an expert on project cycle management at U-LEAD, when working with grant competitions, local self-government bodies need to understand the specifics of project activities under martial law and the conditions of grant programmes.
The volume of international aid to Ukraine was substantial even before the war. After 24 February 2022, international partners continued their support, but its formats changed somewhat. A significant part of the resources is currently directed at the national level, namely the financing of public expenditures and the support of the Armed Forces. However, there are still many opportunities for municipalities to receive additional extra-budgetary support.
The main condition now, as the expert emphasised, is that a project application has to take into account the current state of Ukraine, and project activities should be aimed at supporting the civilian population. Besides the formats of assistance, the changes also affected the directions of competitions and the time between submission of the application and the implementation of the project.
One of the main changes is that the majority of competitions are now focused on NGOs or charities. For municipalities that wish to participate in competitions, it is necessary to have partner organisations to communicate and jointly implement projects with.
Approaches to the organisation of grant competitions and application deadlines have also changed: municipalities must respond very quickly, the expert emphasises. After all, while it could take six months from the announcement of the competition to the start of the implementation of the winning projects, now the situation in Ukraine is changing rapidly and donors are adapting to the challenges of time: a mere month can pass from the announcement to the implementation.
The topics and directions of assistance competitions have also undergone some changes. At the first stage of the war, the absolute majority of competitions dealt with humanitarian aid such as the purchase of hygiene products or food. Later, other priorities were added, including support for the current activities of NGOs, professional issues (support for culture, cultural heritage, etc.), work with IDPs and their integration into municipalities, support for employment, relocation of businesses to other regions.
You can learn more in Oleh Kulinich’s interview with Ukrainian Radio. "Ros"