BULLETIN № 43
National Committee of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS)
June 2018

On June 6th,  during the official visit of Alois, the hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein to Ukraine, the wife of Ukrainian President, Maryna Poroshenko and Sophie, the Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein, met with the leadership of the Mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. The issue of assistance to residents of the non-government controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the line of contact was one of the concerns discussed. Particularly, the access to education for children in the conflict zone on both sides of the conflict line.

A new project "Promoting the role of volunteers and the population in Civil Protection (ProVoice)" was launched by the URCS, which will be implemented by March 31st 2020. The project aims at strengthening the cooperation between Ukraine's neighbouring countries and countries that have adopted the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) in the field of volunteer management, spontaneous volunteers and population awareness in disaster preparedness. Plans for the project include volunteer training for 10-15 leaders of the emergency response teams (ERTs) of URCS, 3-5 ERTs will be supported by the URCS with equipment and training, policies and guidelines/manuals on spontaneous volunteering will be developed and community-based exercises will be carried out involving at least 60 participants in each country. In collaboration with the URCS, the Belarus Red Cross, the Bulgarian Red Cross, the Danish Red Cross, EcoContact (Moldova), the Austrian Red Cross and the University of Innsbruck (Austria) will take part in the project.

The local branches of the URCS joined the celebration of the Day of Children's Protection, which is celebrated on June 1st. In particular, volunteers in Kyiv and patients of the National Children's Specialized Clinic "Okhmatdit" planted an "Ogorodyk" (“a small kitchen garden”) in the yard of the medical institution. The "Ogorodyk" will become a platform for biology lessons at the “School of Superheroes” of a partner organization "Small Heart with Art" in the summer. At the same time, volunteers of Severodonetsk city branch (Luhansk region) organized a party for children with artists and animators. The children received comics and colouring books as gifts, and the youngest children got development- aiding booklets. The Pokrovsk city-district branch (Donetsk region) held a celebration called "Hello summer". Children from "Myloserdya", the city centre for social rehabilitation of children with disabilities and children with disabilities from Pokrovsk district took part in the celebration.

On June 7-10th in Dnipro, a training on volunteer management was held, bringing together representatives of 12 regional and city branches. During the event, strategies for attracting, motivating and retaining of volunteers were discussed. The URCS’s Strategy for 2018-2020 was also presented and the new concept of membership, organizational development, prevention of emotional burnout, supervision, preparation of initiatives, etc. was discussed. The participants worked through the gained knowledge in practice. The next stage is to increase the number of volunteers in branches and create volunteer commissions at the locations.

On June 14th, the World Blood Donor Day was celebrated. The URCS branches are constantly helping healthcare organizations to promote blood donation among the population. Thus, the Uman city-district branch of the URCS held a joint campaign with local firefighters. Firefighting workers went to the blood donor centre of the city hospital and donated blood for children who needed help. Other events which were dedicated to this day took place in other regions as well. For example, in the Dnipropetrovsk regional blood transfusion station, volunteers held a theme-related quiz, the URCS staff members and volunteers in Rivne participated in the citywide celebration of the Donor's Day, while volunteers in Bakhmud (Donetsk region) promoted blood donation with their own example.

Emergency response teams were on duty at mass events in different regions of the country. On June 3rd, the ERT of Sumy branch of the URCS provided first aid to the participants of the extreme sports festival. On June 10th the Lviv branch sent volunteers to be on standby at a local semi-marathon. On June 17th, the ERTs of the National Committee of the URCS provided first aid to 9 victims of the March of Equality, 2 of which were seriously injured. On June 19th, during clashes with the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament), volunteers assisted injured law enforcement officials and protesters.

URCS volunteers and staff members continue to teach first aid skills to the population. In Kyiv, a pilot project "Family First Aid Academy" started on June 13th in the Podilsky district branch of the URCS. In the Donetsk region, a first aid training course was carried out for staff members of Selidov city heat supply system. In Dnipro city, a similar master class took place for guests of the youth and children festival "FoxFest". In Kropivnitskiy, a group is being trained as future first aid instructors. After passing the internship and certification, these instructors will pass vital knowledge to the inhabitants of the region.

For the low-income beneficiaries of the URCS, clothing donation banks are working in branches throughout the country, the stocks of which are regularly replenished by concerned residents and partners. In particular, in schools in Ternopil, a citywide campaign was organized to collect clothes for the needy. Distribution of humanitarian aid received from the Finnish Red Cross began in Bilokurakino (Luhansk region). Humanitarian cargo from the Netherlands arrived in Sumy region, containing clothes, furniture and hygiene items. The Ivano-Frankivsk branch of the URCS received assistance in the form of clothing and medical equipment from the Bavarian Red Cross.

Psychosocial support activities are ongoing for vulnerable groups of the population. Thus, on June 6th a meeting of the Women's Club "Orchid" took place in Kyiv. The participants discussed social health issues and learnt about building communicative relationships. On June 8th, a master class on the production of paper flowers was conducted for members of the club "Zhitteljub", which operates within the framework of the URCS Kherson branch. Both of these clubs largely consist of IDP women. Volunteers regularly conduct various training courses, master classes and other activities that help improve the participants' psycho-emotional state and develop their skills.

The URCS continues to execute the "Livelihood" project, which enables people to start their own business. The project was launched in 2017 with the financial support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. After successful implementation, the project continued in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kherson regions. Gorkhmaz Huseynov, Head of IFRC Country Office for Ukraine expressed his appreciation for the implementation of the project during his visit to Dnipropetrovsk region. Mr. Huseynov emphasized that, as a reliable auxiliary to the government, the regional branches of the URCS working closely with the authorities, will continue to do their utmost to provide humanitarian support to people in need.