Program goal (mission)
Working in all phases of crisis response and through cooperation with government agencies and non-governmental organizations, the Multipurpose Cash Assistance Program seeks to contribute to building a solid foundation for overcoming social challenges and promoting sustainable development of vulnerable, low-income populations in Ukraine.
Providing multi-purpose cash assistance to people affected by the crisis/war, vulnerable, low-income groups is an effective and transparent way to deliver humanitarian response and meet basic needs. Cash assistance guarantees people freedom, dignity and independence in determining their own recovery, and supports local economies by restoring local markets where beneficiaries live.
Types of multipurpose cash assistance (МРСА)
| Type of cash assistance | Rapid MPCA | Emergency MPCA | Stabilization MPCA |
| The most vulnerable households (according to the selection criteria of the CU) | IDPs up to 30 days of displacement, locals in the combat zone (up to 30 km from the front line), people in transit status | IDPs with more than 30 days of displacement, local (more than 30 km from the front line) in acute need | Vulnerable, low-income and socially disadvantaged people |
| Terms of use | It is possible to pay for goods with a card or withdraw funds in the city of residence / in neighboring settlements, markets, shops, and basic needs goods are available | ||
| The amount of the cash grant per 1 person | 3 600 UAH | ||
| Period of assistance | 3 months | 6 months | |
| The total amount of the grant | 10 800 UAH | 10 800 UAH | 21 600 UAH |
| Number of payments | Monthly 3 600 UAH, or one payment for 3 months in the amount of UAH 10 800 | Monthly | |
| Max. number of grants per household | Maximum 4 persons from a family can receive financial assistance | ||
| Method of payment | Bank transfer to IBAN account, Ukrposhta transfer | ||
| Who receives the grant | The head of the household is credited with the entire amount of funds for all family members who have been assigned financial assistance | ||
| Questionnaire in the KOBO for registration and selection | Questionnaire with a scoring system for selecting beneficiaries VSA (vulnerability score assessment) Beneficiary registration: remote, field teams of social workers, in local Caritas offices. | ||
Reporting information
Between January and June 2024, 5,181 people received multi-purpose cash assistance totaling USD 1.4 million. Of these, 83.9% were IDPs, 9.6% were people with disabilities, 15.7% were seriously ill, 1.7% were large families, 1.5% were pregnant women and mothers with children under 3 years old, 66% were lonely elderly people, and 5.8% were single parents.
MEAL results: timeliness of assistance – 98%, satisfaction with the registration process – 99.3%, satisfaction with the form of assistance – 99.5%, relevance of assistance – 92%, sufficiency of assistance – 64.8%. The top three basic needs for which MPCA was used were food, medicine or treatment, utilities or heating.
Since March 2022, Caritas has provided multi-purpose cash assistance to 226,181 people for a total of USD 43.9 million.
Geography
MPCA was provided in the following regions: Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovs’k, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, and Volyn.
Local Caritass that provided MPCA: Caritas Kharkiv, Caritas Zaporizhzhia, Caritas Odesa, Caritas Poltava, Caritas Mykolaiv, Caritas Kherson, Caritas Kramatorsk, Caritas Donetsk in Dnipro, Caritas Khmelnytskyi, Caritas Kryvyi Rih, Caritas Mariupol, Caritas Ivano-Frankivsk, Caritas Lviv, Caritas Ternopil.
Implementation of projects with the MPCA component is possible in any local Caritas across the country, given the experience, methodology, SOPs and teams of staff ready to respond quickly.
Partners
Caritas Germany (German Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- Multi-sectoral humanitarian aid in the form of cash, in-kind, services and vouchers for the coverage of basic needs, food security, physical and mental health and winterization for conflict-affected people in eastern Ukraine.
- Lifesaving support and coverage of basic needs of particularly vulnerable people affected by the war living in the 0-50 km zone along the contact line, in Southern and Eastern Ukraine (Basic needs 2023-2024)
Philip Morris International
- Humanitarian Aid To Ukrainian Civilians During Conflict
Caritas Austria (Neighbors in Need)
- Emergency Relief And Protection For Conflict Affected People In Ukraine
- Humanitarian Protection for Conflict Affected People in Ukraine
Caritas Switzerland (Swiss Development Cooperation)
- Care4U (C4U) Project (Ukraine Krise: Cash for Ukraine – Human dignity)
- Warm for Winter
- Care4U-2 (C4U-2) project
Catholic Relief Services
- Human Dignity Emergency Cash Assistance
- Human Dignity: Multi-purpose Cash Assistance for IDPs on the Front Lines
Ukrainian Humanitarian Fund (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)
- Human Dignity: Multi-purpose Cash Assistance for IDPs on the Front Lines
- Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance for IDPs in Caritas Poltava and Khmelnitsky Oblasts
- Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance for people affected by the war in Odesa and Khmelnitsky Oblasts
- Response to the critical situation of IDPs and affected local population: strengthening the communities in Eastern and Western regions of Ukraine
Caritas Czech Republic (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic)
- Emergency support to vulnerable IDPs in Lviv oblast, Ukraine
CRS (Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance)
- Cash & Accommodation Assistance for Vulnerable Households in Ukraine
Caritas Poland
- Financial assistance to families in difficult financial situations, including internally displaced persons in Odesa and Mykolaiv and their regions
World Vision International
- Warm Me Up – Meeting Basic Needs for Conflict-Affected Households in East Ukraine during Winter Months
CORDAID
- Cash programme Human Dignity
Key achievements
Experience in providing MPCA since 2015. Since March 2022, Caritas has provided multi-purpose cash assistance to 226,181 people for a total of USD 43.9 million
More than 20 projects (11 donors) implemented MPCA component
Experienced teams of national and local Caritas staff across the country are ready to respond quickly
Three types of beneficiary registration have been successfully processed: in the office of local Caritas, on-site registration by mobile teams, and remote registration (allows to help people in the most dangerous settlements)
Successful coordination and cooperation with the Cash working group, HCT, CCD, Perekhid, central and local authorities, international and national organizations
Methodologies and SOPs developed and improved
Effective MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning) and deduplication systems are in place
Successful risk management
Key needs and challenges
Negative trend of decreasing funding for projects with the MPCA component (2022 – USD 1.5 billion, 2023 – USD 1 billion, 2024 – USD 0.6 billion)
The humanitarian crisis in the country continues, and the needs of the war-affected population remain unmet throughout the country, especially in the frontline regions
Insufficient localization of financial assistance from donors
Contact information
Vasyl Zhgun, Multipurpose Cash Assistance Program Manager
Anastasia Khodishchenko, expert on multipurpose cash assistance
МРСА is flexibility and individual approach
МРСА is about preserving the dignity of beneficiaries
МРСА is about speed and efficiency
МРСА means transparency and accountability
МРСА is a minimum of logistics
МРСА is about supporting local markets and businesses
“I don’t know, we’ll do it somehow. We need to look for housing and start preparing for winter, but we want to believe that we will be able to return home before it comes. It seems to me that now everyone dreams that we will go home in just a little bit longer” – Svitlana, 57, Kharkiv region.
“We are sincerely glad that there is such help for us – those who live in frontline villages. We will use the money to buy medicines for the months ahead and firewood for the next winter, while the price of firewood has fallen. Thank you for not forgetting about us – neither you nor philanthropists from other countries” – Ivan, 70, Zaporizhzhya region.
“With the financial assistance we received, we were able to buy food (we have five children), a wheelchair for my husband who has a disability and pay the rent. Thank you for your much-needed support” – Oksana, 43, Odesa region.