Ilona Havronska: Ensuring continuous support for internally displaced persons is crucial

Ilona Havronska, Deputy Minister of Social Policy, Family, and Unity for European Integration, participated at the sixth Humanitarian Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on Ukraine, held in Brussels. As part of the event, she took part in a panel discussion on “The Nexus between humanitarian aid and recovery/reconstruction”, where she presented Ukraine’s strategic approach to humanitarian aid and recovery.

In her speech, Ilona Havronska emphasized that Ukraine faces the daily challenge of simultaneously addressing the urgent humanitarian needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) while preventing long-term vulnerability and dependency.

“Support for internally displaced persons begins at the moment of evacuation from conflict zones and does not end until the individual is fully integrated into a new community. That is why the Ministry focuses not only on providing immediate assistance at the evacuation stage but also on supporting people throughout their ongoing journey,” the Deputy Minister said.

She stressed that the pathway for IDPs should be based on early and annual assessments of needs, as well as clear interagency coordination under the leadership of the Ministry of Social Policy, Family, and Unity.

“We are transforming our approach to social protection and assistance. Our focus is on a system that responds to people’s needs and interests rather than their formal status. To achieve this, we are implementing case management and a ‘money follows the person’ approach, while also ensuring continuity of support and avoiding fragmentation across programs and service providers,” Ilona Havronska added.

She also highlighted that humanitarian assistance should be seen as more than an emergency response tool. According to Havronska, Ukraine promotes an approach that combines humanitarian and recovery instruments into a single, continuous mechanism for supporting both individuals and communities.

“This approach goes beyond emergency cash or temporary allowances. It includes support during and immediately after evacuation, adaptive assistance for the most vulnerable populations that can be rapidly scaled through national systems, and operational repairs and essential procurement for social infrastructure—temporary housing, care facilities, and resilience centers,” she explained.

According to Ilona Havronska, transparency and scalability are the core principles of this approach. Payments and support are implemented according to clear criteria using state registries and infrastructure, including payment systems. This ensures that assistance is not limited to short-term relief but provides systemic support to people and communities while laying the foundation for long-term recovery.

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🇺🇦🇪🇺 Ilona Havronska: Ensuring continuous support for internally displaced persons is crucial

Ilona Havronska, Deputy Minister of Social Policy, Family, and Unity for European Integration, participated at the sixth Humanitarian Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on Ukraine, held in Brussels. As part of the event, she took part in a panel discussion on “The Nexus between humanitarian aid and recovery/reconstruction”, where she presented Ukraine’s strategic approach to humanitarian aid and recovery.