Humanitarian Response
Our work focuses not only on meeting urgent needs, but on strengthening the systems and local actors that enable communities to recover and rebuild sustainably – now and in the future.
Since the russian full-scale invasion in Ukraine, Helvetas has significantly expanded its humanitarian presence across Eastern Europe. Our approach integrates emergency assistance with long-term recovery planning, ensuring that communities can remain viable, rebuild essential services, and restore local economic and social life.
Our Approach
Helvetas brings over 65 years of experience in community-led recovery, local governance and infrastructure rehabilitation in fragile contexts. Works with municipalities, civil society organizations and local service providers, we ensure that humanitarian support is locally led, targeted, and sustainable.
We respond to urgent needs while laying the groundwork for early recovery:
1. Emergency Shelter and Repair. To address widespread damage to housing and public infrastructure, Helvetas operates a model of rapid repairs through the Shelter Ambulance and Repair Hubs. These models, piloted and tested during the REFAUK and Sylna Hromada projects, have demonstrated strong relevance and cost-efficiency.
Activities include:
- rapid emergency repairs in conflict-affected areas;
- light and medium-scale repair of multi-apartment buildings and private households;
- coordination with municipalities and volunteer networks to accelerate return and re-habitation.
These interventions reduce displacement pressure, help families remain in their communities, and protect the social and economic fabric necessary for recovery.
2. Winterization and Community Resilience. Helvetas supports vulnerable households and municipalities in preparing for winter, ensuring continuity of essential services.
Our support includes:
- insulation and energy-efficiency improvements in damaged homes;
- restoration of roofs, and windows in multi-apartment buildings;
- equipping collective heating centres and bomb shelters with generators and heating systems;
- distribution of solid fuel in hard-to-reach communities.
We also help municipalities operate community heating hubs that can host more than 6,000 residents – serving as both emergency protection points and models for community-based resilience.
3. Support for war-affected populations. In response to large-scale displacement, Helvetas works with local civil society organizations, municipalities and public institutions to enable dignified living conditions and access to essential services.
Support includes:
- upgrading collective accommodation facilities for IDPs;
- improving essential infrastructure in hospitals, geriatric centres and school shelters;
- strengthening local response coordination capacities.
This approach prioritizes local ownership and directs resources where needs are identified by communities themselves.
4. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). Reliable water services are fundamental to the viability of communities. Helvetas restores small-scale municipal and communal water systems damaged by hostilities and improves access to safe drinking water.
Before intervention, Helvetas conducts detailed assessments to understand community population dynamics, local infrastructure capacity, and long-term sustainability needs.
Works follow the principle of Build Back Better – incorporating resource-efficient and environmentally sustainable solutions.
Reliable water supply makes it possible for people to return, for services to function, and for economic life to restart.
Localisation and capacity development
As the scale of destruction in Eastern Europe continues to grow and international resources are increasingly strained, strengthening local civil society becomes essential for sustainable recovery.
Helvetas supports community-based organisations not only through funding and capacity development, but also by providing analytical tools and practical guidance that help them design and implement effective reconstruction solutions. One such contribution is the Methodology for Community Needs Assessment for CSOs involved in recovery, which enable local actors to assess needs, coordinate stakeholders, plan interventions, and apply the Build Back Better principle in community-led reconstruction efforts.
Our Commitment
The goal is not only to address damage, but to enable communities to lead their own recovery, make informed decisions, and rebuild on their own terms.
By strengthening local institutions and systems, humanitarian response becomes a foundation for durable peace, stability, and renewed development.
