The Estonian Refugee Council is providing targeted financial support for war-affected population to cover basic needs, including food and hygiene.
Multipurpose cash Assistance (MPCA) is a form humanitarian aid that provides cash transfers to vulnerable individuals or households to help them meet their basic needs.
Eligibility:
The programme targets low-income individuals and households with socio-economic vulnerabilities who are currently living in frontline or other war-affected areas of Donetska, Kharkivska and Khersonska, Luhanska, Sumska, and Zaporizka oblasts.
To ensure that support reaches those most in need, ERC Ukraine applies vulnerability-based criteria to identify individuals and households requiring urgent humanitarian assistance. The assistance helps people meet essential needs such as food, medicine, clothing, and hygiene. Priority is given to individuals affected by missile strikes or evacuations, those recently displaced, and returnees. People with socio-economic vulnerabilities or specific protection concerns are also prioritised.
The targeting and socio-economic vulnerability criteria include the following groups:
- Single-parent households with at least one child under 18
- Households with three or more children under 18
- Households with children under the age of two
- Household of elderly persons (60 and older)
- Households with one or more persons with specific needs (disability, and/or chronic illness)
All vulnerabilities must be verified with relevant documents. Meeting a vulnerability criterion is required to participate but does not guarantee receipt of cash assistance. Pre-approval decisions are based on the information provided by the applicant, who represents the household in communication with ERC team.
Note: Individuals and households that have been displaced, mandatorily evacuated or directly affected by shelling/rocket attack within the last 30 days can reach out to their local authorities for information on humanitarian organisations working in the area and how to access their support. In this case, one of the above events must be confirmed by relevant documents.
Assistance Provision and Frequency:
Eligible individuals and households who pass assessment and verification will receive 3,600 UAH per person per month for three months. You may request to receive the assistance directly to your bank account or through cash collection at a bank or post office.
Assistance from ERC can be provided once per year, with the possibility to reapply after six months if the household faces a new vulnerability (such as displacement, disability). Limits do not apply to those have been recently displaced, mandatorily evacuated, or directly affected by shelling or rocket attack within the last 30 days.
To ensure fair access and efficient use of resources, individuals can receive multipurpose cash assistance only once during the same time period and from a single organisation. If you have received assistance of UAH 3600 per person permonth from another humanitarian organisation within the past three months, you may not be eligible for financial support from ERC. Humanitarian organisations are working together to prevent duplicate assistance across different partners.
Households can request and receive assistance from other humanitarian organisations after ending the assistance period of three months without the need to wait, subject to the eligibility and selection criteria of each organisation.
How To Request Assistance:
ERC, in coordination with the UN and other humanitarian organisations, is present in transit centres and areas with high humanitarian needs. Registration details will be communicated with affected communities through local authorities at the settlement level. If you live in war-affected areas and need support, contact your local authorities for information on available humanitarian.
Online registration is available only for communities in hard-to-reach areas. You can submit a request [here] when registration is open. ERC prioritises areas with high needs and limited access, in coordination with other humanitarian organisations. Registration days will be announced in this page at least two days in advance. After submitting a request, ERC will review it and notify you of the decision within three weeks via the email address specified in the request. Please read the conditions carefully before applying.
Requesting assistance is completely voluntary. The information you provide will be treated with strict confidentiality and used only to assess your household's needs and improve the programme. It will be accessible to the ERC team and shared with donors in a way that does not identify you.
Do you have feedback or complaint?
At the Estonian Refugee Council (ERC), we value your feedback and take complaints seriously. Our Complaints and Feedback Mechanism (CFM) ensures that beneficiaries, staff, partners, and other stakeholders can share concerns about our programs, commitments, and conduct in a safe, fair, and transparent manner.
This programme is funded by the European Union, USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, and the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
