World Vision New Zealand Launches Ukraine Crisis Appeal As Concern For Affected Children Grows

• World Vision launches an appeal for donations to help the millions of children affected by the conflict in Ukraine and calls for donations to support aid response 
• World Vision is on the ground in Romania and will provide urgent need food, water and psychological support
• The NGO warns of psychological impact on children and that children separated from parents are at high risk of exploitation 

World Vision New Zealand has today launched an appeal to raise funds for those affected by the unfolding conflict in Ukraine.

The international aid organisation is on the Romanian border to support refugees fleeing from Ukraine and will be scaling up its operations in the coming days.

World Vision New Zealand National Director Grant Bayldon says the organisation will be distributing aid packages, including hygiene and child-friendly kits to those who have fled Ukraine for safety.

“We are doing everything we can to prepare and provide essential support to refugees. Our focus is on getting them clean water and other essential food and supplies, and we will also be offering psychological first aid to children and individuals arriving from Ukraine.” 
 

"We are concerned about the detrimental psychological impact the ongoing crisis in Ukraine will have on children and families. We are very worried about children potentially being separated from their parents and families during displacement from their homes and communities, exposing them to heightened risks of violence, exploitation, and abuse,” he adds.

World Vision staff on the ground are reporting children and mothers crossing the border scared and confused.

"Mothers are confused, afraid at the thought that they will probably have to care for their children alone, without their partners. They fear that their children have been deprived of family security. I can see despair in the eyes of children,” says World Vision Romania’s Alberto Roca.

World Vision, who has been present in Eastern Europe for decades, is setting up partnerships with local NGOs to coordinate and support refugee hosting efforts.

The child-focused NGO is also planning to provide educational continuity to Ukrainian children who now have no access to education. Discussions are underway with several partners to support their work inside Ukraine as well.

“We are genuinely concerned about the growing humanitarian and psychological needs of the children and families most affected by the crisis in Ukraine,” says Eleanor Monbiot OBE, World Vision’s Regional Leader for Middle East and Eastern Europe.

“The situation is changing rapidly, but what we are seeing in Ukraine, as we have seen in other conflicts around the world, that there is a growing psychological impact on children and families.

“Building on our significant local expertise in Romania, we will also be supporting educational continuity for children. In conflict situations the world over we have found that this helps to restore a sense of normality and create better coping mechanisms during what might very well become a protracted crisis.

“The children and families impacted by this conflict need urgent support, and we are calling on people to help by donating to World Vision’s Ukraine crisis response,” says Monbiot.

You can help provide vital essentials like hygiene kits to Ukrainian children forced to flee their homes due to conflict. To help children & families affected by the crisis in Ukraine or go to www.worldvision.org.nz. 

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