The TV-documentary about the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis

The TV-documentary about the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis will be screened on Estonian National Television next fall. The team, author Stas Kuznetsov, director Madli Lääne and cinematographer Peep Plakso followed the volunteers of the local non-profit organization Vostok SOS on their humanitarian trip to Lugansk Oblast last July.

The village of Troitskoye, located exactly on the border of the Oblasts of Lugansk and Donetsk, has been one of the most affected places during the armed conflict between the Ukraine’s regular forces and the separatists. Most of the attacks on the village occurred in January 2015: the “Grad” rockets did not spare residential buildings nor office buildings, not even the 19^th century church. The atmosphere in Troitskoye is still dominated by feeling of with sadness and anxiety. The villagers, standing under the scorching sun and hoping to get a humanitarian aid package, do not hide their tears. “You, Europeans, you live peacefully. We here just try to survive.” 

In July, hundreds of residents of frontline villages and towns received food packages, donations collected in Estonia. These food packages consisted, among other things, basic food products, such as cereals, vegetable oil, canned food and pasta. According to Ukrainian volunteers this amount of food may last for a couple of months. Meanwhile the number of internally displaced war refugees has increased notably, and deserted villages are cut off from the mainland.

The local non-profit organization Vostok SOS assists the delivery of humanitarian aid to the most remote villages and towns in East Ukraine. Konstantin Reutski, the head of the organization says: “the local people have very few means of support. There are problems getting even the most elementary products, including the most vital goods and food.”

According to the recent reports of the military conflict in the East Ukraine, more than million people have been forced to leave their homes. Those who are still living in close proximity to the front line have to deal with shootings almost every night. In many villages the blackouts are the daily routine, and all the production has been stopped.

People in Need – what has happened so far

Bulletins

People in need published 3 issues of bulletin so far. First issue concentrated on Financing for development. Topics cover new funding instruments for development, impacts of tax havens on developing countries, how microfinances work as well as interview with Martin Tlapa – Deputy Minister of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Second issue concentrated on Health in developing countries. Topics look at how people get back to normal after the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Czech hospital in Uganda, how mobiles can help to improve nutrition of children in Cambodia or malnutrition in South Sudan. Third one was on Urban Poverty. Readers could read about People in Needs work with urban poor in Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Cambodia. Look under the hood of Delhi and meet with local garbage collectors. Furthermore they could read about Cameroon and Colombia, where the port of Buenaventura is the trap for poor.

Bulletins are sent to relevant decision makers, i.e. members of Czech national Parliament and Czech representatives in European Parliament, Ministries' officials and key development experts, scholars and NGO representatives.

Cooperation with journalists

First training for writing journalists of the Media4Development Project was organized by the Finnish Foundation for Media and Development (VIKES) and the aim of teh training was to increase knowledge about development affairs among media and give inspiration and practical tools for journalist to write about these issues. People in Need sent two journalists who will also get chance to go to Nigeria for joint trip for journalists. There they will have opportunity to see development issues from the first hand as well as to work together with local journalists in developing countries to understand better the role of media in development. Furthermore, we are planning to send journalist from the Czech national Radio to Cambodia. We have started cooperation with TVs and work on documentaries. 

Riga roundtable

Riga Roundtable - Financing for Development: Role of EU Member States was organized by Green Liberty, Latvian Green Movement and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia in Riga on June 11-12, 2015. Riga Roundtable conference gathered over 50 participants –policy makers, media representatives, civil society and private sector activists, academics and educators from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Finland and UK. People in Need invited Ondrej Kopecny deputy director of Glopolis who talked about the taxation system and changes in the system can help finance development. Furthermore, Ivan Jukl, the Director General of Economic Section of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Czech Republic talked about the Czech position towards international development.  

Political trip to Cambodia

In May 30th – June 6th 2015, People in Need organized study trip for politicians. Two members of the Czech Parliament visited development projects in Cambodia. They represented Foreign Affairs Committee (Pavel Šrámek) and ODA Sub – Committee (Karel Rais). Their visit was accompanied by the Director of the Czech Development Agency Michal Kaplan, partly also by the Czech Ambassador to Cambodia Vitězslav Grepl and Czech chargé d'affaire Ms Jana Gašparíková. Visit was coordinated by People in Need HQ and People in Need Cambodia.  Visitors got the chance to see development project focused on health (Caritas Czech Republic), education (Czech University of Life Sciences), livelihoods, agriculture and human rights (People in Need and Magda-  Children at Risk). Participants had the opportunity to meet the representatives of the Cambodia Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also local representatives of the communities.

New bulletin on urban poverty

City or village? This is the question asked by even the poorest of the poor, who are eager just to feed their families and send their children to school. Their desire for better life is often the beginning of the journey to the poverty cycle. Yet, more and more people in developing countries are moving to the cities. Urban poverty is the topic of the third issue of bulletin published by People in Need.

With the increasing number of people living in slums, on foreign land in illegal settlements, in poverty, urban poverty is more than a hot topic for development agencies. Experts even see it as one of the most pressing problems in the field of development cooperation.

That is why we have decided to point out this issue. Readers can read about People in Needs work with urban poor in Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Cambodia. Look under the hood of Delhi and meet with local garbage collectors. Furthermore about Cameroon and Colombia, where the port of Buenaventura is the trap for poor.

Bulletins were sent to relevant decision makers, i.e. members of Czech national Parliament and Czech representatives in European Parliament, Ministries' officials and key development experts, scholars and NGO representatives.