On 1 March 2022 the European Food Banks Federation launched its campaign #AllTogether4Ukraine. This came as an answer to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, many challenges and changes occurred. One of which was the establishment of the Ukrainian Food Banks Federation with the support of FEBA in October 2022 receiving FEBA Associate Member status in December 2022.
Therefore, in October 2022, a FEBA delegation visited Ukraine to assess the situation in the country as regards the humanitarian crisis and to evaluate the work of UFBF. The delegation was chaired by FEBA President Jacques Vandenschrik and consisted of Bernard Valluis FEBA Board of Directors Member, and Sofiia Vara, FEBA Project Manager – Ukrainian Crisis. In addition to that Christopher Rebstock, GFN’s Canada, Europe, and South Asia Program Director joined the visit.
During the visit the delegation was inspired by the level of UFBF’s operations. In under a year, UFBF has delivered 10.7 million meals to almost 325,000 people in 21 of the 25 oblasts in Ukraine — including communities on the front lines of the conflict. It was important to see that the charitable organisations were distributing food kits by the prepared lists of people and checked their passports to confirm the identity, in this way accountability and traceability is being maintained at the highest level. At the same time, it was difficult to see the devastating circumstances under which people are trying to survive in Ukraine.
The access to food is a big concern for many. People have no direct access to food in the recently liberated territories and areas close to the front line. Mainly because the retail chains are not operating in the small towns or villages. Therefore, humanitarian aid and food banking is crucial for the population of the country, where almost 11 million people experience food insecurity. The winter is long and harsh which will result in a rapid increase in the need for food, aid and help.
The #AllTogether4Ukraine campaign is approaching its end, however, FEBA will continue to look for more possibilities to provide support to Ukraine with the new campaign #Food4Ukraine already this winter.
