February 24^th marked one year since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. An enormous volume of aid has been raised in response to the crisis, but Ukrainian actors have had very little access to it, despite being primary respondents. On Tuesday 14 March, HERE’s Val Hambye-Verbrugghen, together with Yuliia Chykolba, Marco Rotelli, and Robert Serry, unpacked this issue during a one and a half hour long online event.

The following questions guided the discussion:

1. What has been your experience of Ukrainian NGOs benefiting from the promptness and generosity of the international funding response? What have been enablers or obstacles to their access to funding? To what extent are the rules and bureaucracy in place at the international level suited to fund informal/volunteer initiatives?
2. What needs to be done to ensure a better connection between traditional agencies’ efforts and those of local volunteer groups in this crisis?
3. How has the funding volume impacted the relationship between national and local NGOs and international actors? How complementary are they?
4. An additional cut of the funding has gone to support States that neighbour Ukraine: what are the perceptions around this by different actors (local and national NGOs on either side of the border, coordination mechanisms, contributors to appeals such as those mentioned above)?
5. Is there a moral obligation to stop collecting funds in scenarios such as these, where the amount raised is enormous?