During a working visit to Ivano-Frankivsk Region, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk held a meeting with local community leaders and met with representatives of international organizations.

The focus of the meeting was on the social protection of internally displaced persons, of which there are more than 147 thousand in the region of Prykarpattia, as well as preparation for the winter.

She urged international humanitarian operators not to fragment resources and efforts but to focus on a few key things that will have a real and quick effect.

“International actors should closely coordinate with local authorities and do what they do well. It may be, for example, that an international humanitarian organization is not able to effectively arrange work on the repair of houses but is good at implementing cash support programs. Then it is better to direct efforts to cash support programs. It is better to pay people real money than to drown in endless needs assessments. A good example is cash support projects in the de-occupied territories. In these areas Ukrposhta distributes UAH 1200 from the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and UAH 2200 from the International Organization for Migration,” said Iryna Vereshchuk.

She also gave an example of effective cooperation between the Ministry of Reintegration and the UN World Food Program and informed that in the coming days 40 tons of food support for IDPs with limited mobility will be delivered to Ivano-Frankivsk Region from this organization.

The Deputy Prime Minister called on the representatives of international organizations to simplify their internal approval procedures since the speed of humanitarian response often does not meet the challenges.

“If we embark on a project together and say “yes” to each other, then everything has to be done on time,” summed up Iryna Vereshchuk.