On 24 September, a meeting with the donor countries of the Ukraine Relief, Recovery, Reconstruction and Reform Trust Fund (URTF) was held in Kyiv. 

The event was co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Olga Zykova and World Bank Regional Country Director for Eastern Europe Bob Saum. 

The meeting was attended by the URTF donor countries, namely representatives of the United States of America, Japan, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, Belgium, the Republic of Korea, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and New Zealand. 

The parties discussed the current URTF activities, results and challenges in the implementation of existing projects financed by the Fund, the status of new projects and prospects for further cooperation with partners.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the World Bank has been one of the leaders in coordinating and consolidating international financial assistance to support Ukraine. Established in December 2022, the URTF has become a platform for mobilising grant assistance from international partners to overcome the consequences of the war. To date, the Fund has consolidated USD 1.86 billion in grants, of which Ukraine has already received almost USD 1.2 billion.

As part of the implementation of joint projects with the Bank financed by the URTF, significant results have been achieved, in particular:

• more than 64 thousand households received compensation for minor and medium repairs to residential buildings and apartments (HOPE housing recovery project); 

• more than 2.3 million people received expanded primary health check-ups (HEAL health sector support project); 

• more than 20 protective structures for energy infrastructure facilities under construction (Re-PoWER project to support the energy sector); 

• more than 10 thousand farmers received affordable financing under the Affordable Loans 5-7-9 programme (ARISE project to support the agricultural sector).

The Deputy Minister of Finance stressed the importance of Ukraine's cooperation with the World Bank and donor countries in the face of russia's full-scale invasion:

“The comprehensive support of the World Bank aimed at mobilising the necessary external financing, as well as expert assistance, is key to addressing the immediate recovery needs, supporting the administrative capacity of the Government, and laying the groundwork for long-term reconstruction and reforms. This also includes support for critical measures in the energy, healthcare and agricultural sectors, the restoration of housing and transport infrastructure, as well as enhancing the Government's administrative capacity,” Olga Zykova said.

The participants of the event discussed the state of implementation and preparation of new projects aimed at implementing reforms in the educational, financial, transport, healthcare sectors, as well as at restoring Ukraine's economy, using the PforR (Programme-for-Results Financing) tool: LEARN, SURGE, THRIVE and RISE. 

On 11 September 2024, the first of the PforR projects was launched, including those partially funded by donors through the URTF. Ukraine and the Bank signed two loan and one grant agreement to raise the necessary financing for the implementation of the project "Lifting Education Access and Resilience in Times of Need" (LEARN) for a total of USD 415 million. The key objectives of the Project will be to increase student safety and improve the quality of teaching and learning in general secondary education and pre-school education.

As part of the LEARN implementation, URTF funds will be used to provide students with new high-quality schoolbooks based on the New Ukrainian School curriculum, upgrade the educational environment in NUS pilot schools at the level of basic secondary and senior vocational education, provide modern teaching materials and equipment, train teachers and school managers, increase the capacity of state institutions to implement the NUS reform, implement digital transformation of educational measurements, and ensure planning for the development of school infrastructure.