Title: FACILITATING ACCESS TO HUMAN RIGHTS AND ESSENTIAL SERVICES FOR INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS AND RETURNEES AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL

Duration: 35 months (until 31 December 2026)

Funding: voluntary contributions of the Council of Europe member states

Budget: 1 297 000 Euro

Target groups: displaced professionals, civil society organisations, hosting communities, local self-government bodies

End beneficiaries: internally displaced persons, returnees, other groups of the war-affected people

The project aims at facilitating access to human rights and essential services for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and returnees at the community level by supporting the development and advancement relevant of policies and practices, enhancing the capacities of displaced institutions and empowering civil society organisations to address displacement-related needs in host communities.

The Project will achieve its objectives through the following three pillars:  

I. Supporting the national and local authorities in developing and implementing integration and re-integration policies and practices for IDPs and returnees.

The project will assist in the development of appropriate gender-sensitive strategies, programmes, and mechanisms to facilitate the access of IDPs and returnees to basic rights as well as social and administrative services. In the long term, the beneficiaries will better exercise their rights taking an active part in the decision-making processes.  

II. Strengthening the capacities of displaced institutions in deploying and delivering services after relocation.

The project will design and provide tailored trainings, technical assistance and digital tools to displaced local administrations and legal professionals with a focus on trauma and burnout prevention, compassion fatigue and psychological assistance. Ultimately IDPs, returnees and local residents will receive quality social, legal, and administrative services determined by trauma-informed and rights-based approaches. 

III. Empowering civil society organisations in affecting the human rights framework for IDPs and returnees.

The project will organise experience exchange, SMART community-based actions, and mentoring support for knowledge transfer between IDP-led initiatives and NGOs of the first (2014) and the second (2022) waves of displacement. The beneficiaries (IDPs, returnees and local residents) will make use of networking and will enhance resilience and social cohesion in host communities.

Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine

Local self-government bodies

• Methodological Recommendations for the analysis and evaluation of local target programs to take into account and meet the needs of internally displaced personі, May 2025
• ACCESS TO EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH FROM THE TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED TERRITORIES OF UKRAINE: Special report of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for human rights, 2025  


•  

• HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION OF RETURNEES: STANDARDS AND POLICIES by CoE Consultant Ms Gina Kalach, November, 2024
• REINTEGRATION OF RETURNEES: EXPLORING COMPLEXITIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS CONSIDERATIONS. Overview based on the contribution of Professor Neophytos Loizides, November, 2024
• FORCED DISPLACEMENT ABROAD: Analytical report, March 2025
• Voluntary return: an overview of policies and practices by Ms Gina Kalach, Ms Claire Rimmer, July 2025
• "UKRAINIANS ABROAD: access to public services in the context of temporary protection status and expected return": policy brief, December 2025

 ROADMAP OF THE DONETSK REGION NGOs NETWORK 2025

 CONCEPT NOTE OF THE NGO REFERRAL MECHANISMS 2025