Ukraine: Learning Paper: Leveraging Mutual Aid for Energy Resilience in Winter

Country: Ukraine Sources: Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe Please refer to the attached file. Problem Statement The 2025–2026 winter season in Ukraine was the coldest in 15 years, with temperatures frequently falling below -20°C. The impact of these extreme conditions was compounded by repeated attacks on energy infrastructure, leaving households facing prolonged disruptions to electricity, heating, and water services for up to 16 hours per day. In December alone, 61 strikes targeted energy and heating infrastructure across the country, followed by near-daily attacks throughout January. As a result, energy infrastructure in at least 17 regions as damaged or destroyed and approximately two-thirds of Ukraine’s pre-war electricity generation capacity compromised. Against this backdrop, traditional household-level winterisation assistance proved insuAicient to meet the significantly increased needs of aAected communities. The scale and duration of service disruptions highlighted the growing importance of communal heating and energy resilience solutions to help residents maintain access to essential services during prolonged outages. Response JERU proposed to tackle these prolonged outages in partnership with Homeowner Associations using the Group Cash Transfer (GCT) modality to replicate the government-funded, SvitloDim programme which was available only to homeowner associations in Kyiv Oblast. The programme supported homeowner associations, which are responsible for the management and maintenance of residential apartment buildings, by providing financial assistance to procure and install backup energy solutions. Since 2023, JERU has been providing cash assistance to Community-Led Initiatives through the GCT modality . Through this approach 11,300 people have been safely evacuated from frontline locations over 50,000 people have benefited from a range of community-driven priorities such as improved shelters, rehabilitated water infrastructure, safe spaces and psychosocial support. After requests for assistance from local authorities in Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts, JERU alongside local partner, Peaceful Heaven of Kharkiv, collaborated with authorities to identify homeowner associations managing multi-story residential buildings. The selection criteria focused on buildings that were fully dependent on electricity for heating and power provision and those that were facing critical gaps in backup resources. In total, 31 housing associations were supported, reaching 2,313 apartments and approximately 9616 individuals, at an average cost of €12 per person. Transfer values were aligned with the government SvitloDim benchmark, with €2000 allocated to buildings of 1–6 floors and UAH €4000 allocated to buildings of 7–16 floors.
2026-09-22 11:45:53