Ombudsman of Ukraine and BGV Charity Fund launch regional project to support newborn babies

The Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, together with the BGV Charity Fund, announced the launch of a joint initiative to unite efforts to protect children's rights and support newborns. The corresponding Memorandum of Cooperation was signed on November 25, 2022.

The first stage of the Ombudsman of Ukraine and the BGV Charity Fund cooperation is the provision of targeted assistance for 400 families with newborns in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which is among the ten regions with the largest number of children affected by the war and is also the region that received the largest number of IDPs.

A team of regional representatives of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Human Rights Commissioner and the Ministry of Social Protection compiled a list of families with children who need help today. These are newborns in large and low-income families. As part of the cooperation, representatives of the Ombudsman's Office keep direct contact with such families and study their needs so that the aid kits are as helpful as possible for both children and mothers.

"We know that humanitarian aid does not protect families from russian missile attacks and does not stop the war, but it helps new mothers and families with newborns in such difficult times. For us, this project will be a pilot project, and in the future, with our partners, we will look for an opportunity to help young families in other regions as well. We must stick together and support those who need it most. Because for Ukraine, life is a value worth fighting for," Dmytro Lubinets, Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, commented.

The project's donors—German partners, dm-drogerie market, and #WeAreAllUkrainians—provided quality goods for mothers and children. The logistics partner of the project is Nova Poshta. Four hundred families with newborn children will receive assistance completely free of charge, including delivery.

Please note: the list of families participating in the project's first wave was compiled by the Office of the Ombudsman and the Ministry of Social Policy. These are large and low-income families in the Dnipropetrovsk region. In the future, these families will register for the program through representatives of the Ombudsman's Office.

More details: https://bgvfund.org/project-ombudsman-ua/

Reference:

The Human Rights Commissioner of the Ukrainian Parliament, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Ombudsman of Ukraine), is an official whose status is determined by the Constitution of Ukraine. The Ombudsman carries out the activities independently of other state bodies and officials, ensuring parliamentary control over the observance of the human and citizen's constitutional rights and freedoms and the protection of the rights of every citizen on an ongoing basis. From July 1, 2022, the position of Ombudsman will be held by Dmytro Lubinets. To implement the powers of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on human rights, the office selected nine core areas of activity, for which the Ombudsman's representatives were assigned, and a Secretariat was created to ensure the activity. The Ombudsman's office is building a network in the regions of Ukraine and will be represented in every region from 2023.

The BGV Charity Fund was created by the BGV Group Management investment company team to organize aid to Ukraine during the war and rebuild the country after the victory. The main directions of the foundation's work are humanitarian assistance to vulnerable segments of the population, support of medical facilities, and assistance to newborns and new mothers. During the nine months of the full-scale war, the Fund and its partners sent 20,000 kits of targeted aid to families with newborn babies under the age of 2 months. The total budget of the project reached more than 2 million euros. Support was delivered to 22 regions and 1,958 settlements in Ukraine. In total, as of the beginning of November, the Fund's team managed to attract about 10.5 million dollars of support for Ukraine, both direct financing of projects and commodity support.