Only 16% of local IDP support programs have clear, measurable indicators – KNEU Disinformation Lab head

Only 16% of local targeted programs for internally displaced persons have clear and measurable indicators, with key performance indicators (KPIs) absent even from the documents themselves, said Vitaliy Kulyk, head of the Disinformation Countermeasures Laboratory at Kyiv National Economic University (KNEU).

"What is the main problem with these targeted programs? First, that special programs work better than mere mentions of IDPs in general programs. Only 16% of local targeted programs have clear and measurable performance indicators. Meaning there are no KPIs even in the documents. In 54% of programs the indicators are formal and declarative in nature," Kulyk said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

He gave an example of how a dozen local targeted programs from "one particular region" serve as model templates.

"That is, they were taken as a sample, and in some cases through carelessness the same indicators were copied over, and some programs even had the district name left unchanged. They simply rewrote and copied. In 30% there is no mention of IDPs whatsoever. Only 10% of local government representatives regularly involve NGOs and international organizations in implementing local targeted programs," Kulyk noted.

According to him, the level of inclusivity - where IDP community representatives participate in developing local targeted programs - is quite low, "despite local governments' declarations that they take IDP positions into account."

In turn, Ukrainian MP and co-founder of the NGO "IDPs of Ukraine" Serhiy Kozyr noted that there is still no single body or ministry that can name the exact number of internally displaced persons.

"There is a coordination centre that primarily accepts applications from people displaced from combat zones, but it now falls under the Ministry of Reconstruction, while the Ministry of Social Policy administers it. One accepts, another passes it on, and a third makes payments. The Ministry of Education does its own thing, the Ministry of Health does its own thing, and in the end the person ends up unsettled," he said at the press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

Ukrainian MP and co-chair of the inter-faction association "IDPs of Ukraine" in the Verkhovna Rada Maksym Tkachenko said that the UAH 3,000 payment for displaced children is currently available only to those who were displaced again after 2022.

"This is precisely about discrimination and about dividing internally displaced persons into 'these and those' - those who need help, and those families who, according to the government and some ministers, should have already adapted," he said at the press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.