Since the beginning of May, our Foundation has purchased and delivered 92 electric bicycles to 49 institutions (communities) in 15 oblasts of Ukraine: Vinnytska, Zhytomyrska, Kyivska, Kirovohradska, Luhanska (institutions relocated to other oblasts), Cherkaska, Volynska, Zakarpatska, Ivano-Frankivska, Lvivska, Rivnenska, Khmelnytska, Chernivetska, Odeska, and Mykolaivska. As with last year, providing social workers with transport is one of the priority activities of the project aimed at supporting the social protection system.
In some communities, social workers have to travel 15-20 kilometers one way to reach their wards, including lonely elderly people, internally displaced persons, people with disabilities, or those in difficult life circumstances. They make these journeys not empty-handed, as their mission is to deliver food and medicine, sometimes clothing or other household items, and help with daily chores. Here are some of the feedbacks from the institutions that received the help:
Yavorivska community, Lvivska Oblast: “Our community has 72 settlements, and in each, there are people to whom we provide various services. A social worker has 12-14 people under their care. The bicycles received are a great help and very necessary for us. Thank you for the assistance you provided.”
Novobuzka community, Mykolaiska Oblast: “Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Novobuzka community has sheltered more than 4,000 IDPs. Currently, we have 1,129 people on record. Specialists had to respond quickly to all challenges—from finding housing to providing people with necessary items: food, hygiene products, and medicines. Therefore, electric bicycles will enable social work specialists and social workers to use their working time more effectively when inspecting internally displaced persons and delivering necessary items. The institution’s specialists gratefully received the news of such a necessary gift.”
Novoukrainska community, Kirovohradska Oblast: “The purchase of bicycles has physically eased the workload of social workers. With their help, essential goods are delivered on time and faster, reducing the time social workers spend on the road, allowing more time for providing household services to people who, due to age or health, find themselves in difficult life circumstances.”
Considering the fuel shortages and the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on the transportation infrastructure, bicycles have become the most reliable means of transporting humanitarian aid and medical supplies. Thanks to this transport, social workers can reach lonely, less mobile individuals in villages and small towns to provide them with the necessary help. We are glad that we can assist them in this and enhance their mobility. Overall, by the end of the year, our Foundation plans to deliver 133 mechanical and 153 electric bicycles to social protection institutions in 23 oblasts of the country.
We are procuring and distributing bicycles for social workers as part of the Supporting the Capacity of the Social Protection System to Register Internally Displaced Persons project, implemented with funding from the UN Refugee Agency in Ukraine.
