International Charitable Fund “Caritas of Ukraine”; president – Andriy Vaskovych.

Official position/functions regarding the conflict 

The official position of the fund coincides with the general position and strategic vision of the UGCC; as a non-governmental organization, its priority directions include assistance to families and children, medical support, and dealing with social problems of migration, among others.

Regarding the conflict, the fund has demonstrated a more active position than the UGCC as a church; building peace is among its priorities. This is best manifested in the project “Bridging the Faults” (see the description of the actor’s activity).

The Caritas network is widely trusted and known in the Ukrainian public space for its humanitarian activities on a par with such major players as the Red Cross and Man in Need; this is thanks to the large scale of its work in the gray zone.

Interests in the region of the conflict 

Running a broad range of activities and opening new offices in the central and eastern regions, Caritas of Ukraine is interested in stable development and stable financial support of its branches. It is looking for priority areas of work and new partners who can help make the impact of its initiatives last longer.

Moreover, the fund uses the resource of the Greek Catholic communities; for instance, it can propose the opening of its regional office if there is an active initiative group and a leading priest in the region (priesthood is a prerequisite for the position of the director). Thus, Caritas can act not only as a new non-governmental initiative in a promising region but also as a kind of a social service franchise for the church. The “Living Parish” large-scale project of the UGCC was launched precisely with this purpose; in it, a clergyman and a layman (a representative of the church community) learn to cooperate in order to develop projects together. Ever since the adoption of the Strategy for the Development of the UGCC, the “Living Parish” project has become a movement of the entire church.

Aware of the work of the Roman Catholic Caritas throughout Europe, the Greek Catholic Caritas of Ukraine tries to maintain high standards of its work and to promote its name both among secular foundations and among church initiatives.

Activity regarding the conflict 

The Caritas of Ukraine works in several directions. The first, humanitarian, direction encompasses large-scale assistance to groups affected by the conflict; this includes providing basic necessities, as well as psychological, medical, legal, and material assistance to people in need. In particular, this applies to diverse programs for the reintegration of veterans. The second direction is building peace in a broad sense; it happens through the “Bridging the Faults” project, which works with local territorial communities, facilitating and consulting them.