At the end of February 2023 we commemorated the year of the war in Ukraine, but also the year of our humanitarian aid to Ukraine. On the last evening of February our Slovak NGDO platform Ambrela held the event: ‚The year of the war in Ukraine – how Slovakia helped in Ukraine‘ in the premises of the former Klarisky church in Bratislava in cooperation with the Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for the Development of the Civil Society (ÚSV ROS) and thanks to the support of the Slovak Republic under the SlovakAid brand. This commemoration and policy event was a very good opportunity for demonstration and reflection of how civil society helped in Ukraine last year.

At the beginning of the evening, the Ukrainian ambassador to the Slovak Republic Myroslav Kastran, the representative of the government for the development of civil society Filip Vagač and the executive secretary of Ambrela Daniel Kaba delivered their opening speeches to 90 high-level guests. 

The panel discussion focused on an overview of Slovak humanitarian aid to Ukraine in the previous year, as well as on well as potential challenges ahead of us in year 2023. Among the speakers of the discussion were: Director General of the Crisis Management Section of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic Michaela Kaňová, general director of the Economic and Development Cooperation Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Slovak Republic Lucia Kišš, representative of the Ukrainian civil sector Sergiy Tymchenko from REALIS UA and director of the organization People in Need Slovakia Andrea Najvirtová. 

Slovak humanitarian organizations were able to collect up to 16.8 million euros to help people from Ukraine and to transport humanitarian aid there worth at least 22 million euros. These organizations helped not only in Ukrainian regions near the border with Slovakia, but also in areas near the front line. Eight of them (specifically: ADRA Slovakia, People in Need Slovakia / ČvO, Caritas Slovakia / SKCH and its local branch Caritas Spis, Step In, Slovak Red Cross, Integra Foundation, Carpathian Foundation) were awarded by the Ukrainian ambassador to Slovakia, Myroslav Kastran, during this commeration event.

 More photos from this commemoration and policy event could be found here. You can also read the Ambrela’s factsheet on the Involvement of civil society in humanitarian aid in Ukraine here.