How the UN Development Programme in Ukraine was able to piggyback on an ongoing energy efficiency initiative to get urgent health information to nearly 2 million people

KYIV, 5 May 2020 – When the coronavirus outbreak first appeared on the horizon, the UN Development Programme in Ukraine was able to quickly leverage an existing initiative in all 24 oblasts to mobilize citizen groups and homeowners’ associations against the pandemic. The programme, which received financing from the European Union, was set up in 2018 to promote energy efficiency and improve housing for nearly half a million people.  UNDP was able to piggyback on a network of 24 coordinators, 344 local authorities and nearly 3,500 homeowners associations to launch a communications campaign that reached an estimated 1.8 million people with valuable information on how to stay safe from the coronavirus. 

UNDP Resident Representative Dafina Gercheva said the two-year project, “Home Owners of Ukraine for Sustainable Energy Efficiency Solutions (HOUSES),” was envisaged as part of a programme to reduce energy costs, improve livelihoods and reduce the country’s carbon footprint, thus helping it meet its obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and Paris Accord.

“This programme helped hundreds of thousands of people to manage their associations, to develop energy efficiency projects and to apply for grants under the Ukrainian Energy Efficiency Fund,” said Gercheva. “Little did we know at the time we set it up that we could use this same network to communicate urgent information about the pending pandemic.”

Working with colleagues from the WHO and Ukraine's Ministry of Health, UNDP in Ukraine produced more than 100,000 posters with detailed information on what the coronavirus disease was, how to avoid catching it, and how to protect one’s family. As an added benefit many of the associations spontaneously came up with creative ways to sanitize their buildings or support the elderly. These included ways to sanitize people’s footwear at entrances to prevent the virus from in from outdoors.

Contact: Yuliia Samus; UNDP in Ukraine Communication Officer

yuliia.samus@undp.org / Tel: +380 44 253 93 63, ext. 141