© FEU

The Russian war of aggression has taken a catastrophic toll on Ukraine’s economy, with companies now operating in a highly disruptive and uncertain environment. Frequent power outages, destroyed facilities and infrastructure, disrupted supply chains, higher production costs, and reduced purchasing power of the population continue to have a devastating impact on companies and on market sentiment. While businesses are showing extraordinary resilience and adjust to the new reality, there are signs that the initial economic recovery of mid-2022 has since stalled. It is estimated that 50 to 60 per cent of companies are currently operating below pre-war capacity utilisation.

In response to the unprecedented challenges, the ILO provided emergency aid to Ukrainians affected by the war. With this emergency assistance, the Federation of Employers of Ukraine (FEU) could provide support to its members by engaging them in the manufacturing and provision of humanitarian aid. More than 4,135 family food and hygiene boxes were produced by Ukrainian companies during October-December 2022. Each box was designed for a family of three or four, and the initiative is estimated to have reached around 15,000 internally displaced Ukrainians. More than 25 Ukrainian companies were involved in the production Ukraine-wide.


© FEU

The response from displaced Ukrainians powerfully demonstrated how vital and desperately needed this support is. Recipients expressed enormous relief and gratitude at the distribution points. For many of the recipients, the boxes represented the first support received since the start of the war.

The FEU is strongly advocating for the localization of the production of humanitarian aid instead of getting supplies from abroad. Working with and sourcing from Ukrainian companies does not only preserve jobs and businesses, recover tax income for the government, and rebuild Ukrainians’ confidence in their future. Ultimately, it helps the economy emerge stronger.

This initiative builds on a similar successful project carried out by the FEU with ILO support within the Danish-funded project “Inclusive labour market and job creation in Ukraine”. This initiative reached more than 3,550 people in Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, two regions heavily affected by the war.

The FEU remains steadfast in its commitment to serving its members, currently boosting its services despite the highly disruptive environment. With ILO support, the FEU started a new service for its members aimed at facilitating business matchmaking and the promotion of Ukrainian producers on the EU market.

"For me, as the manager of the team at the company, participation in the Federation's project to help temporarily displaced persons is another opportunity to help Ukraine and continue stable work activities. We are a FEU member company, and we appreciate the Federation's unique initiative to localize the production of humanitarian aid provided by international partners. After all, we are saving jobs and paying taxes this way, and Ukraine needs both so much today. The initiative of the FEU is a step towards the economic recovery of Ukraine. We can draw from this experience for future projects to restore infrastructure, housing, and the industrial sector of Ukraine, as well as for employment support programs on the national and regional levels". 
Oleksandr Sokolovskyi, owner and manager of TC "Textile-Contact", Kyiv 

“Our company supports temporary displaced persons on a regular basis. The Poltava region provides places of living for one of the largest groups of IDPs in Ukraine, and we were producing family food packs for them. Participation in the FEU/ILO project was an opportunity for the company to increase our efforts in helping Ukrainians who are in need because of the war. It is important that we localize production of humanitarian aid at Ukrainian enterprises as much as possible, as this is the most effective way of preserving workplaces in Ukraine”.
Nataliya Gomon, director of “IPK PoltvaZernoProdukt”, LLC

Watch the video produced by the Federation of Employers of Ukraine Help Ukrainians- Support Ukrainian business