Head of Partnerships and Fundraising Shares the Experience of EAST SOS During the Business Breakfast “A Hundred Years Ahead: Ukrainian Identity as the Foundation of the Recovery Triangle”
What happens after a person makes the decision to evacuate and leaves a dangerous area?For thousands of Ukrainians, this is when a new chapter begins with finding a safer place to live, adapting to an entirely new environment, and restoring a basic sense of stability.
One of the key elements of this stability is access to proper nutrition.
This topic was discussed during the business breakfast “A Hundred Years Ahead: Ukrainian Identity as the Foundation of the Recovery Triangle,” organized ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2026) by the Alliance of Ukrainian Civil Society Organizations, together with Mercy Corps Ukraine and the NGO Cult Food. The event brought together representatives of government, business, civil society, and international partners. Kseniia Lisna, Head of Partnerships and Fundraising at the EAST SOS Charity Foundation, also joined the discussion.
Participants discussed the role of food not only as a basic necessity but also as a component of cultural identity.
During the discussion, Kseniia Lisna shared the experience of EAST SOS and drew attention to an issue that is rarely discussed.
“We often address food security in the context of frontline hromadas. But for many people, the challenge does not disappear after evacuation. On the contrary, finding themselves in a new place without employment, a stable income, or their usual support network, they may continue to need assistance for a long time, including access to proper nutrition. That is why it is important to create support mechanisms that operate continuously, ensuring that people are not left without the assistance they need after moving to safer regions, which often fall outside the scope of humanitarian projects,” Kseniia noted.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the EAST SOS team has been supporting people through the entire evacuation journey: from rescue from frontline areas to finding a safer place to live. This is why we support collective centers and residential care homes that receive evacuees.
Among them are the Social Adaptation Center for People with Disabilities run by the NGO Ocean of Good in Dnipro and the Bez Mezh (Without Borders) collective site in Kharkiv, managed by the NGO Volunteer-68. During the first phase of the project, implemented with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), we provided residents with 19,214 hot meals, supporting 675 people.
In 2026, the Ocean of Good Social Adaptation Center received funding from the local budget to cover the basic needs of its residents. For us, this is an example of how humanitarian support can become the first step toward building a more sustainable system of assistance.
The second phase of the project, supported by SIDA, is currently underway. By the end of 2026, we plan to support at least 310 residents of the Bez Mezh collective site in Kharkiv and provide them with nearly 9,300 hot meals.
Kseniia also stressed that, for now, support for evacuated people still largely depends on humanitarian organizations. But in the long run, people need systemic solutions and stable funding mechanisms, so that they are not left without essential support after humanitarian projects end.
The experience of recent years shows that the food security issue extends far beyond frontline areas. For thousands of people forced to leave their homes, access to proper nutrition remains one of the conditions for a dignified life, recovery, and the ability to start building life again in a new place.
As we previously shared, the East SOS Partnerships and Fundraising team recently participated in the Fundraising NGO Growth Lab Spring School.
