EU and IOM Support Veterans’ Employment and Community Resilience in Ukraine

Veterans, their family members, families of the fallen and communities across Ukraine will benefit from a new EU-funded project, implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in partnership with Ukraine’s Ministry for Veterans’ Affairs. The project, with a total funding of EUR 6 million, will run until February 2026 and cover Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Vinnytsia, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

“Support to veterans, their families and the families of the fallen are essential for building Ukraine’s future. The EU is proud to provide relevant assistance for employment, launching of businesses, but also psychosocial support and awareness raising,” said Peter M. Wagner, Director of the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments. “True recovery and reconstruction is only possible together with those whose lives have been impacted so deeply by the war and we want to contribute to making this happen.”

The Government of Ukraine estimates that the number of veterans and their family members could reach five to eight million. According to an IOM survey conducted in 2023, 15 per cent of veterans (of which 32% are women) had personally experienced or recently witnessed discrimination. “IOM is committed to working with partners at local and national levels to help develop evidence-based solutions to the challenges faced by veterans such as the issues with finding meaningful employment,” said IOM Ukraine’s Chief of Mission, Alessia Schiavon.

The EU and IOM project will provide vocational training opportunities for about 170 veterans, their family members, and the families of the fallen. Up to 50 veteran-run businesses will receive grants and technical assistance. The project will further support veterans’ employment through dedicated job fairs and an awareness-raising campaign on socioeconomic reintegration opportunities.

Community-based mental health and psychosocial support services will complement the project activities to benefit veterans and wider society groups. Additionally, IOM will train local mental health specialists to ensure that professional support is available upon the project’s completion.

EU and IOM will also support local civil society organizations and assist community initiative groups that are working for veterans’ reintegration across Ukraine. Twenty selected communities will be supported in identifying issues that cause tensions and implementing social cohesion initiatives to address these. IOM will conduct regular assessments enabling local actors and the national government to develop evidence-based veterans’ policies and programming.

The Ministry for Veterans’ Affairs will receive support with its digitalization efforts to collect, analyze, and visualize data. At least 10 government-led institutions, such as the centres of administrative services, will benefit from staff training and in-kind support available through the project.

For more information, please contact Varvara Zhluktenko, IOM Ukraine’s Communications Officer, at vzhluktenko@iom.int, +38 050 962 57 07