News
New CEB grant to Lithuania to support children with disabilities fleeing Ukraine
20 September 2022
PARIS – The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour of Lithuania have signed a grant worth almost €419,000 from CEB’s Migrant and Refugee Fund (MRF) to improve living and educational conditions for children with disabilities fleeing the war in Ukraine. This brings the total amount of MRF grants approved in response to the Ukraine crisis to approximately €6.4 million.
The grant will finance the renovation and equipping of the Social Care Centre Vija in the city of Kaunas, including the construction of an outdoor children’s playground, purchase of a bus and the operational costs through the end of 2023.
“This project is very important for us because it aims to support the most vulnerable population fleeing the war in Ukraine – children with disabilities,” said CEB Governor Carlo Monticelli. “We are pleased to continue cooperating with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour of Lithuania to help Ukrainian refugees as well as their hosting communities.”
Around 37 per cent of all refugees from Ukraine are children. As of September 2022, Lithuania welcomed 1,094 unaccompanied minors, mostly from orphanages in Ukraine.
Yet, Lithuania is not fully equipped to receive unaccompanied minors with disabilities of very young age. Although the authorities have started capacity building as part of the European Union’s Resettlement and Relocation Scheme for Asylum Seekers, the country’s social care institutions lack the services and infrastructure suitable for receiving infants and preschool children.
“The Council of Europe Development Bank is allocating funds to Lithuania for the second time. Thanks to these funds, we will be able to take better care of Ukrainians fleeing the war, especially children,” said Monika Navickięnė, Lithuania’s Minister of Social Affairs and Labour. “Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, we have received several groups of unaccompanied minors, including children with disabilities. I hope that the funds allocated to Lithuania will increase our country’s opportunities to implement a more sustainable policy of reception and asylum.”
The minister emphasized that given the drastic change in the situation of migration flows in Lithuania and the country’s geopolitical situation, it is necessary to invest in the development of new accommodation places, adapt existing facilities and improve the quality of reception conditions for refugees.
Out of 88 social care institutions for children in Lithuania, only five provide social care services for children with disabilities and accommodate about 80 children. The Vija Social Care Centre is already hosting 35 Ukrainian children with disabilities in partially adapted premises. The children are aged between nine months and four years, and they came from an orphanage in the Kharkiv region.
It is expected that with the help of CEB’s grant additional 30 to 40 places at the Vija Social Centre could be created.
The signed grant is the second one from the MRF that the CEB has approved to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour of Lithuania to help support refugees from Ukraine. In May 2022, the Bank approved almost €500,000 for the renovation and extension of accommodation facilities of the Refugee Reception Center in the Kaunas region. The implementation of this grant is expected to be completed by the end of 2022, creating 120 accommodation places for refugees.
More on CEB’s response to Ukraine refugee crisis: CEB and Ukraine refugees
About the Migrant and Refugee Fund: Migrant and Refugee Fund (MRF)
Set up in 1956, the CEB (Council of Europe Development Bank) has 42 member states. Twenty-two Central, Eastern and South Eastern European countries, forming the Bank's target countries, are listed among the member states. As a major instrument of the policy of solidarity in Europe, the Bank finances social projects by making available resources raised in conditions reflecting the quality of its rating (Aa1 with Moody's, outlook stable, AAA with Standard & Poor's, outlook stable, AA+ with Fitch Ratings, outlook positive and AAA* with Scope Ratings, outlook stable). It thus grants loans to its member states, and to financial institutions and local authorities in its member states for the financing of projects in the social sector, in accordance with its Articles of Agreement.
*unsolicited