Financing support programs for internally displaced persons in Ukraine: Effectiveness and needs alignment

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Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The growing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), combined with challenges in financing social programs during wartime, highlights the importance of ensuring the effectiveness of public spending. This paper aims to examine the effectiveness of state programs supporting IDPs in terms of their alignment with the target group’s needs. The assessment was conducted based on data from a nationally representative sociological survey of IDPs. The analysis of the effectiveness of the housing assistance program for IDPs was conducted using elasticity coefficients that consider price growth and changes in the subsistence minimum. According to IDPs’ assessment, most programs funded from the state budget meet current needs and are rated above the average level, above 2.5 points out of 5. Programs of legal and informational support (3.8), cash assistance (4.3), access to medical care without restrictions (i.e., the requirement to sign a declaration) (3.4), provision of social housing (3.3), and tax deductions under rental agreements (3.2) are considered highly relevant. Low relevance was assigned to assistance with relocating businesses (1.7), grant support for starting a business (2.2), housing loans (2.2), and vocational training through referrals from the State Employment Service (2.4). Conclusions were drawn about the need for periodic monitoring of IDP needs and analyzing the effectiveness of funding while considering price changes and the subsidence minimum. This approach could be used to support decisions regarding the attraction of alternative sources of financing for social programs when state budget funding is insufficient to cover basic living needs of IDPs.

Acknowledgment
This study is supported by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine under the project No.2021.01/0343 “Ensuring social protection of ATO / JFO participants and social integration of IDP under the condition of increasing threats to social security”.

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    • Figure 1. Results of IDPs’ assessment of the relevance of existing support programs to their current needs (average score on a five-point scale)
    • Figure 2. Results of IDP assessments of the degree to which their basic needs are met (average scores presented on a five-point scale)
    • Figure 3. Distribution of social benefit recipients in Ukraine by type of primary social support in 2023, %
    • Table 1. Dynamics and structure of consolidated state budget expenditures by functional classification, 2021–2024
    • Table 2. Indicators of the implementation of the housing allowance program for IDPs
    • Table 3. Dynamics of performance indicators for the implementation of the IDP housing assistance program in Ukraine, 2021–2024
    • Data curation
      Halyna Yurchyk, Halyna Mishchuk, Natalia Samoliuk
    • Formal Analysis
      Halyna Yurchyk, Halyna Mishchuk, Yuriy Bilan
    • Investigation
      Halyna Yurchyk, Halyna Mishchuk, Natalia Samoliuk, Yuriy Bilan
    • Methodology
      Halyna Yurchyk, Halyna Mishchuk, Natalia Samoliuk, Yuriy Bilan
    • Resources
      Halyna Yurchyk, Halyna Mishchuk, Yuriy Bilan
    • Software
      Halyna Yurchyk
    • Validation
      Halyna Yurchyk, Halyna Mishchuk, Natalia Samoliuk, Yuriy Bilan
    • Visualization
      Halyna Yurchyk
    • Writing – original draft
      Halyna Yurchyk, Halyna Mishchuk, Natalia Samoliuk, Yuriy Bilan
    • Writing – review & editing
      Halyna Yurchyk, Halyna Mishchuk, Natalia Samoliuk, Yuriy Bilan
    • Conceptualization
      Halyna Yurchyk, Halyna Mishchuk, Natalia Samoliuk, Yuriy Bilan
    • Funding acquisition
      Halyna Mishchuk, Natalia Samoliuk, Yuriy Bilan
    • Supervision
      Halyna Mishchuk
    • Project administration
      Yuriy Bilan