The UK launches flagship SPIRIT programme to drive social recovery in Ukraine

8th February 2025

In collaboration with Government of Ukraine, UNICEF and the World Bank, £25m of UK funding will support an inclusive and sustainable social recovery in Ukraine.

The SPIRIT programme (Social Protection for Inclusion, Resilience, Innovation and Transformation) will support Ukraine to strengthen more inclusive and efficient social protection systems and revitalise community and family-based services.
SPIRIT will support the Foreign Secretary's priority to ensure a safe and loving family for every child, improving social care services for 10,000 families across 10 regions.

The programme will help Ukraine lay foundations for a recovery that meets the needs of citizens in all their diversity including people with disabilities, veterans and other war-impacted groups.

The UK will invest £25 million to strengthen Ukraine's social protection system and services to support an inclusive and barrier-free recovery. The funding announced during the visit of the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy to Kyiv will catalyse Ukraine's ambition for reform of the social sphere. This support will help Ukraine to meet the varied needs of the population and accelerate Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic pathway.

The UK will partner with UNICEF Ukraine and the World Bank to deliver SPIRIT, working closely with the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the European Union and key partners in the social sector.

The SPIRIT programme recognises that investing in people - and the support and services they need - will be critical for Ukraine's long-term recovery and socio-economic future.

Russia's full-scale invasion has had an immense and devastating human impact in Ukraine. This has been disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable and war-impacted groups, including women, children and families, people with disabilities, older people, veterans, and those in frontline areas.

The programme will support Government of Ukraine in their social reform agenda, bringing together Ministries and local government, international financial organisations, donors, civil society, academia, and private sector.

Following the signing of the ‘Social Recovery and Inclusion Partnership for Ukraine' by the UK, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the European Union, UNICEF and the World Bank at the Berlin Ukraine Recovery Conference 2024, SPIRIT demonstrates commitment of the UK government and partners to support Ukraine’s socio-economic future and further our collaboration.

The SPIRIT programme has three main priorities:

Improving access to high-quality community and family-based social services for at least 10,000 families with children across 10 regions. In cooperation with the Ministry of Social Policy, we will deliver small grants and capacity-building to 100 civil society and local community actors to enable them to provide social services, while building a local marketplace of accessible service providers and empowering local actors to meet the growing demand for social protection support.

Establishing a Social Recovery Office with the Ministry of Social Policy to drive reforms, improve coordination in the sector, and enhance collaboration with international financial institutions and development partners. The Social Recovery Office will help Ukraine respond to pressing demographic challenges, meet the needs of the most vulnerable, and support development of a more robust and inclusive social protection framework.

Launching a range of cross-sectoral initiatives that support social recovery and inclusion priorities in Ukraine. Projects will work across health, economic and social sectors, piloting new models of support and services to cater for the most vulnerable and war-impacted groups. This includes women, families with children, people with disabilities, older people, and veterans. These initiatives will foster human capital, enable inclusive reforms and build the institutional capacity needed for Ukraine to address the demographic, economic, and societal changes driven by the war.

The SPIRIT programme will support the Foreign Secretary’s campaign to realize family-based care for every child. Ukraine is a key partner in the Foreign Secretary’s new global alliance to progress sustainable, lasting reform of children’s social care around the world. Working with the Government of Ukraine and UNICEF, SPIRIT includes a specific focus on accelerating ‘Better Care Reform’ to strengthen families, prevent separation, and ensure a safe and loving family environment for all Ukrainian children.

The British Ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Harris said:
I am proud that the UK is announcing critical funding for Ukraine’s social recovery. The £25m contribution will strengthen Ukraine’s social systems and services that are under overwhelming pressure from Russia’s brutal invasion. Investing in Ukraine’s social systems is an investment in Ukraine’s people - and we know that Ukraine’s people are its greatest resource.

SPIRIT is a testament to 100 Year Partnership and shared values between our two countries, including our commitment to meet the needs of women, children, people with disabilities, older people, veterans, and marginalised groups.

In the very worst of circumstances, Ukraine is pursuing an ambitious reform agenda to build a brighter, fairer and ‘barrier-free’ society. In partnership with the Government of Ukraine, UNICEF and the World Bank, the SPIRIT programme will drive forward this vision and lay the foundations for a future where the well-being, dignity and potential of every Ukrainian is ensured.

Oksana Zholnovych, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine outlined:
Human capital development is at the centre of Ukraine’s recovery. The SPIRIT programme represents a crucial step in building institutional capacity, strengthening the social protection system and supporting critical reforms to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and inclusion. We are grateful to our partners, the FCDO, World Bank, and UNICEF, for their support and shared commitment to fostering social cohesion, leaving no one behind.

Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Representative to Ukraine indicates:
The SPIRIT programme is a critical investment in protecting and improving the lives of the most vulnerable, especially children and families in need across Ukraine. This initiative will further strengthen national systems and community-based services to nurture and maximize the country’s most important resource, its human capital, to drive inclusive and prosperous growth.

Bob Saum, World Bank Regional Country Director for Eastern Europe added:
Addressing social cohesion and inclusion, including meeting the needs of vulnerable populations will contribute to maximizing benefits of Ukraine’s post-war recovery economic growth. The SPIRIT program will help build institutional capacity to support veterans, people with disabilities, and other at-risk groups while advancing Ukraine’s EU integration goals.

New UK support for Ukraine drives forward 100 Year Partnership
The UK will boost Ukrainian grain supplies to Syria as the Foreign Secretary drives forward the 100 Year Partnership on visit to Kyiv.

The UK’s immediate support for Ukraine and the longer-term partnership between our two countries both top of the agenda in Foreign Secretary’s visit to Kyiv.

New UK support totalling £55m will boost resilience and growth in the UK and Ukraine.

Visiting Kyiv today, David Lammy will see first-hand how UK support is putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position as it enters its fourth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Delivering on commitments made to President Zelenskyy by Prime Minister Keir Starmer two weeks ago, the UK is providing £3 million for deliveries of Ukrainian grain and other food produce to Syria.

Working with the World Food Programme, this planned support will provide a lifeline to the most vulnerable in Syria unlike Russian grain supplies to the brutal Assad regime which attempted to buy favour, loading costly debt on the Syrian state.

These malign efforts from Russia often likely used produce from illegally occupied Ukrainian land. Russia is estimated to be taking 4.3 million tonnes of grain each year from temporarily occupied territories. It comes after the Prime Minister announced a new Grain Verification Scheme to track stolen grain from occupied Ukrainian territories last month. The UK developed the new scheme following an ask from Ukraine to the G7 to help trace snatched grain from Ukraine fields under Russian control, which is then relabelled and sold on.

Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian port infrastructure and ships in the Black Sea, delaying vital food and aid from reaching the global south. These attacks hinder food supplies from reaching the most in need and help drive up food and fuel prices around the world.

However, Ukraine’s navy continues to fight back, having destroyed or damaged roughly one quarter of the Black Sea Fleet’s major combatant vessels, denying Russia control of the western Black Sea.

As part of the Foreign Secretary’s visit, he will meet with President Zelenskyy, Foreign Minister Sybiha, Prime Minister Shmyhal, and Deputy Prime Minister Stefanishyna, to reiterate the UK’s ongoing support and discuss first-hand how the UK and international partners can put Ukraine into the strongest position possible.

In his second official visit to Kyiv, Mr Lammy will announce £17 million for innovative energy projects to support the recovery and sustainability of Ukraine’s energy system. The InnovateUkraine competition will spur collaborations between British, Ukrainian and international businesses and research institutions to find the resilient, scalable and sustainable energy solutions of the future.

Despite relentless Russian attacks on their energy system, Ukrainians have shown that with the right support and international collaboration, they can use ingenuity and innovation to keep the lights on and defend themselves against Russia’s illegal invasion. Producing clean, reliable and affordable energy is a vital part of the struggle for Ukraine’s freedom and its defense against Russian attempts to use energy as a weapon.

Shoring up Ukraine’s private sector and the resilience of small and medium businesses, the new economic recovery programme, announced by the Prime Minister as part of the 100 Year Partnership, will receive a £10 million boost to help renew, rebuild and reform Ukraine’s economy for the future.

Foreign Secretary, David Lammy said:

Our support for Ukraine remains unbreakable. We are determined to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position, both in its fight against Russia and beyond, with our long-term relationship cemented by the 100 Year Partnership.

We believe in building for the future between our two countries, as well as supporting Ukraine in the present, as Russia’s barbaric and relentless attacks on vital infrastructure, communities, and businesses continue. That is why we are announcing more support for innovation in Ukraine, to rebuild a more resilient and sustainable society for years to come.

Delivering change at home, against the backdrop of an increasingly volatile world, means we must bolster the resilience of our partners.

A further £25 million of UK funding will support Ukraine to strengthen more inclusive, effective and efficient social systems and services. We will work with Ukraine to revitalise family and community-based services that meet the needs of women, children, people with disabilities and marginalised groups and ensure a safe and loving family for every child.

The UK’s SPIRIT programme will bolster Ukraine’s resilience against Russian aggression by helping Ukraine build a more resilient, prosperous and barrier-free future for all.

Announcements made today will open up opportunities for British business, by harnessing UK expertise, creating trade and investment opportunities, and building links between the UK and Ukraine for years to come.

Support announced today builds on the UK’s strong record as a leading bilateral donor, having committed £977 million in support, including £477 million in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and the region since the start of the full-scale invasion. We will provide £282 million in support for 2024-25, in addition to the Prime Minister’s commitment to provide £3billion of military support to Ukraine, this year and for as long as it takes.

PHOTO
Foreign Secretary David Lammy meets with Ukraine Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha on his visit to Ukraine. Picture by Ben Dance / FCDO