Project Kesher Ukraine

and the Women’s Opportunity Fund of Ukraine

With more than 30 years of experience working in Ukraine, Project Kesher Ukraine (PKU) and its humanitarian sister organization, the Women’s Opportunity Fund of Ukraine (WOF-UA) are at the forefront of responding to the wartime needs of Ukrainian women and girls and reaching women with critical information and life-saving resources. Embedding fully in the communities in which we provide assistance allows PKU to meet immediate needs, without duplicating the efforts of other NGOs. Less than 1% of international aid to Ukraine has been allocated to women and girls, and PKU and WOF-UA are hard at work advocating for this demographic.

WOF-UA has distributed 250 e-bicycles to Ukrainian healthcare workers, mostly women, supporting 100,000 monthly home visits to patients. It provides essential equipment to maternity wards, including a CPAP system to the Dnipro Clinical Hospital, saving the lives of 10 premature babies each month. Recently, they’ve seen a surge in requests for hygiene kits for pregnant women and new mothers, humanitarian packages for those injured by the war, and generators to help women cope with Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power grid. It has a program providing women with laptops, computer training, and staffing agency support to get them remote jobs. 

WOF-UA has conducted eight rounds of grantmaking, totaling $322,000, to support 150 small women-owned businesses in Ukraine. Through these grants, women and their families become self-sufficient (82%), their businesses hire more displaced and unemployed women (90%) and grantees give their products/services back to the community as part of their personal philanthropy (100%). With the knowledge learned from this grantmaking, WOF-UA has diversified from primarily geographic grantmaking and is now also focusing on grants to small agricultural producers (agriculture is the largest part of Ukraine’s economy), eco-friendly home gardening, and organic production, as well as women-owned craft businesses producing environmentally friendly, high-quality products.

PKU strengthens Jewish life by helping individuals and families deepen their connection to Jewish heritage. PKU:

• Issued the print version of its Ukrainian-language Haggadah and mailed 50 copies to US Congressional representatives to highlight Ukraine's Jewish cultural ties.

• Welcomed a Torah back to Kyiv through its Torah Return Project, the first since the war's escalation, to be cherished by young Ukrainian Jews.

• Continues to host intergenerational leadership programs for Jewish mother-daughter pairs, as well as Jewish weekend retreats that explore Ukraine’s rich Jewish history and provide cultural access to non-Jews.

• Is addressing the decline in Jewish educators and volunteers in Ukraine caused by the February 2022 escalation of the war. Many leaders have relocated to Europe and Israel, weakening the pipeline of those able to teach and lead Jewish life.

• Is rebuilding a network of trained Jewish community leaders, emphasizing the importance of in-person gatherings.

• Is helping to restore Jewish programming and support systems for women as many infrastructures, including schools and social networks, have been destroyed by the war.

• Is creating and distributing a Ukrainian-language siddur for Ukrainian women, families, and Jewish institutions nationwide