Caritas Europe published a report on humanitarian action in Ukraine, demanding the creation of partnerships based on trust, flexibility and shared responsibility. The document denounces that local organizations are treated as service providers and not as partners, being contracted to ensure last-mile service without receiving true ownership of projects or the trust to work as equals.
The study highlights that local associations and national networks operate in the field under a much higher degree of exposure, being among the first to respond in areas where international actors face access restrictions. One of the main complaints gathered by the investigation is the lack of funding for structural expenses, with local organizations questioning how they can function without an accountant when agencies refuse to pay administrative or essential costs.
The weight of armed conflict on teams, who lose family members and face high levels of psychological stress and burnout, collides with system bureaucracy, with the document lamenting that staff well-being is frequently seen as secondary to rigid budget line items. International barriers and the burden of audits overload smaller institutions, with funder accountability focusing more on complex reporting requirements than on real impact and effectiveness for populations in suffering.
The Catholic network defends that risk-sharing in war theaters cannot be reduced to a technical or contractual process, but rather represents a broader shift toward rebalancing power between those who provide support and those who work in the field. The publication leaves a list of demands for major donors and intermediary agencies, urging them to assume their duty of care and to include minimum and contextually relevant standards for physical, psychological and financial security directly in the agreements signed with local entities.
