Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 11 million Ukrainians have been displaced, with nearly 3.7 million people internally displaced according to data from the International Organization for Migration.
One of these people is Hanna, who first moved from the Donetsk region in 2014 with her young child, and who has since had to move again with her family as a result of the hostilities. Trying to raise a family, ensure their personal safety, and adapt to the many disruptions in accessing basic goods and services meant that finding new employment was difficult.
The ongoing conflict has hurt at least 65% of Ukraine’s businesses, but as the crisis continues, those businesses that have survived are adapting to the current context. For instance, Ekonomichna Pravda reports that around 77% of the companies that are part of the European Business Association of Ukraine have now resumed normal business operations as of October 2023.
Hanna is one of many displaced Ukrainians who have taken part in an ITC project funded by Japan to help build their economic resilience. In Hanna’s case, she enrolled in IT training with the Projector Institute, a Ukrainian NGO which is one of the local partners, where she and over 60 other women learned skills such as search engine optimization (SEO).
The SEO training led to a new job, and later Hanna decided to open her own digital marketing agency to have the flexibility she and her family need, especially in the current context. Today, Hanna is honing her skills by completing several orders for small businesses and is considering further education to tackle more complex tasks for her clients.
Hanna is one of many individuals that have received specialized IT training under the project, giving them much-needed flexibility in a fragile situation, while helping ensure they can earn good incomes to support themselves and their families. In 2023 alone, 900 people applied to take part in the IT training, with 63 selected. Forty-nine of the participants received certification in new IT skills, with over a dozen reporting that the training had helped them find new jobs as a result.
In parallel, over 216 small businesses have received e-commerce training, helping them reach international markets. National partners, like the Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office, have played a critical role in delivering these trainings. The project has also provided support for seven communities through a partnership with the Regional Development Agency of the Tavria Association of Territorial Communities, bringing together everyone from internally displaced persons to local officials so they can determine their priorities and craft a more inclusive business ecosystem.
The International Trade Centre (ITC) works in Ukraine in other areas, such as ongoing efforts supported by the EU that focus on fruit, vegetable, nut, and wine producers. These agribusinesses are facing increased difficulty in getting their products to international markets, due to issues such as electricity shortages or the need to find alternate export routes that often take more time and resources. With more of ITC’s projects are taking place in fragile and conflict-affected settings, the 2023 SME Competitiveness Outlook is dedicated to helping understand what this fragility means for small businesses, such as how basic service disruptions and the changing nature of the market affect their ability to survive and grow. Ukraine was one of the eight countries included in the ITC Small Businesses in Fragility Survey that helped inform the publication.
Looking ahead, this Japan-funded project is preparing to help other internally displaced persons in Ukraine build their IT skills, while providing export training and coaching. It is also preparing to expand its outreach to more communities to help engage internally displaced persons, including in regions such as Odesa and Mikolaiv.
