Eastern Ukraine: Reconnect, Recover, Revitalize (3R) Project

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The conflict in eastern Ukraine continues to impact the lives and livelihoods of millions of Ukrainians.The outbreak of conflict severely impacted socio-economic activity in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland including damage to infrastructure, interruption of markets and services, restrictions of movement, loss of employment and psychosocial impacts. The socio-economic impacts of the conflict have been amongst their most acute in Luhansk Oblast in eastern Ukraine. The region has experienced the sharpest decline of Gross Domestic Product in Ukraine since the conflict and has lost an estimated 84 percent of its industrial capacity and 81 percent of jobs. What remains of Luhansk’s economy after 2014, is now dominated by agricultural production. But Project areas in Luhansk Oblast face disruption and disorganization of agricultural supply and value chains, transport links, markets and service delivery networks as well as local governance challenges related to the conflict. To address such challenges, the project will seek to strengthen transport connectivity, support agriculture sector recovery, and pomote engagement of conflict-affected communities in Luhansk Government Controlled Areas (GCAs) in Eastern Ukraine. Recognizing the agricultural profile of Luhansk Oblast, the project focuses on enhancing agricultural sector efficiency and competitiveness as a key anchor of regional development and growth. Component 1 will support rehabilitation of roads in Luhansk oblast to connect farmers to processors and markets; and to connect people to urban service centers. Component 2 will complement Component 1 by financing agriculture-related local infrastructure investments to promote agricultural sector recovery and modernization. Roads and agriculture-related investments will be accompanied by community engagement, technology transfer, and training activities to address issues particular to Luhansk Oblast including capacity deficits of local institutions, low levels of civic engagement, and limited access to new technologies. Component 3 will develop an implementation support platform in Eastern Ukraine for investment in conflict-affected areas including activities related to project management, private sector, community and youth engagement, and strategic communications.