Almost a year and half since the start of the devastating war in Ukraine, more than 1,500,000 people displaced by the war in Ukraine have entered Bulgaria of whom more than 88 000 have remained on the territory of the country. After a period of standstill with the number being around 50 000, in the recent two months their number has been steadily growing up. A large percentage of the people fleeing the war are vulnerable individuals in urgent need of support.

One of the activities of IOM Bulgaria in response to the crisis in Ukraine is the distribution of food vouchers to single mothers and families with children arriving from the areas in Ukraine, which are worst affected by the war.

With around 15 000 refugees from Ukraine, the Burgas region is one of the hotspots and an area where the IOM’s field staff works extremely hard to meet the needs of the refugees. On a daily basis our team members meet tens of people fleeing the war in respond to their needs.

Since the beginning of the year more than 1200 families have benefited from IOM’s food voucher support programme.

IOM’s food vouchers distribution is currently funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.