April 21, 2022 – World Vision Australia CEO Daniel Wordsworth will return to Eastern Europe this weekend as World Vision expands its response to the spiralling refugee crisis in Ukraine.
Daniel said as the conflict enters and new and dangerous phase, he is returning to Ukraine, Romania and Moldova this Sunday (April 24) – the day of the conflict’s two-month anniversary – and as World Vision ramps up its response to the crisis 10-fold over coming weeks.
“The world is watching this conflict escalate and become more devastating, and World Vision is responding to meet the soaring humanitarian needs that are emerging as a result,” he said. “That means more staff are needed with expertise in humanitarian and refugee responses.
“The numbers are distressing – half of all children in Ukraine have fled their homes in the past two months, and more than two million children have escaped the country on dangerous journeys with parents and family, crossing borders, never knowing when they might be able to return.”
World Vision is hiring about 40 staff to work inside Ukraine as World Vision sets up offices in the west of the country, as well as boosting our responses in Romania and Moldova.
Daniel said the situations World Vision has been responding to in neighbouring countries were bad enough.
“But we are also witnessing dreadful situations of desperation and deprivation inside Ukraine – people who are hungry, without consistent shelter and without livelihoods, and the continued impacts all of this is having on children. Therefore, it’s essential that we continue to boost our response to help them.”
