Last week, a delegation from Caritas Ukraine travelled to the Netherlands to work with Dutch counterparts on one of Ukraine’s most pressing challenges today: keeping water flowing to communities during the war while laying the groundwork for lasting recovery.
The visit brought together government officials, humanitarian organisations, water sector experts and businesses around a shared goal, marking a significant step forward for the #WASHinWAR partnership.
The sessions focused on a practical challenge: moving beyond emergency repairs towards more durable solutions, even as the war continues. Discussions covered strengthening WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) teams’ capacity, modern approaches to water resource management, and drawing on the Dutch water sector’s technical expertise.
Watch this video on the #WASHinWar meeting in The Hague.
‘We need to view humanitarian response not as a series of separate projects, but as an integrated system in which emergency assistance, recovery and resilience are interconnected,’ said Tetiana Yatsiuk, Head of the WASH Programme at Caritas Ukraine. ‘What we do today to address urgent needs should also lay the foundation for long-term recovery and help communities and critical infrastructure become more resilient to future challenges.’
Building Practical Partnerships
A central moment of the visit was the ‘Water for Ukraine: Strengthening Partnerships for Recovery and Resilience’ meeting, held on 11 September and organised by Caritas Ukraine, Cordaid, Lifeline Ukraine and VNG International, together with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, and Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy and Environment.
The meeting gave Ukrainian and Dutch stakeholders a platform to discuss Ukraine’s needs, partnership opportunities and financing mechanisms for rebuilding water infrastructure. Joost Klarenbeek, Special Envoy for Ukraine at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, joined representatives from RVO, Netherlands Water Partnership, ZOA, Dorcas, the Netherlands Red Cross, VEI, WorldWaterNet, WaterWorx, and other partners across the humanitarian, technical, and private sectors.
Conversations focused on connecting Ukraine’s understanding of community needs with Dutch technical expertise, institutional capacity and private sector solutions, as well as exploring new partnerships and financing instruments.
Separate strategic meetings were held with the Cordaid team to explore a shift from project-based cooperation to a broader partnership spanning early recovery, WASH, resilience, joint fundraising, private sector engagement, and advocacy. One direction under consideration is developing #WASHinWAR into an international platform that brings together Caritas Ukraine, the wider Caritas network, public institutions, technical experts, and businesses around water security and Ukraine’s recovery.
‘We deeply value our partnership with Cordaid and the openness of our Dutch colleagues towards Ukraine,’ said Olha Sydii, Coordinator of the #WASHinWAR advocacy campaign. ‘This visit once again demonstrated that effective recovery cannot be achieved by one sector alone. Our task is to build connections between government, civil society, the expert community, and business, so Ukraine’s needs can meet international expertise, technologies, and resources and be transformed into concrete solutions for communities. This is exactly the approach we want to continue developing through #WASHinWAR.’
Looking Ahead
The visit confirmed strong international interest and the potential for new partnerships to rebuild Ukraine’s water infrastructure. In 2027, Caritas Ukraine plans to continue developing #WASHinWAR as an open platform for partnership and advocacy, bringing together the experience and capacity of partners from the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom and other countries to support the right to water and Ukraine’s sustainable recovery.
From the budgetary documents released yesterday at the start of the Dutch parliamentary year, it has become clear that Dutch support for Ukraine will increase. Over the next three years, the Netherlands will spend an extra 327 million euros on non-military support to Ukraine.
This proves the Netherlands’ strong commitment to rebuilding Ukraine’s heavily damaged infrastructure. Support for the water and energy sectors will be a top priority.