A Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions’ (WFCU) short-term grant program allowed two Ukrainian credit unions to continue operating and serving their communities despite the June 6 destruction of the Kakhovka Dam that caused mass flooding and water supply issues across the southeast portion of the country.

The dam, which blew up amid Russia’s full-scale war, first caused major flooding primarily in Kherson Oblast, threatening water supplies, sanitation and sewage systems there and in some areas of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. People in towns and villages that had relied on water from the now empty Kakhovka Reservoir had to deal with a lack of drinking and technical water at their homes and offices. Credit unions were no exception. 

Two All-Ukrainian Credit Union Association (AUCUA) member credit unions located in Marhanets and Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, have since faced central water supply and drinking water shortages, which impeded the normal work of their credit union offices.

To address this, WFCU cooperated with AUCUA and the USAID/WOCCU Credit for Agriculture Producers (CAP) Project to design a short-term grant program to finance the purchase of drinking and technical water, as well as water storage equipment for the affected credit unions.

As a result, Credit Unions Alternatyva and Yednannia Cherez Pryrodnyi Zakon purchased a total of nearly 7,000 liters of drinking water, along with dozens of water pumps and other water storage equipment to ensure their head offices and branches can continue operations and serve their members and communities.

“For over two months already, we have to spend the lion's share of our time in lines for water. Thanks to the assistance provided by the Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions, we were able to purchase supplies of drinking water and containers for its storage. Many thanks from the entire credit union team for your help, for not leaving us alone with difficulties,” said Mykola Tryfonov, CEO of Credit Union "Yednannia Cherez Pryrodnyi Zakon".