In 2025 the humanitarian community will require US$2.63 billion to provide multisectoral humanitarian assistance to 6 million people in Ukraine in 2025. A major component of this is the provision of food security and livelihoods support (23 per cent). Given the destruction of critical infrastructure and housing, shelter needs are the second highest cost of the response (21 per cent), followed by multipurpose cash assistance (16 per cent) and WASH (14 per cent).
Costing methodology
Clusters determined the cost of activities, taking into consideration differences in response modalities, population groups and geographic areas, as well as inflation. Sector-specific costing methodology details are provided in the cluster sections below. The clusters have defined 97 activities, of which around 80 per cent use people as the unit of measurement; other units include households, sites and assessments among others. The total cost of each activity is based on an estimated average unit cost that is multiplied by the estimated number of required units, which is guided by the number of people in need. The total financial requirement of this HNRP is the combined total of the activity costs, including the costs of associated common services provided by the Emergency Telecommunications and Logistics clusters, and Coordination and Common Services.
The 2025 HNRP retains the activity-based costing approach applied in the 2024 HNRP and the 2023 HRP. Selected activities were aligned to the identified needs, as governed by the boundaries and objectives established in the HNRP, with each activity relating to one cluster objective under a respective strategic objective. The characteristics of the response modalities were also defined, including in-kind, service, cash or voucher assistance.
To ensure activities are aligned with priority needs, the 2025 costing approach in Ukraine included the preparation of an activity-based response framework (refer to the annex, ’Activity-Based Response Framework and Monitoring Plan’). This framework will support improved coordination as it aligns activities to both strategic and cluster objectives, and defines the multi-sector approach for the delivery of interventions.
Cost effectiveness
The 2025 HNRP is based on stringent prioritization to achieve both efficiency and cost-effectiveness in addressing the most pressing humanitarian needs. By focusing on the most urgent needs and avoiding duplication, the HNRP enhances operational synergy. Multisectoral interventions and cash-based programming are prioritized, offering flexible, cost-efficient solutions tailored to people’s needs while reducing logistical expenses. Deduplication efforts via Building Blocks – a platform used to coordinate humanitarian efforts and collective assistance – are ongoing to prevent overlap between MPC, sectoral CVA for food and in-kind modalities for areas covered by the Minimum Expenditure Baskets (MEBs).
Since January 2024, 65 MPCA partners have collectively utilized Building Blocks to prevent $180 million in unintended overlaps. Strategic prioritization also streamlines coordination among stakeholders, ensuring resources are directed to front-line and hard-to-reach areas where they are most needed. Regular monitoring and data-driven adjustments ensure that resources remain aligned with evolving needs, reinforcing the HNRP’s focus on prioritized, effective delivery.
Changes in the cost of operating
The estimated funding requirement for 2025 is approximately 15 per cent lower than the 2024 requirement of $3.1 billion. However, this reduction is not proportional to the decrease in the number of people to be assisted, as inflation and rising operational costs have led to an increase in the cost-per-person in some areas of work, especially in food security and livelihoods, shelter and non-food items, and support to collective sites, as well as gender-based violence and Mine Action services. For support to collective sites, the cost-per-person rose by 139 per cent compared to 2024 due to an increase in the number of vulnerable people that partners aim to reach with specific activities, such as winter support and site monitoring, which was not adequately prioritized in 2024, and the introduction of new activities for winter response in collective sites in 2025. For Mine Action, a 38 per cent rise in cost-per-person is reported, while food assistance has seen a 30 per cent increase. The Shelter/NFI Cluster has recorded a 19 per cent increase and for GBV related actions a 14 per cent rise is reported.