Finland’s development cooperation in Ukraine

Finland’s bilateral cooperation with Ukraine focuses on improving the quality of teaching, strengthening the rule of law, reinforcing energy security and improving climate resilience.

Finland has supported Ukraine through long-term development cooperation since 2014. Following the start of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, Finland has increased and adjusted its support to respond better to the acute distress and strengthen Ukrainian society in the midst of the war.

Ukraine has requested support from Finland, particularly to meet the immediate and longer-term needs related to education, the environment, and radiation safety. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs prepares Finland’s support to Ukraine in cooperation with other branches of government. 

Finland has allocated EUR 58 million for the implementation of the Country Programme and for humanitarian work in Ukraine in 2024. This will make Ukraine Finland’s biggest partner country in development cooperation.

Finland’s overall support to Ukraine was more than EUR 70 million in 2014–2021. Since Russia launched its full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, Finland has provided around EUR 3.1 billion in funding to Ukraine through development cooperation, humanitarian assistance, material assistance and defence materiel assistance.

Finland’s development cooperation to improve the quality of teaching and strengthen the rule of law

Finland’s development cooperation will improve teaching practices and educational environments, enhance the attractiveness of vocational education and training and strengthen the implementation of the European standards related to the rule of law, democracy and human rights.

Further support for the education sector for the 2024–2027 period is currently being planned.

Goal: The reforms to improve teaching practices and to strengthen the rule of law are successful

  • Educational practices and environments in primary and secondary education improve

  • Vocational education and training is more attractive as an alternative to both men and women

  • The implementation of the European standards concerning the rule of law, democracy and human rights is strengthened

Ongoing projects and programmes

  • Finland provides EUR 20 million in funding for a bilateral project to further develop secondary education in 2025–2028. The project starts in 2025.
  • The Finnish National Agency for Education implements a project to support vocational education and training in Ukraine, for which Finland has allocated EUR 2.2 million, in 2024–2026. The Finnish National Agency for Education and the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science have planned an institutional cooperation project that will focus on further developing vocational education and training by providing training to teachers and school managers and developing special competence in the field.
  • The Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine. Finland’s support totals EUR 4 million in 2024–2025.
  • Partnership Fund for Resilient Ukraine. Finland’s support for the fund amounts to EUR 4.3 million in 2022–2024, and there are plans for further funding.
  • Funding for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE’s) projects in Ukraine. Finland’s funding totals EUR 3 million in 2024–2025.
  • The World Bank’s Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance (PEACE) Project that helps the Ukrainian government pay the wages of public-service and school employees and sustain the public sector’s ability to deliver public and basic services. Finland’s support to PEACE totals EUR 35 million in 2022–2025.
  • The World Bank’s Special Program for Ukraine and Moldova Recovery (SPUR) aims to improve the capacity of the Ukrainian government to provide basic public services and to restore critical infrastructure, implement policy reforms and accelerate long-term recovery and reconstruction in key sectors. Finland provides a total of EUR 62 million in support for the programme through loans and grants.
  • Finland supports the European Investment Bank’s (EIB’s) EU for Ukraine (EU4U) Fund by EUR 5 million. The EU4U Fund complements both the EU’s funding allocated to Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction and EU macro-financial assistance. The fund is used to support Ukraine’s convergence with the EU and finance the reconstruction of municipal infrastructure.
  • Support of EUR 1 million is provided for the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) Ukraine Capacity Development Fund (UCDF) in 2024–2027. The fund supports the Ukrainian government’s own policies and economic reform agenda, which focuses on macro-financial stabilisation, post-war reconstruction and Ukraine’s path to EU membership.
  • At Ukraine’s request, Finland has delivered temporary family homes to Ukrainians who have lost their homes in the war and mobile accommodation facilities for rescue personnel.

Finland’s development cooperation to improve energy security and climate resilience

Finland’s development cooperation supports modern climate-friendly energy solutions and improves meteorological services and early warning systems for disaster risks. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has led to large-scale destruction of Ukraine’s energy production plants and power grid.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Environment are preparing measures to support Ukraine’s environmental sector immediately and in the longer term. Finland co-chairs the working group tasked with environmental goals of Ukraine’s peace plan.

Goal: Energy security and climate resilience improve

  • Modern technologies and solutions that are energy efficient and rely on renewable energy are introduced on a larger scale

  • Meteorological and nuclear safety services and mechanisms for reducing disaster risks are improved

  • Measurement technology for assessing war-induced environmental damage improve and environmental legislation and its implementation evolve

Ongoing projects and programmes

  • The Green Recovery Programme for Ukraine, administered by the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (Nefco), for rebuilding infrastructure and introducing modern energy-efficient solutions. Finland’s support of EUR 5 million is used to rebuild school buildings destroyed by war.
  • The Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Finland’s support to the E5P totals EUR 7.5 million.
  • Meteorology cooperation between the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center. Finland’s support totals EUR 2.35 million in 2022–2025.
  • Cooperation between the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the Finnish Environment Institute and the Ukrainian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources in monitoring air and water quality and terrestrial ecosystems. Finland’s support to these two projects totals EUR 4 million in 2024–2028.
  • EUR 2.5 million has been allocated to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) for measures such as assessing the environmental impacts of the war and for planning reconstruction in 2024–2026.
  • Cooperation between Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Ukraine and Nordic radiation safety authorities to improve radiation and nuclear safety. Finland supports this cooperation with around EUR 1 million in 2023–2025.

Highlights of the Results Report 2023

Finland has significantly increased its support to Ukraine since Russia launched its war of aggression against the country. In 2023, Finland supported Ukraine especially in repairing war damage and in providing basic public services, such as education. Ukraine was granted EU candidate country status in June 2022, and EU leaders decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine in December 2023.

During the year, Finland supported the basic functions of the Ukrainian administration through the World Bank. This partly enabled up to 90 per cent of schools in Ukraine to continue their activities. The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine carried on the school reform. With Finland’s support, the reform focused on training teachers and principals, increasing awareness of the reform among education professionals and citizens, and updating standards related to vocational education and training and curricula. Training was provided to teachers and textbook writers in accordance with the revised principles, and the number of persons trained surpassed the targets that had been set. Although the number of vocational educational institutions offering apprenticeship training decreased, the number of students remained unchanged. This indicated a demand in the labour market for persons who have vocational qualifications. 

Towards the end of 2023, the radiation safety authorities of Ukraine and Finland began cooperation to improve Ukraine’s radiation and nuclear safety capacity, and the Finnish Environment Institute and Finnish Meteorological Institute started preparing projects to repair war-induced environmental damage together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Finnish Meteorological Institute conducted a study on the environmental impact of the war and in late 2023 carried out the final tests to connect Ukraine to the European weather warning system.