EMBRACE Advisory Platform – Solidarity Package for Ukraine

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United Nations estimate that more than 6 million people have fled the country to seek safety, protection and assistance.

EU Member States bordering Ukraine have been severely impacted by the influx of persons fleeing the invasion and have had to adjust quickly to provide shelter and assistance to refugees.

What is EMBRACE?

The EMBRACE Advisory Platform is a new initiative which complements the Solidarity package developed by the European Investment Bank for EU Member States in response to the conflict in Ukraine. EMBRACE aims to help European Union Member States to better address the needs of Ukrainian refugees and host communities.

Through EMBRACE, EU Member States can receive advisory assistance to rapidly deploy investment projects, financial instruments and platforms to support their communities in the short, medium and long term.

What does EMBRACE offer?

EMBRACE offers advisory services, capacity building and knowledge transfer throughout all stages of the project cycle, in line with the policy goals of the InvestEU programme, JASPERS and fi-compass initiatives.

Each EMBRACE advisory assignment is tailored to the specific needs of the projects to integrate the refugee population and may include:

Identification and generation of projects

Pre-feasibility, demand and option analysis based on the growth in the population;
Identification of special characteristics required for a specific population cohort;
Identification of the most appropriate solutions for social investment planning via municipal infrastructure investments.

Project preparation, development and implementation support

Needs assessment to integrate refugees in multiple schemes, such as:

housing
education and integration of refugee children in host schools,
support to women, children and other vulnerable groups,
health services and strategies for the progressive integration of migrants, and,
health outbreak prevention measures, etc

Studies and project documentation, such as:

Feasibility studies, technical design and specification, project restructuring, risk assessments and financial viability advice to respond to population increase;
Cost-benefit analysis, value for money project design and delivery
Environmental/social impact assessment (including gender analysis and plans), climate risk and vulnerability assessment
Project preparation for financing requests, assessment and optimisation of EU funding sources,
Advice on financing structures, project aggregation and risk allocation;
Support to procurement strategies including the use of PPP models; project control systems including contract management and technical assistance in monitoring the progress of the projects.

Capacity building and awareness raising

Training, workshops and bilateral training sessions to help public project promoters, in particular municipalities and regions, to plan, develop and implement investment projects and build project pipelines.
Workshops and training sessions for financial intermediaries to strengthen internal capacities to support operations and deal flow generation including understanding the different business models and sectors.
Development of IT tools to check project eligibility, measure impact and monitor/reporting on investments.

Financial instrument and investment platform advisory support

Microfinance support including personal loans for refugees to find housing and employment; and business loans to support entrepreneurship.
Impact investment schemes for social enterprises to extend their services targeting the healthcare and social needs of the migrant population.
SME finance schemes to help businesses working with Russian and Belarusian counterparts to address liquidity issues generated by the sanctions.
Blending opportunities where the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) resources may be used via grants to support projects financed by EU shared management financial instruments or by International Financial Institutions (IFIs), such as the EIB Group and/or the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB).
Knowledge-sharing support via the fi-compass platform on EU financial instruments.

Social Outcomes Contracting (SOC) advice

Advice on the use of Social Outcomes Contracting (SOC). Find out more about SOC here: Advisory Platform for Social Outcomes Contracting (eib.org)

The services of EMBRACE are provided by EIB experts and external consultants, when relevant. EMBRACE does not provide grant funding or loans, but may facilitate access to EU funding such as Cohesion´s Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), European Social Fund (ESF), Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU) and other funding sources. The support provided by EMBRACE does not guarantee the approval of funding from these sources.

Who can benefit from EMBRACE?

Public sector promoters and public authorities: cities, local authorities, regional administrations, managing authorities responsible for EU funds.
Financial institutions: commercial banks, National Promotional Banks & Institutions, funds managers that finance and/or implement relevant financing and investment operations for the benefit of refugee and host communities.

What are the sectors in which EMBRACE can help?

EMBRACE provides support in high impact sectors and where the greatest needs for advisory services have been identified for Ukrainian migrants and host communities. These include:

Social and affordable housing
Health care infrastructure and services
Regional and urban development
Education, vocational training and recreational infrastructure and services
Integration of gender dimension

Digitalisation and innovative infrastructures:
Clean energy transition
Energy security, energy efficiency and integration of renewables
Economic development
Impact investing, social innovation and SOC

How to contact us

Interested project promoters are invited to contact us by sending an email detailing their project to eib-advisory@eib.org. EIB Group clients can also approach their EIB counterparts to enquire about EMBRACE. JASPERS beneficiaries can also access EMBRACE in the context of their Country Work Program discussions and through the normal means of identification of new assignments.

When contacting us, please tell us more about your organization and your investment project. If possible, please indicate the specific social aspects you aim to address with your project (for example housing, health care, education or economic development).

Public sector promoters and financial intermediaries can receive advisory services at no cost.