Over the past two years, I’ve been involved with the Cleveland Maidan Association, working with Ukrainian health policy actors to ensure critical interventions reach the communities most affected by displacement and systemic strain. One pattern that’s emerged is that small, well-coordinated volunteer-led initiatives can have outsized impact when paired with local policy engagement, even under conditions of extreme resource scarcity.

I’m curious about the broader implications: in contexts where international aid is constrained, what are the most effective ways to balance immediate life-saving interventions with investments in sustainable systems-building? Are there frameworks or case studies that help prioritize between short-term impact and long-term capacity building in these high-stakes environments?