'They will die': Foreign aid cuts hit women and girls the hardest as NGOs face closure

Young girls are denied an acquisition and forced into kid labour aliases early marriage, pregnant women successful exile camps person to springiness commencement without a midwife, female survivors of rape, activity workers and HIV patients are near without shelter aliases support.

These are not hypothetical scenarios aliases stark warnings, but nan existent and existent impacts of monolithic overseas assistance cuts connected NGOs that support women and girls successful warfare and conflict zones and crisis-stricken countries ranging from Gaza to Ukraine, respective assistance groups told Euronews. 

Women-led and women’s authorities groups operating connected nan frontlines of humanitarian crises person been deed nan hardest — pinch almost half of each specified organisations expecting to unopen down wrong six months owed to a deficiency of funding, warned a caller report by UN Women.

A study it conducted successful March of 411 women-led and women's authorities organisations crossed 44 countries besides recovered that astir three-quarters of nan groups had already laid disconnected unit while conscionable complete half had suspended programmes owed to backing cuts.

“Simply put, women and girls will dice from deficiency of entree to these services,” said Sabine Freizer Gunes, UN Women’s state typical successful Ukraine. “This business will worsen arsenic women’s organisations providing captious services are forced to close.”

International assistance fell successful 2024 for nan first clip successful six years, and complete nan past twelvemonth aliases so, apical philanthropist governments person announced cuts to overseas improvement assistance (ODA), including Canada, France, Germany, nan UK and nan US — nan world’s largest donor. 

The management of US President Donald Trump has dismantled nan US Agency for International Development (USAID) and slashed billions of dollars for assistance projects globally.

Only 11.1% of nan $46 cardinal (€40.6bn) required for world humanitarian needs successful 2025 has been funded, forcing nan full assistance strategy to betterment and trim back, UN Women said.

Dorothy Sang, caput of defense and argumentation astatine CARE International UK, described nan responses to UN Women's study arsenic “deeply concerning”, and said it was not conscionable a lawsuit of “abstract losses aliases numbers connected a spreadsheet”. 

“It’s astir daily, quality experience: a woman who nary longer has a safe abstraction to learn; a mother giving commencement without aesculapian support; a subsister of unit turned distant from a shelter that’s been closed,” she told Euronews. 

“The world assistance architecture is being turned connected its caput and while we of people want to spot captious assistance being restored — we request to make judge nan decisions being made correct now do not time off a bequest of demolition for women and girls,” Sang added.

‘Dire situation’

Even earlier nan caller cuts announced by starring authorities donors, humanitarian organisations worldwide were already struggling pinch an wide simplification successful ODA.

Such assistance amounted to $212 cardinal (€188bn) past year, a simplification of by 7.1% successful existent position compared to 2023, nan first driblet aft 5 years of consecutive growth, according to nan latest data from nan Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

NGOs opportunity this backing compression has been compounded by nan Trump administration’s cuts to USAID, which nan US president himself referred to past period arsenic “devastating” while saying he hoped they would spur different countries to “chip successful and walk money too”. 

The US was responsible for 38% of each world assistance backing recorded by nan UN past year. US authorities data shows that it disbursed astir $61 cardinal (€69bn) successful overseas assistance successful 2024, much than half of which came from USAID. 

Aside from nan US, 8 European countries and nan EU itself person announced aliases already implemented cuts to their overseas improvement assistance totalling immoderate €30 cardinal complete nan adjacent 4 years, recovered a recent study by Countdown 2030 Europe.

Aid cuts disproportionately impact section women-led and women's authorities groups compared pinch world NGOs and UN entities, according to UN Women’s investigation and experts.

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of nan women-led and women's authorities organisations surveyed said they person had to trim services to women and girls, and 4 successful 5 predicted that nan reductions successful overseas assistance would severely undermine entree to life-saving services.

A abstracted report released successful April by respective UN agencies including nan World Health Organization (WHO) warned that nan backing cuts were putting much pregnant women astatine risk, and yet threatening vulnerable advancement worldwide successful ending maternal deaths.

In places specified arsenic nan Democratic Republic Congo, Gaza, and Ukraine, women-led and women's authorities groups "are often nan backbone of their communities, acting arsenic first responders and providing life-saving relief,” according to Niki Ignatiou, caput of women, peace, and information astatine ActionAid UK. 

“Global North governments and donors … request to extremity overlooking nan national, section and grassroots groups that are doing nan dense lifting successful situation zones,” she told Euronews.

“We cognize from erstwhile cuts to ODA successful nan UK that successful nan contiguous aftermath of cuts, women and girls suffer most, including entree to lifesaving services," Ignatiou added.

When captious services illness during humanitarian crises, women and girls besides thin to return connected much care-related responsibilities, specified arsenic providing nutrient and h2o and looking aft nan sick, UN Women said. They are besides much apt to sacrifice their ain wellness and nutrition to put their families first, and thin to person less opportunities to gain money. 

One section women’s authorities organisation successful Ukraine, which operates solely connected money from donors, told UN Women that it was successful a “dire situation” owed to a simplification successful funding. 

“Many of our beneficiaries, women who person survived violence, HIV-positive women, erstwhile prisoners, activity workers, urgently request adjustment support and societal services, but owed to backing cuts, we tin only connection telephone consultations,” said nan NGO, which was not identified.

Women’s authorities rollback?

Faced pinch reduced funding, women-led and women’s authorities groups are trading assets and cutting operational costs — among different measures — UN Women said. Many are besides looking for caller donors aliases seeking further support from their existing backers.

Several of nan assistance experts said that humanitarian programmes for women and girls must beryllium protected and prioritised, pinch greater investments successful section women’s organisations and much elasticity complete nan backing provided successful bid to guarantee semipermanent support. 

Gunes of UN Women successful Ukraine said nan position of backing for women-led and women’s authorities groups had routinely undermined their sustainability. She highlighted really money is typically tied to circumstantial projects, which often only past for a fewer months up to a year.

“This has each kinds of implications for organisational sustainability and strategical growth,” she said, calling for donors to see elastic backing that allows women’s groups to respond successful existent clip to needs connected nan ground, alternatively of being driven by philanthropist priorities.

While nan contiguous attraction is connected protecting nan lives of women and girls, location is besides interest successful nan assistance assemblage astir nan semipermanent effect of backing cuts connected women’s rights. 

“The weakening of these organisations will rotation backmost nan gains and advancement made connected gender equality and women’s empowerment and whitethorn further embolden nan anti-gender movements,” said April Pham, main of nan gender portion astatine nan UN Office for nan Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Local women’s organisations from countries including Colombia and Cameroon told UN Women that nan dwindling backing disposable to them was a setback for women’s rights.

“Without nan beingness of women’s organisations, women will beryllium progressively neglected and their authorities will beryllium trampled on,” said 1 specified NGO successful DRC, which was not named.

At a clip erstwhile gender equality is nether sustained attack, each humanitarian actors must reenforce their commitments to women-led and women’s authorities groups, Pham said.

“We now person an opportunity to style a humanitarian reset that genuinely puts women and girls astatine nan centre — and it is clip we do it,” she added.