UN Women Says Aid Cuts Leave One Million Without Critical Support
GENEVA-At least one million women and girls have lost access to life-saving assistance over the past year as sweeping reductions in international humanitarian funding force women-led organizations to scale back or suspend services, UN Women said in a report released on Friday.
The report found that nearly nine in 10 women’s organizations surveyed are no longer able to meet growing humanitarian needs, despite demand for their services rising sharply since January 2025. The agency described the funding decline as the steepest drop in aid financing on record.
The cuts follow significant reductions in foreign assistance by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which scaled back billions of dollars in overseas aid this year. Other major donor countries have also reduced humanitarian budgets amid fiscal pressures and increased defense spending. The United States had previously been the world’s largest provider of foreign aid.
UN Women estimated that about 120 million women and girls worldwide currently require humanitarian assistance and protection. The report surveyed 855 women-led organizations operating in countries including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti.
According to the findings, 40% of those organizations are at risk of temporarily or permanently shutting down within the next year because of funding shortages. The agency warned that the closures could leave significant gaps in humanitarian assistance, particularly in communities where local women’s organizations are the only groups able to reach vulnerable populations.
The report also found that 60% of surveyed organizations are assisting fewer women and girls than before January 2025, despite increasing demand for support. Many organizations reported being forced to reduce or suspend essential services because available funding no longer matches humanitarian needs.
“Every dollar withdrawn from women’s organizations is a dollar withdrawn from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, displaced mothers, girls forced from school, and communities struggling to survive,” Sofia Calltorp, UN Women’s Chief of Humanitarian Action, said in the report.
Financial pressures have also affected staffing and operations. Sixty-five percent of organizations surveyed said employees were continuing to work without pay to maintain services, while half reported introducing waiting lists or turning away women and girls seeking assistance. More than three-quarters said they had eliminated staff positions.
UN Women said the funding reductions were particularly affecting services for survivors of gender-based violence. The report noted that conflict-related sexual violence cases doubled last year, while 62% of organizations said safe spaces for women and girls had either been reduced or closed because of budget cuts. Organizations also reported scaling back gender-based violence case management services.
Beyond emergency assistance, the report said funding shortages were limiting efforts to promote women’s leadership and gender equality. One in five organizations surveyed said they had suspended activities focused on advancing women’s participation and rights.
UN Women said the findings highlighted the growing strain on frontline organizations as humanitarian needs continue to rise while international financial support declines.
