One million women lose aid access due to funding cuts, UN Women says

At least one million women and girls have lost access to life-saving support within the last year due to global donor aid cuts, a new United Nations report on Friday found.

Nearly nine in 10 women’s organisations can no longer meet the needs on the ground despite a large increase in demand since January last year, following the steepest drop in aid funding on record, the UN Women report found.

The Trump administration slashed billions of dollars in foreign assistance this year, while other major international donors have also reduced aid budgets due to fiscal pressures and increased defence spending. The United States had previously been the world's largest aid donor.

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Some 120 million women and girls require humanitarian assistance and protection worldwide. However, 40% of the 855 women's organisations surveyed in countries such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Haiti are at risk of shutting down temporarily or permanently within the next year due to a shortage of funds, the report found.

The majority of organisations surveyed said they can no longer meet current levels of need, with 60% saying they are reaching fewer women and girls than they did before January 2025, despite a surge in demand for their services.

The reduction is creating critical gaps in humanitarian coverage, the report said, as these organisations are sometimes the only actors able to reach women and girls in need.

“Every dollar withdrawn from women’s organisations is a dollar withdrawn from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, displaced mothers, girls forced from school, and communities struggling to survive," said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women Chief of Humanitarian Action.

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65% of women-led organisations say their staff are working without pay to keep services running, while half have introduced waiting lists or are having to turn away women and girls. More than three-quarters say they've cut staff roles.

As cases of conflict-related sexual violence doubled last year, 62% of organisations say that safe spaces are no longer available or have been reduced due to cuts, and there has also been a reduction in gender-based violence case management services.

UN Women said the financing cuts were part of a broader gender backlash, with one-fifth of organisations suspending work advancing women’s leadership and gender equality.