UN Women Reports 1 Million Women and Girls Cut Off from Life-Saving Aid Amid Global Funding Crisis
Key Insights
At least 1 million women and girls have lost access to humanitarian and critical support due to global aid budget cuts over the last 18 months, according to UN Women (search).
A survey of 855 women's organizations across 52 countries found that 90% cannot meet current needs, and one in five expect to shut down within the next year.
Conflict-related sexual violence has doubled in the past year, yet 62% of organizations report no longer having safe spaces or gender-based violence services.
At least 1 million women and girls have been cut off from life-saving humanitarian and critical support over the last 18 months as a result of sweeping global aid budget cuts, according to new findings published Friday by UN Women (search), the United Nations agency focused on gender equality and women's empowerment.
The report, based on a survey of 855 women's organizations operating across 52 vulnerable countries—including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, and Afghanistan—paints a stark picture of a sector in crisis. Nearly 90% of the groups surveyed said they can no longer meet current levels of need, and one in five reported they expect to shut down temporarily or permanently within the next year.
"Every dollar withdrawn from women's organizations is a dollar withdrawn from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, displaced mothers, girls forced from school and communities struggling to survive," said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women (search)'s chief of humanitarian action, in a statement to reporters in Geneva.
Unprecedented Contraction in Global Aid
The funding crisis has been driven primarily by the United States, previously the world's largest aid donor. Since President Donald Trump's administration took office in January 2025, Washington has slashed billions in foreign aid and dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID (search)). According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD (search)), US foreign aid dropped by more than 50% as a result.
Other major donors, including Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, have also reduced their contributions, largely due to domestic fiscal pressures and increased demands for defense spending. The OECD (search) recently reported that overall development assistance fell by nearly a quarter last year to $174 billion—the largest yearly contraction on record.
UN Women (search) noted that 84% of women's organizations surveyed reported increased needs since January 2025, coinciding with the onset of the US funding reductions.
Services Collapsing as Demand Surges
The survey findings reveal a deepening gap between rising demand and shrinking capacity. Sixty percent of organizations said they were reaching fewer women and girls since last January despite increased needs. Half reported having to place people on waiting lists or turn women and girls away entirely. Nearly all respondents said the women they served were getting poorer and girls were dropping out of school.
The situation is particularly dire for survivors of gender-based violence. UN Women (search) reported that conflict-related sexual violence doubled in the past year, yet 62% of organizations surveyed said they no longer have safe spaces and have been forced to reduce gender-based violence services.
"UN Women (search) has spoken to 855 women's organizations working in 52 countries, who have told us that these women and girls have been turned away due to funding cuts that are dismantling their organizations," Calltorp said. "We know that this number, at least 1 million women and girls, is just the tip of the iceberg."
Organizations at Risk of Collapse
Forty percent of the surveyed organizations face temporary or permanent shutdowns within the next year due to insufficient funding. Many UN organizations have already cut thousands of jobs and reduced aid programs around the world over the last 18 months in response to the funding shortfalls from the United States and other top donors.
"The women's organizations at risk of being shut down are on the frontlines of the world's most severe humanitarian crises," Calltorp emphasized. "Without immediate action, the organizations that have kept women and girls alive through the world's worst crises risk becoming another casualty of war."