The steepest annual decline in foreign aid on record has left at least one million women and girls without access to humanitarian and other critical support over the past 18 months, according to a new report by UN Women. The agency found that 84% of women-led organizations reported increased demand for their services since January 2025, when President Donald Trump implemented sweeping cuts to US foreign aid.
Women's Organizations at Breaking Point
Nearly nine in ten organizations surveyed said they can no longer meet current levels of need, and two in five expect to shut down temporarily or permanently within the next year. The report, based on responses from 855 women-led and women's rights organizations across 52 crisis-affected countries, highlights the devastating impact of funding reductions.
“The women's organizations at risk of being shut down are on the frontlines of the world's most severe humanitarian crises,” said Sofia Calltorp, chief of humanitarian action at UN Women. “In countries including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti, they operate where international actors cannot and stay long after global attention has moved on.”
Funding Cuts Hit Hard
The report comes as humanitarian agencies grapple with deep funding reductions from multiple donors, including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, in addition to the US. Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) cited in the report shows a historic decline in foreign aid between 2024 and 2025, with the US alone driving three-quarters of the drop. US foreign assistance fell by more than 50% in 2025 compared to 2024.
Since returning to office, the Trump administration cut billions in US foreign aid and dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID). By May 2025, US support for UN humanitarian programs stood at $3.8 billion across 21 countries, a fraction of previous contributions.
White House Defends Cuts
A senior White House administration official defended the cuts, stating that “the United States provides more foreign aid than any country in the world” and that aid would be delivered “with more accountability, strategy and efficiency.” The official added, “It is imperative to remember that the American taxpayer was never meant to bear the full burden of taking care of every person on Earth.”
Rising Poverty and Violence
The report reveals that 92% of organizations have seen rising poverty among the women they serve, while 82% reported more girls dropping out of school. Conflict-related sexual violence doubled in 2025, “just as the systems designed to protect survivors are collapsing,” the report warns.
“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,” Calltorp said.
Call for Sustained Investment
UN Women called for “sustained investment in women's organizations as indispensable first responders, defenders of women's rights, and the foundation of peace and recovery.” The agency warned that without immediate action, the organizations keeping women and girls alive through the world's worst crises risk becoming another casualty of war.
