A Year of Harms: The Global Impact of Humanitarian Funding Cuts on Women and Girls

In early 2025, the United States government abruptly instituted multi-billion-dollar cuts to US foreign assistance funding. As the world’s largest foreign aid donor, these unprecedented cuts threw an already overstretched humanitarian system into chaos, and were further compounded by foreign assistance reductions by other major funding countries.

For women and girls, who face unique harms and risks in humanitarian crises, the impacts have been particularly acute. Maternal healthcare programs have shut down, schools have closed, and safe spaces can no longer operate. For millions of vulnerable women and girls around the world, support systems have collapsed, and lifelines have disappeared – leaving them more exposed to violence, exploitation, and abuse. Despite these constraints, women, girls, and women-led organizations living in crises have been forced to rapidly adapt in order to survive harsh new realities.

Join us for a panel discussion to explore how global funding cuts have harmed women and girls in humanitarian crises – drawing on new research by UN Women, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and the Women’s Refugee Commission, and direct testimonials from local women leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Ukraine.