At least one million women and girls lose access to critical support as aid cuts dismantle women’s organizations working in humanitarian crises
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A new UN Women report finds that 84 per-cent of women’s organizations report that demand for their services has increased since January 2025, while nearly nine in 10 can no longer meet current levels of need – the result of the steepest annual decline in official development assistance on record
New York/Geneva, 10 July 2026 – As armed conflicts reach highest levels in 80 years, organizations providing life-saving services to women and girls are running out of money. Beyond the Breaking Point, a new UN Women report published today on the impact of aid cuts, finds that at least one million women and girls have lost access to critical support since January 2025. The report is based on responses from 855 women-led and women’s rights organizations across 52 crisis-and conflict-affected countries.
“The women’s organizations at risk of being shut down are on the frontlines of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. 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. Every dollar withdrawn from women’s organizations is a dollar withdrawn from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, displaced mothers, girls forced from school, and communities struggling to survive”, said Sofia Calltorp,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 Chief of Humanitarian Action.
The collapse of women’s organizations is happening as needs reach historic levels. Some 120 million women and girls require humanitarian assistance and protection worldwide and 84 per cent of women’s organizations surveyed report that demand for their services has increased since January 2025. Nearly nine in 10 say they can no longer meet current levels of need. Two in five organizations surveyed expect to shut down, temporarily or permanently, within the next year.