Nairobi, Kenya — The world is facing increasing inequalities, crises, and needs, which are undermining the support available to millions of people. Global experts have warned that funding gaps and uneven political will threaten progress in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Reduced budgets, restrictive policies, and rising anti-gender movements are increasingly putting gender equality and sustainable development at risk.
Often, when donor governments scale back international commitments, funding for gender equality and women’s rights is among the first to disappear, compromising a vulnerable landscape for feminist organisations. As a result, services in adolescent health, reproductive care, and maternal health are being scaled back, exposing the real human cost of the global funding crisis.
In the panel discussion Unpacking the Funding Crisis – Feminist Perspectives on Global Aid Cuts and Domestic Alternatives, Irene Ogeta of the Athena Network warned that stop-work orders are undermining critical services for Girls and Women across Africa; Lucy Minayo of Amplify Girls talked about how funding cuts are deepening vulnerabilities and underlining the urgent need for stronger domestic financing; and Tendai Kunyelesa of DAWA outlined the disproportionate toll these aid reductions are taking on women and marginalized communities in rural and disaster-affected areas.
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Ogeta warned that the U.S. stop-work order, combined with sharp funding cuts from other major donors, including the UK, France, the Netherlands, and Canada, has had devastating consequences for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa.
“From our assessment across 13 countries, it was clear that HIV prevention and treatment services were halted, safe centres were shut down, and ARVs were being hoarded. These were lifelines for young women, and suddenly they disappeared,” she said. The findings showed that critical HIV prevention and treatment services were halted, ARVs were being hoarded, and safe centres for survivors of gender-based violence were closing down, many of which relied heavily on U.S. government funding.
“This is not just a U.S. problem. The UK, France, the Netherlands, and even Canada cut their resources,” she said. “These decisions are threatening to dismantle essential health and community systems and leave millions of adolescent girls and young women extremely vulnerable.”
Ogeta said the funding cuts have triggered a rise in new HIV infections, disrupted continuity of care, and fuelled increased stigma toward AGYW living with HIV. She said that gender inequality has deepened, with girls facing growing socioeconomic hardship, school disruptions, and a lack of access to accurate information previously provided through community-based organisations. Mental health needs are rising sharply, yet support services have disappeared because the staff and organisations that offered them can no longer operate.
She said that the crisis extends beyond health, affecting education, safety, self-care, and community support systems. “We need governments to increase domestic resources, ensure uninterrupted access to HIV prevention and treatment, and invest in local drug production,” said Ogeta. She urged international organisations and donors to sustain flexible funding for SRHR, HIV, GBV, and mental health sectors she said have been deprioritised for far too long.
“The private sector, too, must step in. We cannot work in silos. We need solidarity to support adolescent girls and young women who are being left behind,” said Ogeta.
“This isn’t just a funding crisis, it’s a justice crisis.”
Minayo of Amplify Girls, a network of more than 40 NGOs reaching over 300,000 girls annually across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Malawi, warned that global aid cuts are undermining the very programmes that build girls’ agency and support vulnerable communities. She described the current moment as not only a funding crisis but a justice crisis, exposing long-standing inequities in whose voices matter and how resources are distributed.
“These cuts are sweeping across the continent and pulling the rug from under the very programmes that support millions of girls. And we must be clear – this isn’t just a funding crisis, it’s a justice crisis,” said Minayo. “When aid is cut, it’s not spreadsheets that change. It’s girls being pulled out of school. It’s women losing access to maternal health care. It’s grassroots feminist organisations struggling to keep their doors open.”
“This crisis exposes the deep inequalities in how resources are distributed and whose voices are prioritised,” she said.
Aid cuts of up to 50% in sectors like education, she said, are not abstract numbers; they translate directly into lost futures and deepening poverty. Philanthropy, she said, cannot fill the widening gap.
Aid dependency has never been sustainable.
She said that domestic financing must become a core strategy for resilience, allowing countries to break cycles of aid dependency and invest in systems that are accountable to local priorities.
“Aid dependency has never been sustainable. This is our chance to reimagine how development is funded. Many NGOs are moving away from a single donor and cultivating mixed revenue streams, government, business, communities, and social enterprises,” she said. Minayo also pointed to innovative models, such as environmentally driven enterprises, community-based fundraising, and CSR partnerships, as evidence that domestic resources can sustain impact when international aid falters.
“Domestic financing is not just a solution, it’s actually a necessity… creating systems that are resilient to external shocks and that enable us to allocate resources in ways that dismantle inequality rather than defend it,” she said.
“We need to rethink how we operate, less competition, more collaboration,” said Minayo. “Funding is increasingly going to networks, movements, coalitions, and yes, even mergers. It requires humility and boldness, but it makes us stronger.” She said that governments ultimately hold responsibility for delivering health, education, and social protection, and civil society must continue advocating for adequate budgeting, tax justice, and stronger public financing.
“Let’s explore domestic financing options… We have a chance to rethink how we do our work and still be relevant, but to play the role we were set up to play,” said Minayo.
Overarching impact on displaced rural women
Kunyelesa of DAWA said foreign aid cuts are having a “devastating and disproportionate” impact on displaced women and marginalised rural communities, particularly those already affected by climate-related disasters. Citing Zimbabwe as an example, she explained that many women and girls have been relocated to areas with almost no services, often relying on a single, overstretched facility for all health needs.
“Now we no longer have those transport costs, why should I even go there?”
She said that the closure or drastic scaling-back of outreach programmes has turned a manageable journey into a 10-kilometre walk, meaning most adolescent girls and young women simply stop accessing HIV testing, treatment, or contraception altogether. She added that long distances, stigma, and lack of transportation mean rising HIV infections and unintended pregnancies.
Kunyelesa said the cuts have also forced organisations to halt critical community-based programs, including self-care groups that provided safe spaces, psychosocial support, and basic transport stipends. Without even minimal support, like bus fare or refreshments, young women no longer attend sessions, and some choose to save their last dollar for contraceptives rather than travel to a clinic where they fear being judged by community members or health workers.
“We were supporting adolescent girls to create safe spaces and discuss issues… We were covering transport costs and refreshments. Now, because we no longer have funding, we can’t continue those discussions. Girls ask themselves: ‘If there is no transport money, why should I even go?'” She warned that the loss of funding is stripping away essential spaces for dignity, safety, and autonomy, leaving already vulnerable women “even more exposed and unsupported.”
Kunyelesa added that foreign aid cuts have also forced critical facilities to introduce user fees, further shutting out the poorest and youngest women. She highlighted the example of a PSI-supported clinic that once provided free services to underage girls, young women, and survivors of sexual violence but now charges fees to stay afloat. As a result, far fewer girls can access care, contributing to rising cases of sexual violence, maternal mortality, and untreated health needs.
She said that displaced women now live in overcrowded rural settlements where job losses and school dropouts are becoming common. “We are now seeing an increase in sexual violence, maternal mortality, and limited access to education and economic opportunities. These communities are overcrowded, people have lost their jobs, and many girls have dropped out of school. The cases of gender-based violence have also gone up,” she said.
Limited access to education is so severe, she said, that some girls cannot write their names or a simple sentence, making it difficult for organisations to run empowerment or skills-building programmes. Facilitators often have to translate everything into local languages and adapt activities because participants cannot complete written reflections or action plans. “Women-led organisations are trying to prioritise sustainability and address these critical challenges,” she said. “Adolescent girls and young women, especially those in disaster-stricken communities, must be able to access information and fully participate. They are often the ones left behind.”
Kunyelesa also said that their initiative uses sports tournaments as a strategy to engage communities on issues like gender-based violence and economic empowerment. She said that in their context, domestic violence is often normalized and ignored, making direct discussions challenging. By using sports as an entry point and providing incentives, they are able to attract community leaders, men, boys, and young women to discuss these topics in a participatory way.
Reclaiming power through feminist economic justice
Nicole Maloba from FEMNET discussed why feminist economic justice is the missing core of the funding-crisis conversation.
“When I say economic justice, it means we are talking about whose pregnancies are safe, whose abortions are safe or unsafe, whose gender identity is criminalized or recognized, and who can make decisions about their body without fear, violence, or poverty standing in the way,” she said.
“These policies often push women into more and more debt.”
She criticised the global obsession with micro-credit and women’s “empowerment” loans, arguing that these schemes divert attention from macroeconomic decision-making while trapping women in debt cycles that force them to subsidise failing public services themselves. She said that research in Uganda and Kenya found that women are using the very money they borrow to start businesses to pay for the public services governments should be providing health care, privatised education, and sending children to private instead of public schools.
Maloba distinguished between neutral “gender” approaches and explicitly feminist ones, insisting that only the latter can trace today’s crises back to colonial extraction and demand that leaders finally use Africa’s natural-resource wealth to fund public services for women, girls, and marginalised communities.
“Economic justice is not a silent conversation against other public services,” she said. “Money controls, directs, and positions power. If we are serious about justice, we have to address how economic structures shape women’s autonomy, health, and opportunities.”
“Even the easiest service, psychosocial support, was affected.”
Leila Marie Mutoni highlighted the severe impact of reduced aid on girls’ and young women’s health services in Burundi. She said that while 90% of healthcare funding comes from the national budget, political crises in 2016 led countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, and the European Union to cut or suspend aid, leaving the health sector severely underfunded. As a result, access to contraception for adolescent girls became extremely limited, and clinical care for survivors of sexual violence was stopped. “Girls often had to care for themselves because society does not understand their experiences, and receiving support as a social worker is extremely challenging,” she said.
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She said that psychosocial support, which is one of the simplest services, was also affected. “The government doesn’t have platforms for it, so we have to rely on local NGOs. But when the government itself is constrained and culturally limited, it becomes very difficult for NGOs to provide effective services,” she added.
Mutoni revealed that unsafe, illegal abortion has become one of the leading causes of imprisonment for adolescent girls and young women in Burundi. About 40% of girls and women in prisons or rehabilitation centers are there because of abortions. These young women also do not have access to education in these facilities, which only deepens their vulnerability.
No respect for women’s bodies
“If you’re not able to access contraception services, you’ll get an unintended pregnancy. If you don’t want to keep that baby and can’t get safe abortion services, you’ll seek unsafe ones. If you seek unsafe ones and don’t die, you’ll still die. That’s how the system works; there is no respect for women’s lives or bodies,” said Nancy Barasa of Zamaan Foundation.
“Girls have to exchange sex to get water in Katiado. Girls have to walk long distances to get things like water and even facilities… If you do not want to keep that baby and you need to seek safe abortion services and you’re not able to get them, you’ll end up dying. The way in which this system is working is that there’s no respect for women’s lives. There’s no respect for women’s bodies.”
Barasa said that austerity, rising living costs, and systemic underfunding of public health services are creating a severe crisis for young women and girls in Kenya. She said that access to contraception, maternal health services, and safe abortion care is extremely limited, particularly in rural counties and informal settlements.
“In Kajiado, girls have to exchange sex to get water. Girls have to exchange sex to get pads,” she said.
She stressed that the government’s failure to prioritize sexual and reproductive health, combined with weak accountability, leaves NGOs overburdened, perpetuating inequality and putting girls’ lives at risk.
“When there’s a crisis, sexual and reproductive rights are the first line item money is taken from… It’s not seen as a disaster until girls start dying in droves from unsafe abortions and cervical cancer,” she said. “The money leaving Africa for debt, for climate reparations we never receive, for illicit financial flows that money could prevent every single sexual and reproductive offence happening to girls right now.”