Funding crisis threatens to reverse gains in fight against gender-based violence
Money in dollars. Sweeping aid cuts are crippling organisations that form the backbone of efforts to end violence against women and girls, according to a UN report.
What you need to know:
- A new UN report warns that sweeping aid cuts are dismantling women’s rights organisations worldwide, threatening decades of progress in ending gender-based violence.
- UN warns global aid cuts are silencing women’s rights groups and fuelling violence, with 40 per cent of shelters and programmes shut down. 'Women can’t afford to lose these lifelines.'
- In Kenya and beyond, shelters, legal aid, and advocacy programmes are closing. Experts call for urgent donor action to protect hard-won gains in gender equality and safety.
Sweeping aid cuts are crippling organisations that form the backbone of efforts to end violence against women and girls, a new UN report has revealed.
The latest UN Women report, At Risk and Underfunded, based on a global survey of 428 women’s rights and civil society organisations, warns that funding reductions by governments are dismantling essential services and silencing advocacy. As a result, more women and girls are now at greater risk of violence.
According to the report, more than a third of organisations surveyed (34 per cent) have suspended or shut down programmes aimed at ending violence against women and girls. Over 40 per cent have scaled back or closed lifesaving services such as shelters, legal aid, psychosocial and healthcare support due to immediate funding gaps.
Some 78 per cent reported reduced access to essential services for survivors, while 59 per cent said they had witnessed an increase in impunity and the normalisation of violence. Almost one in four organisations stated they had been forced to suspend or completely halt interventions designed to prevent violence before it occurs.
Violence against women and girls remains one of the most widespread human rights violations worldwide. Approximately 736 million women—almost one in three—have experienced physical or sexual violence, most often at the hands of an intimate partner. Alarmingly, only five per cent of organisations anticipate being able to sustain their operations for more than two years.
“Women’s rights organisations are the backbone of progress on violence against women, yet they are being pushed to the brink. We cannot allow funding cuts to erase decades of hard-won gains. We call on governments and donors to ring-fence, expand, and make funding more flexible. Without sustained investment, violence against women and girls will only rise,” said Kalliopi Mingeirou, Chief of the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Section, UN Women.
Earlier this year, UN Women warned that most women-led organisations in crisis settings were facing severe funding cuts, with nearly half at risk of closure—a warning now echoed in the new report. About 85 per cent of respondents predicted severe backsliding in laws and protections for women and girls, while 57 per cent expressed grave concern about rising risks for women human rights defenders.
The funding crisis is unfolding amid a growing backlash against women’s rights in one in four countries. As organisations lose financial support, many are forced to prioritise basic service provision over the long-term advocacy needed to drive systemic change.
The report comes as the world marks 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action—a landmark global commitment to gender equality and women’s rights, with ending violence against women at its core.
In Kenya, the impact of these funding cuts is already evident. Eva Komba, a gender and development expert, said many non-governmental organisations had been forced to close due to shrinking financial support.
“Many organisations working in the gender equality space have closed down because of shrinking funding. Many others that have not closed have either reduced their workforce, cut salaries, or have staff working remotely to reduce rental budgets,” she said.
She added that some organisations had resorted to hosting meetings and events in affordable public spaces instead of expensive hotels.
“The budget cuts have seen many organisations in the gender equality space cut drastically on their spending. Some have even cut on printing and hiring expenses. It seems things will get worse in days to come,” Eva said.
Meanwhile, Kenya continues to grapple with rising cases of gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide, prompting calls for urgent government intervention.
Taskforce
In January, President William Ruto constituted a taskforce to investigate the crisis and propose actionable measures. In a Gazette Notice, he appointed former Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Barasa to lead a 34-member taskforce to review and strengthen policies aimed at eradicating GBV and femicide.
“There are existing gaps in prevention, response, investigations, prosecution, data management, and survivor support systems in GBV and femicide cases. Such egregious violations pose a threat to our national security and strain the nation’s social fabric,” the notice read.
Alberta Wambua, co-chairperson of the Kenya National Gender-Based Violence Working Group, stressed the need for stronger coordination in prevention and response, survivor-centred justice systems, and increased funding to sustain essential services.
Mary Wanjiru, Team Lead for Ending Violence Against Women and Girls at UN Women Kenya, added that the escalating killings of women and girls demand a strong, whole-of-society approach. She said recommendations to the Technical Working Group on Gender-Based Violence, including Femicide, aim to strengthen institutional, policy, and legal responses.
In May, UN Women reiterated that women’s rights organisations operating in crisis contexts were being “pushed to the brink” by widespread funding cuts.
Crisis settings
A rapid global survey involving 411 women-led and women’s rights organisations across 44 crisis settings revealed that 90 per cent had been hit by funding reductions.
“The situation is critical. Women and girls simply cannot afford to lose the lifelines that women’s organisations are providing. Despite their roles as essential providers, advocates, and watchdogs, women’s organisations have been severely underfunded even before the recent wave of reductions. Supporting and resourcing them is not only a matter of equality and rights — it is also a strategic imperative,” said Sofia Calltorp, Chief of UN Women Humanitarian Action.
The survey further found that 51 per cent of these organisations had already suspended programmes that provide protection, livelihoods, multi-purpose cash assistance, and healthcare support for survivors of gender-based violence.
