More than 40 countries have been impacted across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East by an abrupt halt to US government foreign aid that is threatening health, nutrition and education programmes for millions of children. This is also expected to lead to the loss of thousands of aid worker jobs.
Save the Children has estimated that between 8-12 million people supported by the charity will be impacted, at a time when about one in every 11 children globally needs humanitarian assistance. However, as the world's leading independent child rights organisation we have vowed to stay resilient and determined to do whatever it takes to give children a better future.
Facing an unprecedented gap in its funding, Save the Children which works in about 115 countries, has proposed a series of cost cutting measures. The organisation is also exploring other sources of funding to continue its life-saving work.
Save the Children International, the global operational arm responsible for implementing programmes and humanitarian responses, said its expectation at this stage – although information was still evolving – was that proposed restructures in country offices, alongside five office closures, will impact upwards of 2,300 country office staff. The five country offices to be closed are Sri Lanka, Poland, Brazil, Georgia and Liberia. Contracts with affected partner organisations will be terminated immediately. It also expects to propose significant reductions to global teams.
Save the Children Australia CEO, Mat Tinkler says:
"For more than 100 years Save the Children has worked tirelessly to protect the world's most vulnerable children from conflict, hunger, and disease and to provide them with a future. In that time foreign aid has always been a beacon of hope for children.
"But today, as humanitarian needs reach record levels, cuts in funding are putting children's lives and futures at risk. It is heart-breaking that we are having to close some of these vital programmes. The world has the resources to protect and support children, but they are being left behind, their rights ignored, and their futures jeopardised. This is an outright failure of responsibility of those in power and a moral failure of us all.
"Every child deserves a future. We cannot let children die on our watch. Now is the time for leaders to step up, not step back. We all have a moral and strategic imperative to invest in children and acknowledge their rights for a safer and more stable world."
The cut in US foreign assistance will have an immediate impact on children whose needs have never been greater, due to a combination of conflict, climate change and widening inequality. This comes at a time when a growing number of governments are reducing aid budgets and international collaboration. The UK government was the latest this week to announce aid cuts.
Save the Children Australia says the country must stand against the growing trend of slashing foreign aid and maintain its funding as a matter of national security.
"There must be bipartisan agreement that Australia's foreign aid contribution is protected. Currently Australia allocates 0.19% of our Gross National Income (GNI) towards foreign aid – just 19 cents in every hundred dollars," says Mr Tinkler.
"The reality is foreign aid is not optional – it's essential. It protects our national security, fuels global stability, and ensures safety and prosperity for everyone, including in Australia."
Already the funding freeze has left over 17 million items of aid stranded in warehouses, on trucks and with suppliers. That's over $14.5 million of aid that can't be delivered, including in areas where famine conditions have been declared.
Sofia, a mother of three in rural Mozambique, has been left unable to feed her children after the suspension of a food aid project which distributed nutritional supplements, with the food they need locked up in warehouses.
"It felt like a cruel joke. Food is there but we cannot touch it," she said.
In another example, community health worker Eduardo Chicala, also from Mozambique, said the suspension of mobile health teams to visit remote villages was hitting hard, with people having to walk for up to 40 kms to get help and concerns that diseases will not be treated.
"We worry that malnourished children will die in far-flung places with no one to help them," he said.
In Somalia the end of cash assistance in some communities is driving families back into hunger.
Amina, a mother of nine, said receiving $90 a month for food and education had changed her family's life.
"Without this support, we cannot afford to pay for our children's education, and putting food on the table has become difficult once again. My husband tries his best - he takes care of our goats and fetches water - but finding a job here is almost impossible. The drought has made things worse, and our livestock is decreasing," she said.
Psychosocial support for children and education is also severely impacted. A project providing counselling and recreational activities for children fleeing into South Sudan to escape the war in Sudan has closed. Many of these children are suffering from trauma due to displacement and seeing things no child should experience.
Save the Children said it remained steadfast in its mission to support children have a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. In 2023, Save the Children reached 105 million children in at least 94 countries and needs are growing. The UN has estimated that more than 305 million people globally will need humanitarian assistance this year, including 210 million children.
