Foreign aid isn't just about survival today, it's about hope for tomorrow

NZ Herald

02-06-2025

But at a time when nearly 200 million children worldwide rely on lifesaving assistance, I've spent more than a decade working in international development and witnessed the power of well-targeted aid: crops flourishing in drought-hit communities thanks to innovative climate adaptive seeds or clever irrigation, local communities turning backyard gardens into drivers of prosperity, children and communities better prepared when a disaster hits. Some of the world's wealthiest countries are turning their backs on children and cutting their aid budgets. These sudden funding cuts are putting children in life-threatening situations.
Global funding is so vital in places like Somalia, where the number of climate-related disasters has tripled in the past three decades, decimating farming and livestock, driving population displacement, and pushing millions into acute hunger. Our own New Zealand Government has been part of the response – providing essential funds through its Disaster Response Programme to upscale our work in these communities ravaged by long-term climate shocks.
In the Pacific, where communities are living on the very front line of the climate crisis, impacted by rising sea levels and cyclones that destroy homes and livelihoods, New Zealand government-funded climate finance projects are changing generations, ensuring communities are better prepared for what is to come.
Today, I'm seeing the reverse. Not because the need has lessened, but because the world is turning away. These decisions are being felt in the most brutal ways on the ground.
In Somalia, at least 55,000 children supported by Save the Children will lose access to lifesaving nutrition services by June, as aid cuts force 121 Save the Children-supported nutrition centres to close. Save the Children is the largest NGO provider of health and nutrition services to children in Somalia, providing support to some 260,000 children each year.
However, global aid cuts announced at the start of 2025 mean that over a quarter (27%) of Save the Children-supported health and nutrition facilities in Somalia will stop services in June, putting the lives of at least 55,000 children who would normally use those programmes at risk.
Aid cuts, continued displacement because of attacks by armed groups and below-average rainfall are combining to push children deeper into a humanitarian emergency, said the aid agency. Children are already being impacted, with 1.8 million children in Somalia expected to face acute malnutrition this year according to data from the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit with 479,000 expected to face severe acute malnutrition, which if not treated, can be deadly.
The city of Baidoa in Somalia's south is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of drought and conflict and currently hosts around 800,000 people who have been internally displaced. It is also one of the areas where Save the Children's nutrition services will be most impacted, with all of the organisation's nutrition facilities in Baidoa set to close in June.
By the end of the rainy season this month, the clinics supported by Save the Children in Baidoa are expected to be stretched to breaking point. This is a time of year when hunger and malnutrition typically rise in Somalia, but aid cuts mean that 11% more children are expected to be severely malnourished than in 2024 – while there will also be fewer facilities run by aid organisations to treat them.
Closer to home, Budget 2025 has reduced New Zealand's foreign aid and climate finance budget by more than 11% to less than one quarter of 1% – just 0.24% – of gross national income. The biggest cut – to climate finance, halved for 2026 – comes at a time when our Pacific neighbours are facing escalating climate-related disasters that destroy crops, homes and schools, devastating communities and leading to greater food insecurity.
Foreign aid isn't just about survival today, it's about hope for tomorrow. When aid is cut, we don't just take away immediate lifesaving help – we deepen global insecurity, fuelling displacement, economic shocks and conflict. Long-term development goals take a hit, undermining years of progress and widening inequalities.
Cuts can lead to a surge in diseases, more deaths and poorer long-term health outcomes, when funding for prevention and treatment is reduced. In education, aid cuts disproportionately impact marginalised groups, including girls, children with disabilities and displaced learners, which further entrenches often generational poverty and inequality. Yet, we treat aid as optional. These crises are not inevitable. They are the result of policy decisions.
With fewer resources and a decline in global assistance, the road ahead is going to be harder. We're working to find new solutions, so that children don't arrive at closed health clinics, go without food or face trauma alone. Already, we've reopened some critical services for the short term, thanks to pivoting funding and the generous support from our communities around the world.
But actions not words will create a world where every child is safe, healthy and happy. We need governments, partners, and our community around the world to stand alongside us and financially invest in children and their futures. Because what could be more important than that?