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NZ Herald
02-06-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Foreign aid isn't just about survival today, it's about hope for tomorrow
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?
Zawya
27-03-2025
- General
- Zawya
Aid cuts disrupt education for 1.8 million children supported by Save the Children
More than 1.8 million children will miss out on learning due to aid cuts impacting Save the Children's education programmes in over 20 countries from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Syria to Tanzania. In Tanzania, more than 50,000 children face having their education disrupted or completely stopped due to aid cuts, with one headteacher in a refugee camp in the country's north-west saying this was having "heartbreaking consequences" for children. Headteacher Isack said that attendance rates, dropouts and academic performance at the school have worsened as funding cuts mean children no longer receive free notebooks while girls cannot be provided with the sanitary pads they need to attend school. Maria*, a refugee from Burundi and a student at Isack's school, said: "I want to study, I want to be a doctor, but without the right materials, it feels like I'm losing the fight. When we are given tests, only a few of us can do them because many don't have notebooks. It feels unfair, but what can we do?" Tanzania is one of 20 countries where Save the Children's education programmes will be affected unless urgent funding is secured as governments cut foreign aid budgets. In 2024 Save the Children's education programmes directly reached over 7.6 million children in 60 countries, including children facing conflict, climate change and other crises. Sabera*, 14, is among the over one million Rohingya refugees living in the highly congested camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, since fleeing the violence in Myanmar with her family in 2017. The Save the Children-supported learning centre she had been attending was closed following the aid cuts which have affected the education of over 2,400 children in Cox's Bazaar camps and host communities. Sabera* said: "I liked to study and learn in my classes. I suddenly came to know that the learning centre would stop and felt someone snatch freedom and happiness from me. I thought that after completing this year I would be admitted to the next class which opens a whole new world for me, but that dream is now gone." In the Democratic Republic of Congo, over 21,300 children in war-torn South Kivu have had lost access to learning materials and training for their teachers. In Syria's Al Hol Camp, the closure of Save the Children's two temporary learning spaces have taken away safe spaces for education and mental health services for 640 children who face high levels of child labour and violence. Across the sector, as little as $7.2 million might remain of over $1 billion of US funding for global education, [1] while cuts by the UK could see at least a 73% drop in real terms in funding to education from 2019 levels, according to Save the Children analysis. Susan Nicolai, Save the Children International's director of education, said: 'Every child has the right to education and these cuts to education funding threaten to take away one of the most powerful tools we have to transform children's lives. 'In crisis contexts, more children need lifesaving aid than ever before and education in emergencies is truly lifesaving. It protects children in a safe space and provides a sense of stability as well as lifesaving learning such as how to stay safe from unexploded bombs or prevent the spread of disease. 'Foreign aid is about hope, peace, and creating pathways to a better future and education is the epitome of a 'long game'. We are witnessing the start of generational learning and developmental setbacks that will reverberate through communities and families for years to come." Today, nearly 400 million primary school-aged children – or about half of primary school-aged children - cannot read or write and more than half of all three to 6-year-olds lack access to preschool, according to World Bank data.[2] In some humanitarian and conflict settings, where Save the Children is often the sole education provider, the situation is even worse. Children in refugee and displacement camps will not only lose schooling but also critical support like food, mental health services, and safe spaces. Children, parents and caregivers have repeatedly told us that education is a top priority, including in crises.[3] Save the Children is calling for world leaders, partners and all donors to financially invest in children and their futures. The humanitarian and aid sector will be forever changed by these rapid decisions to cut funding. but Save the Children is committed to working with global leaders, institutions and civil society to reform the system and to help create a fairer, more stable global financing system to care for those most in need. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.
