A displacement camp in Taiz, Yemen. An estimated 239 million people world-wide are dependent on humanitarian aid.
Photo: akramalrasny/ Shutterstock.com
NGOs call for more ODA funding
At the end of April, the German Federal Ministry of Finance presented the budget framework for the 2027 federal budget. The resolution calls for further cuts of 5.8 per cent to the budget of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Cuts of 0.5 per cent are also planned for the Federal Foreign Office (AA).
Substantial cuts since 2022
“The ongoing cuts by the Federal Government are a moral failure and send a disastrous signal,” says Thorsten Klose-Zuber, Secretary-General of the NGO Help – Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe, because: “Already, around 6.8 million people have lost access to vital support as a result of the Federal Government’s cuts to date.”
Between 2022 and 2026, funding for humanitarian aid was already cut from 3.14 billion euros to 1.05 billion euros – a reduction of almost 70 per cent. The BMZ has also had to reduce its budget by more than 30 per cent since 2022. Among other things, this means cuts to reconstruction efforts in conflict zones. “This work is crucial to providing people in crisis regions with long-term prospects and financial independence,” Klose-Zuber stresses. Cutting funding for this not only costs lives but also jeopardises the stabilisation of entire regions in acute crises.
It is currently unclear to what extent humanitarian emergency aid will once again be affected by the cuts at the Foreign Office. What is certain, however, is that the budgetary parameters for the next three years leave no scope for adequate funding of humanitarian aid.
At least 2.8 billion euros for humanitarian aid
An estimated 239 million people world-wide are dependent on humanitarian aid. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that, as of now, only ten per cent of the funds required to meet these needs has been allocated for 2026. According to a study recently published in The Lancet, the collapse in official development assistance (ODA) funding could result in up to 9.4 million additional people dying by 2030.
In view of the critical situation and the vast needs, the development organisation ONE and the umbrella organisation for development and humanitarian organisations, VENRO, are calling on the German government to fulfil its international responsibilities and increase funding for development cooperation and humanitarian aid in the 2027 budget. The two organisations state that the BMZ requires a budget of at least 11.2 billion euros for the coming year, and that funding for humanitarian aid has to rise to at least 2.8 billion euros.
The organisations highlight the achievements of development cooperation, stressing that Germany has also made a significant contribution in this respect:
- Since 2000, global child mortality has more than halved.
- Over the same period, maternal mortality has fallen by over a third.
- Polio has been almost eradicated world-wide.
- HIV is no longer a death sentence; even in poorer countries, affordable medicines are available.
- Infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis have been significantly reduced.
- In 2000, one in three children suffered from stunting due to malnutrition; today, the figure is just under one in five.
- Many children, particularly girls, are attending school for the first time, even in crisis-hit areas.
(ONE/VENRO/sri)
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