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Chapter 1: The funding story of 2025

  1. This funding was heavily concentrated and these five countries received 78% of the US government’s country allocable humanitarian funding in 2025.

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  2. See OCHA (n.d.). Figures are adjusted for inflation using the average deflator for OECD DAC countries in 2023 prices. The amount of funding to appeals in 2016 in current prices was US$12.5 billion.

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Chapter 2: Organisational triage and the rolling toll of job cuts

  1. Of 50 respondents, only 12 (24%) disagreed with the statement ‘The organisation did the best they could in the circumstances’.

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Chapter 3: A shrinking lens and a shrinking footprint

  1. The methodological basis for this reduction is unclear. The GHO describes a ‘refined methodology that pinpoints where and who has been most affected by shocks – including conflict, climate and geological disasters, epidemics and animal and plant pests and diseases – and determines the most critical needs within these areas’. And it references the intersectoral severity as defined in the Joint and Intersectoral Analysis Framework (JIAF) (OCHA, 2025b).

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  2. This trend was already in train before the 2025 funding shock. Donnelly and Dhingra (2024) note, for example: ‘During a recent visit to Somalia, we heard how geographical prioritisation has meant that more stable areas have been deprioritised as part of the humanitarian response. But development donors have yet to fill the vacuum, meaning that hard-won gains in areas hosting thousands of IDPs and recovering from drought may be reversed.’

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Chapter 4: Towards managed decline - bracing for sustained and continued cuts

  1. Germany recently announced that it will also restructure its aid departments which includes the dissolution of the Department for Crisis Prevention, Peacebuilding, and Humanitarian Aid within the Foreign Office.

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  2. These good practices include: listening to partners; good communication; exploring alternative funding for local organisations; prioritising local organisations in asset and resource allocation; mobilising flexible funding; collaborative cost saving; supporting the fundraising of local and national organisations; creating visibility for local and national organisations.

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Chapter 5: Flying blind - insight gaps for evidence-based prioritisation

  1. Key informant interview

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  2. Key informant interview

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