New Survey Shows Half Of Women’s Organizations May Shut Down In Six Months

What are the main reasons behind the ‘Funding Cuts’ for Women’s Organizations?
 

• Major Reductions in Foreign Aid by Key Donors: The United States, historically the largest global donor, has slashed billions in foreign aid as part of a shift toward "America First" policies. This has been compounded by similar cuts from other major international contributors, such as the UK and European countries.
• Global Economic and Political Priorities Shifting: Donor countries are increasingly prioritizing domestic issues, cost-cutting, and efficiency, often at the expense of international aid. Recent economic pressures, political changes, and efforts to reduce government spending have led to reduced budgets for overseas development assistance and humanitarian aid.
• Escalating and Competing Global Crises: The world is facing multiple, simultaneous crises-such as conflict, climate disasters, food insecurity, and disease outbreaks-which have stretched available humanitarian funding thin. As needs grow, women’s organizations are being asked to do more with less, and their work is often deprioritized in favor of other urgent responses.
• Chronic Underfunding and Lack of Prioritization: Even before the latest wave of cuts, women’s organizations were severely underfunded and often left out of key policy and funding decisions. Gender equality and women’s rights programs have historically received a small fraction of aid budgets, and recent reductions have disproportionately impacted these already scarce resources
   

How is India getting impacted?
 

• Reduced Funding and shrinking Budgets: India, like many countries, is experiencing the effects of global aid cuts and declining domestic allocations for women’s welfare. The Union Budget 2025–26 saw a decrease in public spending on social sectors, with the gender budget now only 1.6% of GDP-significantly below the UN-recommended 5%.

• • The Ministry of Women and Child Development received less than 1% of the total budget, and key schemes addressing gender-based violence and women’s safety (such as Mission Shakti and Samarthya) saw funding slashed by 50%.

• Direct Impact on Women’s Organizations: Many Indian women’s organizations, especially those supporting marginalized groups in crisis-affected regions, are struggling with reduced grants and operational challenges.

• • Over 60% of such organizations have already reduced their services, disrupting critical support like emergency health care, legal aid, and protection for survivors of gender-based violence.

• Challenges in Health, Education, and Social Services: Funding for education and healthcare has declined, affecting grassroots programs for girls’ education, reproductive health, and nutrition.

• • Programs like ICDS, PM Poshan, and Anganwadi services require more investment to improve outreach and quality, but face stagnant or reduced budgets.
  • The pandemic and economic slowdown have further strained resources, with many grassroots women’s groups reporting layoffs and suspended projects.

• Vulnerable Groups: Poor urban women, women from SC/ST and tribal communities, and the transgender community are particularly at risk as targeted funding and inclusive policies remain inadequate.

• • Women’s organizations working in conflict-prone or disaster-affected regions (such as Northeast India, Jammu and Kashmir, and flood-affected states) face even greater uncertainty due to both global and domestic funding cuts.

What role can Local Communities play to overcome this crisis? (Way Forward)
 

• Social Support: Communities  like ‘Snehalaya’, ‘Sayodhy’ provide emotional support, safe spaces, and solidarity for women facing violence, discrimination, or poverty, and rehabilitate survivors.
• Advocacy and Awareness: Local networks raise awareness about women’s rights, influence local policies, and advocate for change, amplifying the impact of organizations such as MAKAAM and North East Network.