Blogs

This month, development and humanitarian NGOs faced a significant challenge when the Dutch government announced substantial funding cuts of 70%. These cuts are not an isolated incident: earlier this year, Germany announced further cuts in official development aid (ODA), with Belgium and France seeming to follow suit with announced cuts ranging from 15 to 40%. 

Recently, more and more news about the appearance and danger of pesticides has been spotlighted by the media in Europe. Not only that it's affecting consumers’ health, but also nature. Europe plays a key role in the pesticides industry.

In October 2024, Oxfam published “Climate Finance Unchecked,” a report diving into a significant oversight in the World Bank’s climate finance record-keeping. Specifically, the Bank’s method estimates climate finance only at the time projects are approved, with no assessment of climate finance when projects close. This might not seem like a big deal, but it’s common for projects to change during implementation —for example, adjustments to budgets, timelines and objectives. We’ve put together a short FAQ to explain what we found and why it matters.

The UN Summit of the Future was billed as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to ‘forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future’, a recommitment to the Sustainable Development Goals; at the Summit, States adopted the Pact for the Future.

Under the dark skies of Sekota, where the threat of rain looms over the dusty market, amidst the vibrant chatter and bleating of goats, Wirqa Bere, a 20-year-old single mother from the nearby community of Birbir, stands with renewed hope. 

I chose to work as a humanitarian because, at the core, I'm driven by a sense of shared humanity. While everyone is human, we all make different choices, and for me, the path to humanitarian work was guided by both circumstance and the organizations I became involved with.

In a manmade war, female activists like Khaidja have defied rigid gender norms to forge peace and safety in Yemen, risking everything for their seat at the peace table.

Our team drove through Harasta today, a town near the capital of Damascus that has witnessed heavy destruction. The scene of buildings with their roofs collapsed to the ground had become all too familiar. Piles of rubble stretch as far as the eye can see, making one wonder about the lives of the people who once lived there - are they still alive? Will they ever come home? Did they find shelter? Were they able to start anew or are they still struggling to rebuild their lives? From afar, the effects the conflict has left on people's lives might not be so visible with…

Two years since the escalation of war in 2022, Ukraine is struggling to support those who are most vulnerable across the country. In 2022, as a result of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by almost 30%. With five million people internally displaced (IDP’s) , providing services for those in need is getting more complicated.  There is a shortage of housing for those whose homes were destroyed, and many people cannot support themselves.

Oleksandra, 22, is a community social worker on gender-based violence. She is a part of the dynamic team of Rokada, a Ukrainian charitable foundation that works with internally displaced people (IDPs) and other vulnerable communities whose lives have been strongly affected by the war.