By Tracy Doig and Evie Gilbert
As the world faces growing crises – from conflict to climate – international aid is shrinking. And the consequences are devastating. In our second in a series on the human impact of aid cuts, we turn our attention to another critical element of The Circle’s work.
Grace Dorong at Root of Generations, our partner in South Sudan, explained to us the devastating impacts that global cuts to foreign aid can have on peacebuilding initiatives and social stability in the country, which is currently on the brink of a return to conflict.
Grace grew up in a refugee camp. She reminds us that these camps are dependent on overseas aid, and it has directly impacted her own journey. Root of Generations works on gender, environmental and refugee issues in South Sudan. As one of the poorest countries in the world, South Sudan relies heavily on overseas aid with UN figures estimating that 69% of South Sudan’s population would require humanitarian assistance in 2025.
Grace emphasised that aid cuts will impact not only her work, but also the overall safety and equality of women. She told us of her fears that food insecurity would push women towards foraging for wild fruits, placing them increasingly as risk of sexual violence. As households grew poorer and more desperate that child and forced marriages would increase, as would domestic and intimate partner violence.
Registration of new refugee arrivals in South Sudan
There are potential impacts on the overall security of the country as well.
Peacebuilding is critical for addressing gender-based violence and gendered inequalities and for preventing local tensions from becoming the fuel for national conflict. Root of Generations has been working in a community in Eastern Equatoria province that had been torn apart by internal tensions for over 40 years – driven by competition for increasingly scarcer resources, a result of climate change. Driven by despair over tit-for-tat killings and motivated by the tragic death of a baby who had been caught in crossfire, the women of the two warring groups came together to talk peace.
Supported by Root of Generations, they have found a way to share resources and find solutions without resorting to guns. Now, Root of Generations’ funding for this work – from the UK government – has come to an end. Their ability to support this, and other communities like them to navigate the current volatile situation is at risk.
Root of Generations staff helping out at an IDP camp in South Sudan
With the country on the brink of returning to civil war, we reflect on the human impact of aid cuts, particularly on women. South Sudan became independent in 2011, but in 2016, a peace agreement collapsed, and the country saw an escalation of the ongoing civil war.
Since 2020, United Nations peacekeeping efforts have been primarily funded by the USA. The Trump administration has proposed to scrap the official UN peacekeeping mission and has withdrawn US troops from it despite local calls for more peacekeepers at a time when political tensions are spilling over into violence and a return to war seems imminent
What’s more, the country’s health sector is reliant upon overseas aid and is already seeing the impact of US aid cuts. Cutting basic services risks the spread of disease and the ability to respond to cholera outbreaks. As refugees are fleeing conflict zones amidst increasing violence, cholera outbreaks are reaching new parts of the country. Just this month, eight people died seeking out cholera treatment as US aid cuts forced the closure of a clinic.
At a time when tensions are rising, the cut back of basic services puts women and girls at risk of exacerbated gender-based violence. We must raise our voices and demand that our governments reconsider the aid budget reduction and protect gender equality by prioritising funding for women’s rights work. We must remind them that foreign aid is an investment in a better, fairer, safer world that benefits all of us.
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