Advocacy Note – Four Ways to Support Women’s Organizations in the Arab States Amid Widespread Funding Cuts

Despite growing global humanitarian needs, the humanitarian system is facing a deepening resource crisis. In recent months, humanitarian funding has undergone a dramatic and widespread contraction, with major donor governments announcing substantial cuts. Women-led organizations (WLOs) and women’s rights organizations (WROs) are the backbone of assistance to women and girls across conflicts and crises in the Arab Region. Yet, according to a recent UN Women study, 80 per cent of women’s organizations in the region have been significantly impacted by the recent global foreign assistance reductions (compared to 62 per cent of WLOs and WROs globally). Furthermore, across the region, political instability, growing conservatism, and restrictions on civil society have placed significant pressure on women’s rights organizations, activists and service-providers, along with limitations to civic space for gender equality.