Why Ireland must champion Official Development Assistance and women’s rights

Global aid cuts will dramatically undermine gender equality  

• Aid cuts risk undermining women’s rights globally.
• A UN survey of 400 women’s rights organisations showed that nine in ten have already lost funding, nearly three-quarters have had to cut staff, and almost half expect to close imminently if cuts continue.
• Funding women’s rights organisations is one of the most transformative ways of delivering Official Development Assistance (ODA), research shows that feminist movements have been the single most consistent driver of laws to end violence against women, more influential than political parties or GDP growth.

Women’s rights organisations have always been underfunded — now they are being pushed beyond breaking point. According to AWID, women’s rights organisations receive only 0.13% of the total Official Development Assistance (ODA) and only 0.4% of all gender related aid. The gutting of ODA is now amplifying this. UN Women’s latest survey of more than 400 women’s rights organisations across humanitarian settings puts this in stark terms: nine in ten have already lost funding, nearly three-quarters have had to cut staff, and almost half expect to close imminently if cuts continue. The first programmes to go when ODA is cut are those most essential to women’s rights — gender based violence services, sexual and reproductive health, and protection.  

Ukraine

If we take Ukraine as an example, women’s rights organisations are being forced to scale back shelter, legal aid, and psychosocial support, whilst needs intensify. The cuts in funding are undermining women’s rights organisations ability to deliver humanitarian aid at a crucial moment. 

Aid cuts globally are the driver of this. The OECD is projecting that (ODA) will shrink by 9–17% in 2025, following a 9% drop in 2024. This unprecedented level of cuts is being driven by some of the world’s most wealthy economies, France, Germany, the UK, and the US all reduced aid in 2024 — the first time in nearly three decades they all moved in the same direction. If their planned reductions go ahead in 2025, it will mark the first time ever that all four have cut ODA two years in a row. 

These aid cuts will undermine the fight against gender inequality 

Across the world, women’s and girls’ rights are under coordinated attack. Successive crises — armed conflicts, genocide, democratic backsliding, climate shocks, and substantial cuts to ODA — are stripping away small gains and widening inequalities.  

This erosion of rights is playing out against the backdrop of a global surge in “anti-gender” movements. These networks, often bringing together far-right political parties and religious extremists, have become increasingly organised and well-resourced. They exploit “anti-gender” narratives to polarise societies, discredit feminism, and roll back sexual and reproductive health and rights. Their campaigns aim to destabilise institutions, shape policy agendas, and normalise the idea that equality itself is a threat. We are seeing this play out at the multilateral level, where conservative governments have rallied around the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a coalition that rejects reproductive rights and promotes a narrow, patriarchal vision of “family” — language that is increasingly surfacing in UN and EU negotiations.  

Where are women’s rights under attack?

This coordinated attack is also unfolding across the world through domestic policy decisions, with states taking concrete steps to dismantle existing protections for women: 

• United States: The Trump administration has withdrawn from key international agreements/spaces (such as the Human Rights Council) and is using anti-FGM laws to criminalise gender-affirming care. 

• Georgia: Parliament abolished gender quotas, disbanded the Council for Gender Equality, and removed the term “gender” from legislation. 

• Peru: Amendments to laws pertaining to the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation now restrict funding for legal assistance, severely impact access to justice for Indigenous and rural women and weakening civil society oversight. 

• Nepal: A draft bill proposes lowering the legal age of marriage to 16, effectively legitimising child marriage. 

ActionAid Ireland’s recommendation for Budget 2026. Ireland must:

• Make real progress towards the UN target of 0.7% of GNI for ODA spent overseas by 2030 by increasing Ireland’s ODA budget in 2026 by at least €300 million. This must be additional to, and separate from, climate finance commitments.

• Provide at least 30% of Ireland’s ODA to and through civil society across humanitarian, development and climate programmes. Within this, Ireland should recognise the critical role of feminist movements and women’s rights organisations as long-term leaders and partners. This means resourcing them directly through long-term, flexible, core funding to support their self-determined priorities.