H2H Network Statement on the Impact of the US Foreign Aid Freeze on Critical Humanitarian Tools and Services

February 2025

The US government's actions to freeze all foreign aid for 90 days, issue Stop Work Orders for ongoing programmes, and dismantle USAID are putting at risk the lives and livelihoods of millions who rely on humanitarian aid. In the context of an alarming overall decline in humanitarian funding, this suspension impacts both the provision of emergency relief and Humanitarian to Humanitarian (H2H) services that ensure quality aid reaches people most in need. These impacts are already being seen in missed vaccinations, emergency food-aid rotting in storage, and planned cash distributions halted.

Where humanitarian assistance can be provided, its quality will be compromised. Urgent collective action is required from donors and humanitarian agencies alike to save lives and maintain essential support services for humanitarians, while a fundamental rethinking of the humanitarian system gets underway.

While longer-term and structural implications of these recent developments are still emerging, it is already clear that humanitarian assistance can only be provided efficiently and effectively when needs are properly identified, the response is coordinated, and aid reaches those who need it most. The dismantling of these capabilities – built-up over the years, often in small, specialized organizations known as Humanitarian to Humanitarian – or H2H – organizations – will immediately jeopardize operations while also threatening a long-term regression in terms of humanitarian quality and accountability.

Some operational humanitarian agencies have significantly reduced their work and response capacity. While this approach may allow them to weather this funding crisis, it risks compromising the quality and accountability of assistance that they can still provide, and in particular worsening the situation for women, girls and other vulnerable people who already bear the brunt of crises worldwide.

H2H organizations provide critical services that help in the delivery of effective humanitarian assistance, which will be ever more necessary in an environment of constrained resources – to ensure that the limited money available goes as far as possible. Immediate steps should be taken to maintain these essential capabilities. The smaller size of these organizations, their reliance on project funding, and their limited reserves mean that even small or short-lived funding disruptions can present an existential threat. Services related to coordination, Information Management (IM), accountability, and localization have been badly hit by the freeze, with some H2H Members losing over 90% of their income without warning. H2H organizations explicitly focused on ensuring inclusion of at-risk communities feel particularly threatened and forgotten.

The impacts on organizations whose services ensure the quality and accountability of humanitarian aid are stark. Of 30 H2H Members surveyed, 67% are directly affected, with 23% facing existential threat. The impact on the delivery of specific services is already visible:

• Services such as the Multi-Sector Needs Assessments have been suspended in 83% of contexts, including Sudan and DRC, undermining the sector's ability to produce evidence-based assessments of needs and to allocate resources effectively.
• Coordinated country-level programming is severely undermined with over 100 iMMAP Information Management staff across seven country programmes no longer in post.
• At a time when aid worker fatalities are at an all-time high, critical security risk management services are being reduced, and the future of the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD), the primary source of data on attacks against humanitarian personnel, is now uncertain.
• Community participation initiatives ready for launch across multiple countries including Ukraine, Colombia, and South Sudan have been halted, with other accountability initiatives suspended globally, undermining evidence-based decision-making that responds to community input and needs.
• The ability to anticipate and respond to acute food insecurity and impending famines has been cut off with the Famine Early Warning System Network going offline.

Fundamentally, without solid needs assessment, safe access for humanitarian workers, and strong community engagement, the humanitarian operations that remain will be less effective and efficient, and less able to reach those most in need. Lives are at risk. To avert this, immediate steps must be taken:

• Relevant H2H members should conduct a collective, open assessment of critical gaps in the humanitarian enabling environment, focusing on areas such as IM and assessment, security, and accountability to affected populations.
• Donors must implement coordinated action to provide funding for technical assets that are essential for effective humanitarian responses, preventing the loss of critical capacities at minimal cost. This should include emergency gap-filling funds, potentially including loans, that are able to reach local actors.
• Humanitarian actors should engage in increased joint advocacy, including on the need for inclusive, accountable and dignified aid programmes that promote the fundamental rights for all those in need.

As humanitarian funding continues to decline across donors, the need for effectiveness and efficiency becomes more essential than ever. This moment requires both immediate steps to prevent the collapse of critical shared services that support quality humanitarian response, and a commitment to more sustainable, locally owned solutions in the long-term. Strategic investments in humanitarian support services can efficiently facilitate this transition in the medium term while preserving the integrity and effectiveness of humanitarian response now.

Kim Scriven, Executive Director, H2H Network

Endorsed by Board members of the H2H Network:

Karin Maasel, Chair; Executive Director, Data Friendly Space

Monica Blagescu, Deputy Chair; Independent Board Member

Caroline Vuillemin, Director, Fondation Hirondelle; H2H member representative

Christina Wille, Director, Insecurity Insight; H2H member representative

Mary Ana McGlasson, Executive Director, Centre for Humanitarian Leadership; H2H member representative

Meg Sattler, CEO, Ground Truth Solutions; H2H member representative

Manisha Thomas, Independent Board Member

Heba Aly, Independent Board Member