As Global Aid Abandons Ugandan Refugees, Refugee-led Organizations Present a Promising Path Forward
The declining foreign aid infrastructure reflects a defining moment in international humanitarian effort and illustrates a sobering reality of global reprioritization. Western governments’ recent trends to cut foreign aid budgets and retreat from critical humanitarian assistance has abandoned millions. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports 11.6 million refugees risk losing access to humanitarian assistance because of aid cuts—or one third of the people they reached with assistance last year. However, amid the undeniably destructive reality of this shift, a promising path forward is emerging through increased direct funding to Refugee-led Organizations (RLOs).
A Declining Global Aid Infrastructure
January 2025 marked a turning point in the American foreign aid infrastructure as President Donald Trump cut funding to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and dismantled the organization. This has since been exacerbated by revoking mass amounts of aid that had been allocated by the State Department. While President Trump’s chaotic exit from foreign aid marks a grim future for U.S. humanitarian relief, it reflects a larger, deeply concerning trend as leading Western nations likewise move to dissolve aid budgets. The United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada have all made significant cuts to their foreign aid allocation in the months since. The United Kingdom will cut aid from 0.5 percent of GNI to 0.3 percent, Germany is decreasing aid by about 53 percent, and Canada is cutting about 25 percent.
The foreign aid infrastructure, and prospect of large-scale reform, has been a longstanding conversation among global development scholars, economists, and humanitarian experts. Yet, rather than the beneficial and methodical improvement to the foreign aid system envisioned in these discussions, the new reality is one of mass Western abandonment. In a virtual interview with Refugees International in July, a South Sudanese refugee living in Uganda characterized the “catastrophic” situation on the ground plainly: “the system was broken but it’s now decomposing.”
Amid declining aid, global organizations are struggling to persist. UNHCR cited the United States and the EU as the agency’s top funders, responsible for about 38 percent of their budget. In addition to U.S. aid cuts, the EU decreased funding by €2 billion. Donor countries’ waning support for humanitarianism toward both their national budgets and multilateral organizations signals a sizable shift among the entire global aid infrastructure. Amid these changes, direct investment in RLOs presents a viable opportunity to move into a new era of the humanitarian apparatus.
Look to Uganda
Zooming in, consider the case of Uganda. A critical host country for displaced communities, the nation has the largest population of refugees in Africa totaling over 1.7 million people – 81 percent of whom are women and children. Most refugees are from South Sudan or the Democratic Republic of the Congo – countries marked by instability and violence. This year, 66 percent of the country’s USAID program was cut, amounting to $307 million lost in funding. As aid dries up, refugees are left vulnerable. Since the start of the year, Uganda saw a 173 percent increase in refugees, with UNHCR reporting 580,000 are at risk of losing direct assistance.
In May, the World Food Program announced that 1 million refugees in Uganda were cut off from food aid due to funding shortages. In July, another interviewee quantified that refugees still receiving food assistance are only given about $3 per person each month for food – hardly sufficient for survival.
The Ugandan health sector, serving both refugees and the host community, was disastrously affected. The distribution of HIV-related supplies fractured because of U.S. aid cuts, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) facilities were forced to reduce their capacities. Crucial services and preventative measures are undermined, and uncertainty runs rampant.
Education is critical to the long-term success of displaced communities as it fosters self-reliance and provides the opportunity for refugees to break poverty cycles. Yet, it has likewise not been spared from the destruction of aid cuts. Another interviewee highlighted that a primary school in the northern refugee settlement, Ayilo 1, had over 3,400 students managed by 36 teachers supported by War Child Canada. After aid cuts, only nine teachers remain. Now, each class has up to 500 students, with one teacher sharing three classes.
Further deteriorating the situation, resource competition due to aid cuts has eroded peacebuilding efforts. An interviewee detailed competition over land between host communities and refugees, driven by refugees’ attempts to secure land for food cultivation. As forced prioritization amid aid cuts fosters an environment of divisive chaos and unimaginable decision making, he described that refugees “now question the difference between dying of hunger and dying of bullets.”
RLOs Hold the Key
As aid cuts result in INGO partners hastily leaving refugee settlements without an exit plan, RLOs face widely intensified pressure. Interviewees described that as INGO staff disappeared due to funding loss, RLOs were left to pick up the pieces – with no tools to help. In Kiryandongo, women’s centers were handed over to RLOs to manage as foreign partners dissipate, yet no funding is given to support. The drastic underfunding of RLOs and current power shifting presents a viable opportunity to alter the changing foreign aid landscape to reflect a more localized effort.
RLOs have faced historic underfunding due to a widespread misperception that investing in them is risky. Largely, this belief stems from their limited overhead capacity – compared to large INGOs or even local NGOs – which can more easily produce metrics donors require. Further, RLOs may struggle with the bureaucratic elements of registering their organization and opening bank accounts due to their refugee status. The vicious cycle of not having enough money for impact data collection, or struggling to fund administrative efforts while channeling money towards their local needs, can only be stopped by bolstering initial funding to catalyze RLO results.
Research finds that RLOs are key to humanitarian success because they are well-equipped to provide services to those who are hard to access, and foster community interconnectedness due to a shared cultural awareness. Further, RLOs efficiently and effectively meet community needs and often overcome significant financial and political barriers. An interviewee detailed that because of their shared refugee experience and cultural background, RLOs feel a unique responsibility to take care of their community.
With the help of increased funding, RLOs can fill in the gap and foster long-term resilience through food assistance, innovative agricultural practices, education, and community health clinics. Experts on the needs and opportunities of their communities, RLOs are uniquely equipped with necessary knowledge and ties for effective community mobilization.
Janvier, a refugee from the DRC, created the Hodari Foundation to promote the life and well-being of refugees in the Kyaka II Refugee Settlement in Western Uganda–- often with the support of a tight budget. Janvier’s characterization of the RLO-based approach is straightforward and profound: “we are thinking locally, but we are acting globally.”
It is key that RLOs are provided direct funding, free of barriers, and baked with components of capacity sharing. Direct funding is critical not only to fill in gaps left by international organizations, but also to bolster refugee-led innovation and solutions. Investing in RLOs fosters a sense of ownership on the ground, bolsters accountability, and strengthens community connection. “Look at refugees as a[n] opportunity but not a burden,” Janvier reinforces. RLOs hold the key to re-shaping humanitarian aid by empowering those most central to the issue: refugees themselves.
Kathryn Thomason is an intern with Refugees International.