Toronto, March 6, 2025 – A 12-year-old boy with Downs Syndrome in Ukraine who has been left severely emotionally distressed by a lifetime of conflict is at risk of becoming homeless due to foreign aid cuts, Save the Children said, as the child rights organisation shared examples of the impacts on cash assistance work around the world.
Dmytro* was aged one when conflict forced him and his family to move in 2014. In 2022 the escalation forced them to move again, and they were able to rent an apartment next to a rehabilitation centre supporting children with special educational needs due to child protection cash assistance from Save the Children.
But with funding cuts leading to the termination of this programme, the child rights organisation said Dmytro’s mother, his fulltime caregiver, was unsure how they will pay their rent and attend the centre which has provided rehabilitation, psychological support, and education for her son.
The same child protection cash assistance programme allowed Ivan*, his sister and their mother – living in areas experiencing heavy drone and missile strikes – to flee his physically abusive stepfather and rent a new home.
Save the Children said these are just two examples of how cash assistance is needed to support children. Cash assistance has in recent years gone from less than 1% to almost 20% of the total value of humanitarian assistance, becoming key in the sector’s determination to empower communities affected by conflict, poverty and disasters to make their own decisions.
Sonia Khush, Save the Children Country Director in Ukraine, said:
“What has a child living with disabilities in a war zone done to deserve this? What has his mother and full-time caregiver done to world leaders making these cruel decisions? These are the people bearing the burden of these callous cuts. There is no way of justifying this. If the basic rights of children – and their chance of survival – can be signed away so quickly, I dread to think what comes next.”
Meanwhile in Afghanistan, where a third of the population is living with crisis levels of hunger, Save the Children’s cash for food programmes have been abruptly terminated across eight of the country’s 34 provinces.
Since November, the aid agency has supported about 172,000 people in almost 25,000 households with this programme, giving families 2,900 Afghanis a month, or US$40, [2] to allow them to put food on the table in some of the hardest-to-reach parts of Afghanistan.
Aslam*, 60, a farmer, and his family benefitted from this programme. In their village there are limited work opportunities, water shortages and challenges accessing education and healthcare.
Aslam and his sons are daily wage laborers, often only able to work a few days per month. Before receiving cash assistance, Aslam’s* family struggled with poverty, unemployment, and food shortages. Receiving cash allowed Aslam to provide food like flour, wheat, oil, rice and sugar, for his children and seven grandchildren.
Speaking to Save the Children in December, Aslam said: “Approximately 250 families live in our village, and they struggle to organise three meals a day, like us. Sometimes, we skip dinner or eat leftovers for breakfast. The support we received from Save the Children is a lifeline for our family.”
In Colombia, cuts in funding have left nearly 8,400 people, half of them children, without cash assistance for basic needs. Daniela*, a refugee and single mother of three, said Save the Children’s cash assistance programme had allowed her to start a small business and send her children to school.
Meanwhile in Gaza the suspension of emergency cash assistance has severely impacted more than 10,000 families. In the West Bank, where violence has recently intensified, 730 households have been cut off from cash assistance they were using to meet their essential needs. Of this number, 280 households had a family member with a disability or chronic disease.
In Haiti – which has been in an official state of emergency due to escalating violence for a year – 2,500 people in the capital of Port-au-Prince will no longer receive cash assistance, Save the Children said. This termination comes as armed groups control 85-90% of the capital, and displaced children and their families are living in overcrowded schools-turned-shelters, often without adequate clean water, food, or protection.
Save the Children is calling on governments, donors, partners, and our community around the world to financially invest in children and their futures. As the aid sector will be forever changed by these rapid decisions to cut foreign aid, it is vital that in the longer term that we come together to reform the system in order to deliver effectively for children.
ENDS
*name has been changed to protect anonymity
[1] UKRAINE Protection Analysis Update: The Critical Need for Protection amongst Armed Conflict and Violence, JULY 2024
[2] Aslam and his family would have received this cash in March, April and May but it was cut off.
Content available here https://www.contenthubsavethechildren.org/Share/6fbgg7n65031p2oe2guyjax28ofwpay1
Media Contact
For additional information please contact Julie Marshall, Senior Manager, Media:
About Save the Children
Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In Canada and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.