Two UN Funds launch results and renewed joint call for action to finance feminist change

This critical moment comes amid severe funding challenges for civil society groups worldwide. In its latest research, UN Women found that nearly half (47 per cent) of women’s organizations affected by humanitarian crisis could be forced to close within six months if current reductions in international funding persist with catastrophic impact on women and families - underscoring the urgent need to scale up sustained, flexible support to ensure the survival and effectiveness of women-led and women’s rights organizations in fragile settings.

According to its 2024 Annual Report, the UN Trust Fund supported 180 women-led organizations across 74 countries last year, reaching more than 14.7 million people – over 7.7 million of them women and girls, many from the most marginalized communities. Despite their critical work, over 70 per cent of grantee partners reported facing backlash, including funding cuts, digital surveillance, and threats, according to the UN Trust Fund’s report Beyond Backlash: Advancing Movements to End Violence Against Women.

More than 98 per cent of grantees were women-led organizations, and over half leveraged their UN Trust Fund grants to secure additional—and often flexible—funding, essential in contexts of conflict, disaster recovery, and political instability. “In the face of rising anti-rights movements, women-led organizations are not retreating—they are rising,” said Abigail Erikson, Chief of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. “This year’s results show that when we invest in civil society and women’s rights organizations, we are investing in systemic, lasting change.”

In 2024, WPHF channeled urgent support to 579 local women-led and women’s rights civil society organizations and 344 women human rights defenders across 34 conflict and crisis-affected countries worldwide, according to the new WPHF 2024 Annual Report: Financing Women on the Frontlines Advancing Peace. Nearly half of these organizations were first-time recipients of UN funding, evidencing the accessible nature of WPHF for emerging and local and grassroots organizations.

Flexible funding from WPHF has been a lifeline for women’s organizations, allowing them to adapt and respond quickly in rapidly changing contexts through both institutional and programmatic funding. “But support must be sustainable and CSO-driven, which is exactly what our local partners are urgently calling for,” said Tonni Ann Brodber, Head of the WPHF Secretariat. “Now more than ever, we must ensure community-based organizations have the resources to adapt, to innovate, and to lead their own solutions in increasingly challenging contexts.”

In a year of escalating violence and deep cuts to foreign aid, demand for funding reached record-breaking levels – the UN Trust Fund received $1.5 billion in requests and was able to fund just a fraction. “Support from funds like the UN Trust Fund and the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) is vital for empowering those on the front lines to meet basic needs, ensure access to essential services, and protect the rights and safety of women and girls,” said Hala Al-Karib, Regional Director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), a grantee partner of both the UN Trust Fund and WPHF.

As the global challenges facing women’s organizations grow increasingly complex, there is an urgent need for collaboration between donor governments, the UN system, and multilateral partners to strengthen funding approaches that drive resources directly to the frontlines. Sustainable, flexible, and locally-led funding must become the standard, enabling women’s organizations to anticipate, adapt, and respond effectively to rapidly shifting crises.

WPHF and the UN Trust Fund are working together to build a more effective and coordinated funding pipeline within the UN System for frontline women’s groups worldwide, combining WPHF's catalytic, urgent support in crisis settings with the UN Trust Fund's scalable funding that strengthens sustainability and long-term impact.

2025 marks a pivotal year as the world commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. In this landmark moment, WPHF and the UN Trust fund are adding their voices to the global call for governments, donors, and multilateral partners to continue our strong partnership and collaboration and urgently increase and sustain investments in women and frontline women’s organizations. These organizations are delivering life-saving services, protecting human rights, and advancing sustainable peace in the world’s most challenging contexts.

By investing in women’s leadership and feminist movements, the international community can catalyze transformative, lasting change, working across the peace-humanitarian-development nexus to build a more just and equitable future for all, as enshrined in the principles of the UN charter.

Anna Alaszewski, Programme Manager, UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women anna.alaszewski[at]unwomen.org ; +1-347-281-0461

Matthew Rullo, Communications and Advocacy Specialist, United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) matthew.rullo[at]unwomen.org;  +1-210-255-0175