Dwindling Foreign Aid: Crises Competing for Global Attention and Resources

Global Decline in International Aid

• 📉 International aid has seen a significant decline, with a 7% drop in 2024 and an estimated further 17% decrease in 2025, partly due to the dismantling of USAID.
• ⚠️ This global reduction in funding creates a competition for attention and resources among the world's most severe conflicts.

Shifting Global Order and Conflict Trends

• 🌍 We are entering a new and more dangerous age as the liberal international order, its institutions, norms, and principles, are crumbling.
• 💥 Key trends include the resurgence of territorial grabs and the collapse of guardrails that once defined state cooperation.
• 🌐 The International Crisis Group highlights escalating tensions between major powers like the US and China, and the US and Mexico.

The Competition for Attention

• 🌍 Conflicts like Ukraine and Gaza initially vied for global attention, with Sudan now emerging as the worst humanitarian crisis also competing for resources.
• 💡 The International Crisis Group's mission is to focus on "off the radar" conflicts that don't always capture headlines or decision-maker bandwidth.
• ⚠️ A concerning trend is that conflicts are not just forgotten but deprioritized due to limited capacity and competing crises.

Impact of Aid Cuts on the Ground

• 💔 The immediate impact of aid cuts includes misery and uncertainty for those relying on assistance, affecting local civil society groups and humanitarian efforts.
• 🧠 The loss of expertise and institutional knowledge at agencies like USAID is a significant blow, impacting the ability to assess and prioritize needs.
• 🤝 There's a hope for a more resilient architecture that can better collaborate with local and regional actors in the wake of these cuts.

The Rohingya Crisis and Global Empathy Deficit

• ⛺ Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh hosts the world's largest refugee camp, housing 1.2 million Rohingya, highlighting a humanitarian catastrophe often overlooked.
• ⚖️ The situation is compounded by Bangladesh's own political transition and the complex dynamics of resistance movements within Myanmar.
• 😔 A deficit of empathy globally makes it challenging to garner support for crises beyond those with immediate international security implications.

Finding Hope Amidst Crisis

• 💡 Despite the challenges, the International Crisis Group finds windows of opportunity within every crisis, focusing on creative solutions and possibilities.
• 🤝 The dedication of colleagues on the ground, providing information and identifying potential pathways forward, fuels optimism and prevents despair.
• 🌐 There's a growing overlap between domestic and international issues, requiring clear communication to domestic constituencies about why global crises matter.