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The notion of humanitarian aid being used to combat poverty and hunger is being replaced in Europe with geopolitical “games” as states redirect aid to Ukraine and to defence spending, analysts warn after recent announcements by Sweden and Germany.
Earlier this year, humanitarian groups called for European donors to fill the gap as President Donald Trump dismantled the USAID programme, but instead other nations are further pulling back from their commitments around the world.
In December, Sweden announced a 10bn kronor (£800m) cut in development funding to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Tanzania and Bolivia. Germany’s humanitarian budget of €1.05bn (£920m) for 2026 will be less than half of last year’s, with spending refocused on areas deemed a priority to Europe.
“I think we are losing a consensus of solidarity and responsibility which has been established for a while now,” said Ralf Südhoff, director of the Berlin-based Centre for Humanitarian Action.
“Germany this year has started to phase out Latin America, decreased engagement in Asia and say they want to focus now on crises which have an impact on Europe,” he said, noting that while Ukraine was in need of funding because of Russia’s invasion, its location in Europe meant it was saved from the cuts developing countries have experienced.
The UK also announced earlier this year that it would be cutting aid to fund defence spending. Norway has increased its civilian support to Ukraine by 2.5bn kroner (£185m), to a quarter of its aid budget, but has been accused of making Africa pay for that rise with a 355m kroner cut (£26m).
France’s budget for 2026 will also see a €700m cut to aid spending, with a 60% reduction in food aid, while increasing defence spending by €6.7bn.
“It’s a broader geopolitical trend and there’s a misleading belief by European actors that they have to play this game now in the same way as Moscow, Beijing, Washington,” said Südhoff, suggesting aid will be more “transactional” and directed to where donors see direct benefits for themselves. “The reaction now is not to fill the gap or attempt to do so but to follow the [American] cuts.”
Analysis of Germany’s 2026 aid budget by Venro, a coalition of German NGOs, shows that the country is slashing funding to traditional development and poverty-reduction programmes, with a 20% cut for the World Food Programme and 33% for the Gavi vaccine alliance.
One of the few elements of the budget not cut is Germany’s partnerships with the private sector in developing countries.
Anita Kattakuzhy, director of policy at Near, a coalition of civil society groups in the global south, said a wider pattern is emerging among donors.
“Budgets are being reshaped under political pressure, and the communities who bear the consequences have no way to shape those decisions,” said Kattakuzhy.
“Cutting funding in this way may meet short-term priorities in donor capitals, but it destabilises the local systems that are keeping crises from getting worse.”
Among the countries most affected by aid cuts is Mozambique, which has suffered from cyclones and droughts as well as a resurgent conflict in the country’s Cabo Delgado province that has displaced more than 300,000 people since July.
The country has received only $31m of $222m funding required this year, leading to food distribution happening only every two months and covering 39% of caloric needs, according to the UN.
The cutting of development funding by Sweden will directly hit programmes used to rehabilitate and provide healthcare and education to people displaced by the insurgency in the Cabo Delgado region, which began in 2017.
All four of the African countries removed from Sweden’s development funding have seen cuts for HIV/Aids services, as experts warn there will be a reversal of years of progress in fighting the disease.
Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Tanzania are among six countries, along with Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia – that could bear the brunt of cuts to health programmes tackling HIV/Aids, according to analysis by the Boston Consultant Group.
Ilaria Manunza, country director for Save the Children Mozambique, said aid cuts have already made 2025 very difficult: “Every cut compounds the risk of long-term developmental setbacks, particularly in education and child protection,” said Manunza. “If current trends continue, 2026 will be extremely challenging … there is a real risk that progress made over the past decade could be reversed.”
