America on Monday pledged $2bn in help to tens of hundreds of thousands of individuals going through starvation and illness in additional than a dozen nations subsequent 12 months, a part of what it stated was a brand new mechanism for the supply of life-saving help following main overseas support cuts by the Trump administration.
The US slashed its support spending this 12 months, and main western donors akin to Germany additionally pared again help as they pivoted to elevated protection spending, triggering a extreme funding crunch for the UN. The billions of {dollars} in help pledged by Washington on Monday will probably be overseen by the UN workplace for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, the state division stated, below what it described as new mannequin of help agreed with the UN that goals to make support funding and supply extra environment friendly and enhance accountability for the spending of funds.
UN knowledge reveals whole US humanitarian contributions to the UN fell to about $3.38bn in 2025, equating to about 14.8% of the worldwide sum. This was down sharply from $14.1bn the prior 12 months, and a peak of $17.2bn in 2022.
The US and UN will signal 17 memorandums of understanding with particular person nations recognized by the US as precedence nations, officers from the state division and UN stated in Geneva.
However some areas which are priorities for the UN, together with Yemen, Afghanistan and Gaza, is not going to be receiving US funding below the brand new mechanism, UN support chief Tom Fletcher stated, including that the UN will search help from different donors to seek out funding for these.
Jeremy Lewin, state division below secretary of state for overseas help, humanitarian affairs and non secular freedom, stated additional nations can be added as more cash is contributed to the mechanism.
“These are some nations the place I believe our pursuits overlap … However over time, we are going to thoughtfully add extra nations,” Lewin stated.
A UN spokesperson stated Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Sudan have been among the many nations coated in Monday’s package deal.
However Gaza – the place support companies have repeatedly stated much more support must get into the small, crowded enclave – isn’t coated in Monday’s announcement and can as an alternative be dealt with on a separate monitor, Lewin stated.
He stated that the US had permitted over $300m after Donald Trump’s administration helped dealer a Gaza ceasefire “to present pipeline to the UN companies”, including that the US will probably be working to get extra donors for a pooled mechanism below a separate monitor for Gaza below part two of the deal.
Fletcher stated that donors would have “particular necessities” round which nations and what sort of labor ought to be funded.
“However the humanitarian motion on the different finish of that should at all times be impartial and neutral and unbiased, and nothing within the work that we’re doing collectively right here on this partnership undermines these ideas,” he stated.
Lewin stated the main focus of the funding was on life-saving help, whereas funding for climate-related and different tasks that weren’t a precedence for the administration can be lower out. Earlier in December, the United Nations launched a 2026 support enchantment for $23bn to achieve 87 million folks in danger – half the $47bn searched for 2025, reflecting plunging donor help regardless of report international wants.
Fletcher acknowledged it had been a troublesome 12 months for the UN, following a slew of cuts whereas humanitarian crises in war-torn nations akin to Sudan surged, however stated he was optimistic following the US pledge.
“Tens of millions of lives will probably be saved throughout 17 nations,” stated Fletcher.
