NWC in Kenya- mapping impact of funding cuts on refugee women-led organizations

Women and refugee-led organizations are on the frontlines of dismantling various forms of oppression.

While the funding cuts on the works of grassroots and community organizations is not new, this year saw an unprecedented funding crisis, coupled with a more restrictive and hostile climate towards migration, women’s rights and other social issues. 

👉 Consequently, these organizations and the communities they support are the ones bearing the brunt of funding cuts - such as the dismantling of USAID in the beginning of 2025. 

In January, NWC launched a global survey to map and understand the effects of funding reductions on women-led grassroots organizations. Last week, our Founder and Managing Director, Anila Noor,  Partnership and Community Lead Nurhidayah Hassan travelled to Nairobi, Kenya, to conduct a series of focus group discussions (FGD) with refugee women leaders, to document lived experiences, identify emerging challenges, and collect policy-relevant recommendations to inform donors and humanitarian actors.

🗣 The message is clear: refugee women leaders are calling on decision-makers and donors to keep investing in locally led, women-led organizations, warning that without sustained funding, both livelihoods and lives are at risk.

The insights gathered in Nairobi will contribute to a broader evidence base that advocates for more equitable, inclusive, and sustained funding for forcibly displaced, refugee and stateless women-led organisations.  The findings from the research and survey will be shared at the upcoming Global Refugee Forum Progress Review event in Geneva, where NWC will strongly advocate for accountability and sustainable funding from donors and UN institutions. Thank you to all the refugee women leaders who attended and participated in the FGD session, and shared so many rich insights with us.

❓🚨 Are you a refugee women-led organisation that has been impacted by funding cuts? You can still fill out our survey - make your voice heard and strengthen our collective efforts to challenge injustices! Click the link here to find it: https://lnkd.in/dNdcmH2y

Thanks to the Whole World Women Association and Refugee-Led Organization Network of Kenya (RELON-Kenya) for supporting the FGD session.