We cannot profess to be anything but horrified at the shocking announcements from the United States and our own UK Government about sweeping cuts to foreign aid budgets.
As a faith-based organisation, loving your neighbour as yourself is a cornerstone of our international development work and we believe shared humanity makes the world a stronger place.
The recent decisions therefore have sent shock waves through the international development and humanitarian sector: abrupt funding cuts threaten the ability of international and local NGOs to sustain essential services and have life-and-death consequences for countless people in desperate situations.
These sweeping and harmful policy decisions have significantly limited many of our members’ ability to maintain programs and serve vulnerable families who need critical services. These actions undermine the values of mercy, compassion, solidarity, inclusion, respect and justice, which guide our mission and commitment to the most marginalised communities.
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What does this mean for Christian Aid?
Christian Aid has three programmes in Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Nigeria which have been terminated by the US authorities. This also applies to our role in a programme in Bangladesh, led by a partner.
In this ever-changing period of uncertainty, we are working closely with our partners to manage the implications but it remains clear that the termination of these contracts will have a devastating impact on these and many other lifesaving projects.
Patrick Watt, Christian Aid Chief Executive said:
The financial impact of the latest announcement on those NGOs that rely on UK aid will be serious. However, it is the human cost in some of the world’s poorest countries that ought to be making headlines.
Essentially, cuts like these mean people in refugee camps whose food parcels will shrink; children awaiting life-saving vaccines being pushed to the back of a lengthening queue; programmes to help smallholder farmers adapt to the climate crisis, abandoned.
Disappointingly, this is a continuation of a trend which has seen UK aid funding slashed and a wider pattern of weakening international cooperation.
Speaking at the House of Lords, our Chair Bishop Sarah Mullally said:
We must reject the false choice between defence and development... Properly used, development funding helps prevent conflict, tackles instability and builds a safer more just world. Cutting aid in this way risks exacerbating the very crisis that leads to insecurity and conflict
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Christian Aid believes boosting spending on defence should not come at the expense of fulfilling our responsibilities to people in crisis. We believe there is more than one solution; we urge the UK Government to show global leadership by taxing wealthy polluters and compelling private creditors to cancel debts for countries in crisis.
Despite the bleak news of the past few weeks, Christian Aid continues to stand firm in our belief that together, through faith and rights-based action, we can build a world which upholds and protects the dignity and worth of every human being.
As we keep the situation under careful review, we would like to thank our supporters for their faithful support and for continually demonstrating the unstoppable power of hope which has kept Christian Aid responding, pioneering, and evolving for 80 years.
As we look ahead, we look forward to welcoming more changemakers to join a global movement of partners, churches, supporters and communities united against poverty and injustice.
