In the face of a funding freeze by the United States, the system’s biggest donor, the UN humanitarian chief stated on Thursday that United Nations aid organizations must change and become more effective.
US President Donald Trump’s unexpected decision to stop almost all foreign aid financing has left UN relief organizations in shock.
The United States had been the world’s biggest donor to the United Nations and the world’s biggest supplier of aid.
“The postwar international system faces the greatest test since its creation.
The humanitarian community confronts a massive funding, morale, and legitimacy crisis”, Tom Fletcher, the head of the UN’s main humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement Thursday.
The statement came after the UN’s main agencies held an emergency meeting on Wednesday in Geneva on how to deal with the funding crisis.
Saying the cuts will have a “devastating” impact on the agencies’ work, Fletcher said the system had to adapt.
“We need to be lighter, faster, and less bureaucratic,” he said.
The agencies needed to find new funding partners, including in the private sector, he said.
“This is not a drill. We are underfunded, overstretched and under attack. But we have not lost the argument. Our cause is mighty, and our movement is strong,” he said.
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