The European Commission has set out an initial €1.9 billion humanitarian aid budget for 2026 as it said 239 million people worldwide need assistance while major donors are cutting funding.
The money is intended for life-saving help including emergency food and shelter, healthcare, protection for vulnerable people, and support for children’s education in crisis zones, the European Commission declared in a statement on Wednesday.
More than a quarter of the funding — €557 million — is earmarked for West and Central Africa, including the Sahel, the Lake Chad basin, north-west Nigeria, Central Africa, southern Africa, the Great Lakes region and the Greater Horn of Africa.
A further €448 million is allocated to the Middle East, with a focus on Gaza, as well as Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon.
Ukraine is set to receive €145 million, with an additional €8 million for humanitarian projects in Moldova.
Davos meetings and emergency reserve
The allocation also includes €126 million for humanitarian needs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, and €95 million for Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Southeast Asia and the Pacific is due to receive €73 million, with a focus on the crisis in Myanmar and its impact in Bangladesh, it added. North Africa is allocated €14.6 million.
More than €415 million is being held back to respond to sudden-onset emergencies worldwide and to maintain a strategic supply chain.
Hadja Lahbib, the European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, is in Davos this week to discuss with business leaders and investors how private sector funding and “new financing models” could support humanitarian responses.
She is due to co-host an event with the World Economic Forum on 22 January titled “New Alliances in Aid and Development."
