Abandoned by Aid: Now Grassroots Resilience is More Essential Than Ever

Severe cuts to international aid budgets have left millions struggling to meet their basic needs, from food and water to healthcare and housing. Funding reductions have affected communities across the Global South, particularly those already vulnerable due to conflict, displacement, and climate-related disasters. These cuts expose the failures of a system that fosters dependency while offering no long-term solutions. While aid remains crucial, this crisis underscores the urgency of supporting locally-led regenerative solutions that strengthen resilience and reduce reliance on external policies.

For example, in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, which shelters approximately 300,000 refugees, food rations have been reduced to just 40% of the minimum requirement due to funding shortfalls, leading to protests and clashes with police (The Guardian). In Malawi, severe funding reductions have forced humanitarian organisations to scale back food aid programs, leaving thousands of families facing acute hunger amid a worsening climate crisis (Reuters). Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, the United Nations has warned that food rations for Rohingya refugees may be cut in half due to ongoing funding shortages (Reuters).

The recent aid cuts must serve as a wake-up call for the humanitarian and development sectors. We cannot continue relying on an extractive aid model that is at the mercy of political and economic shifts in donor countries. Instead, we must prioritise decolonial, solidarity-based, and non-extractive frameworks that place power and resources directly in the hands of communities leading their own regeneration.

The False Promise of Aid Dependency

For decades, mainstream humanitarian and development models have operated on a system of dependency, where communities facing crises are positioned as passive recipients of aid rather than active agents of their own recovery and regeneration. This model, while sometimes necessary in acute emergencies, has ultimately disempowered communities, reinforcing cycles of vulnerability rather than breaking them.

Now, with drastic funding cuts, communities are left with even fewer resources to navigate increasingly complex challenges. These reductions are being imposed while we witness the sharp rise in extreme weather events, growing displacement crises, and widening inequalities. The logic is baffling: when the need is greatest, support is being withdrawn.

Strengthening Resilience: The Power of Regenerative Approaches

This crisis, however, underscores why shifting away from externally driven aid models towards strengthening grassroots agency is more essential than ever. Regenerative approaches - such as those grounded in Agroecology, permaculture, indigenous knowledge systems, and nature-based solutions - offer a path towards true resilience. These approaches not only address immediate survival needs but also restore ecological and social health, ensuring that communities are equipped to withstand and adapt to future challenges.

Winnie and Jean-Paul from the YICE Uganda team show the compost hey have been able to make using their ecological sanitation latrines.

Across various displacement settings, regenerative projects are already proving their effectiveness in building resilience beyond aid dependency:

• Community Composting (Uganda – UNIDOS): By turning organic waste into nutrient-rich compost, UNIDOS, a refugee-led initiative, is improving soil health and enabling food production in settlements. This reduces reliance on external food aid and ensures families can cultivate their own food, enhancing their autonomy and long-term food security.

• Urban Agriculture (Cameroon – MOCGSE, Greece – Sporos Regeneration Institute): In Cameroon, MOCGSE has helped displaced communities reclaim underutilised spaces to grow fresh vegetables, reducing dependency on fluctuating food aid. In Greece, Sporos Regeneration Institute has trained refugees in Athens to establish urban and rooftop gardens, providing direct sources of nutrition and opportunities for cooperative food sales.

• EcoSan Latrines (Uganda – YICE): YICE Uganda has introduced Ecological Sanitation (EcoSan) latrines in Nakivale refugee settlement, providing families - particularly those with disabled members - access to safe, dry toilets. These composting latrines transform human waste into nutrient-rich compost, which is then used to improve soil fertility for local food production. This closed-loop system reduces health risks, enhances agricultural productivity, and ensures that communities have sustainable sanitation solutions that do not depend on external aid.

• Home Gardens (Bangladesh – BASD): BASD has pioneered permaculture home gardens for displaced families and low-income households, demonstrating that even small spaces can be transformed into productive, diverse food-growing areas. These gardens improve food security, restore degraded land, and allow families to supplement their diets without depending on volatile aid supplies.

• Lime Stabilised Soil (Bangladesh – Bee Rowan & IOM): Re-Alliance supported LSS expert Bee Rowan to train Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, collaboration with IOM,  to use locally available lime-stabilised soil to construct fire-resistant and durable shelters. This method reduces reliance on expensive imported building materials and empowers refugees with construction skills for long-term housing stability.

By investing in regenerative solutions like these, communities can build food sovereignty, restore degraded landscapes, and create sustainable livelihoods. Unlike traditional aid models that impose external solutions, regenerative approaches center the knowledge, skills, and agency of those most affected by crisis. This is the foundation of genuine resilience - one that does not depend on volatile international aid budgets but rather on strengthening local systems of mutual aid, ecological stewardship, and cultural regeneration.

Taking Action for a Resilient and Regenerative Future

Now is not the time for retreat. Now is the time for transformation. It is time to move beyond dependency and towards regenerative resilience - where communities have the tools, knowledge, and resources to determine their own futures, free from the whims of donor countries. Aid cuts are leaving communities more vulnerable than ever, but grassroots solutions already exist, they just need support. 

At Re-Alliance, we are committed to amplifying and supporting this essential work. Join Re-Alliance today to connect with the expertise of over 300 organisations engaged in regenerative approaches. Together, we can collaborate, share knowledge, and implement real, community-led solutions that ensure long-term stability and autonomy.

As part of this mission, Re-Alliance, in collaboration with YICE Uganda, is developing a pioneering community-led settlement design project that will create a replicable, regenerative settlement model for displaced communities. This initiative integrates housing, food production, sanitation, and renewable energy through participatory community planning, setting a new standard for humanitarian response. Your contribution - whether through funding, technical expertise, advocacy, or otherwise - can support us in making this vision a reality.

We invite you to join us in this urgent and transformative work, email us at contact@re-alliance.org to discuss how you can support this effort financially, with your expertise, or in other ways.

Donate Now to Support Grassroots Regeneration

Join us in supporting community-led regenerative solutions. Because resilience, sovereignty, and regeneration are not just possible, they are essential.