US pledges $2bn in new UN model for delivery of humanitarian assistance

Key Highlights

• The billions of dollars in assistance pledged by Washington on Monday will be overseen by the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, the state department said, under what it described as new model of assistance agreed with the UN that aims to make aid funding and delivery more efficient and increase accountability for the spending of funds. UN data shows total US humanitarian contributions to the UN fell to about $3.38bn in 2025, equating to about 14.8% of the global sum.
• This was down sharply from $14.1bn the prior year, and a peak of $17.2bn in 2022. The US and UN will sign 17 memorandums of understanding with individual countries identified by the US as priority countries, officials from the state department and UN said in Geneva. But some areas that are priorities for the UN, including Yemen, Afghanistan and Gaza, will not be receiving US funding under the new mechanism, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said, adding that the UN will seek support from other donors to find funding for those. Jeremy Lewin, state department under secretary of state for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom, said further countries would be added as more money is contributed to the mechanism.“These are some countries where I think our interests overlap ...
• But over time, we will thoughtfully add additional countries,” Lewin said. A UN spokesperson said Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Sudan were among the countries covered in Monday’s package. But Gaza – where aid agencies have repeatedly said far more aid needs to get into the small, crowded enclave – is not covered in Monday’s announcement and will instead be handled on a separate track, Lewin said. A family in a makeshift tent in Gaza City, Gaza, on 28 December.
• amza Z.
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