When Solidarity Is Struck, the World Cracks

Why predictable support and principled cooperation are the foundation of global progress

PositiveMinds | Positive Stories | Edition 068

Illustrated by me (A. Coulibaly) with canva.com

The Ground Beneath Us Is Shifting

Development doesn’t collapse in headlines. It fractures quietly, where the spotlight rarely reaches. In a remote village clinic, the shelves are going empty. In a refugee camp, food rations shrink. At a community school, teachers are asked to wait until next quarter. These aren’t isolated events. They are tremors that signal deeper instability.

In recent years, Official Development Assistance (ODA) has faced a sharp decline. In 2024 alone, ODA from OECD countries fell by 7.1% in real terms—the steepest drop in half a decade. Projections for 2025 are no better, with potential reductions of up to 17% depending on political and economic conditions (OECD, 2025). The withdrawal is not symbolic. It directly affects access to healthcare, education, water, and protection for millions of people.

For victims of gender-based violence, funding gaps mean fewer safe shelters. For displaced families, food insecurity deepens. For local NGOs, once-stable programmes now sit on unstable ground. The damage spreads faster than we admit, often reversing years of steady progress in months.

Essential Systems Are Being Hit First

The cuts are not abstract. They hit public services that communities rely on daily. Aid to health is projected to decline by as much as 33% in 2025 (IDDRI, 2025), which will impact immunisation campaigns, maternal care, and HIV prevention efforts. Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programmes are similarly vulnerable, despite evidence that safe WASH access could prevent over 1.4 million deaths annually (UNICEF, 2023).

Education systems are already strained. UNESCO reports that over 250 million children and youth are out of school, a number that is expected to rise as fragile budgets continue to collapse (UNESCO, 2023). These aren’t just statistics. They reflect decisions that communities are forced to make—between keeping a child in school or sending them to work, between buying food or medicine.

Several international NGOs have raised alarm bells about the consequences of erratic funding. Oxfam, for example, highlights the long-term damage caused by abrupt donor exits, which leave local institutions without the time, resources, or support needed to adapt effectively (Oxfam, 2024).

When donor behaviour is unpredictable, it doesn’t just disrupt programmes—it undermines localisation efforts and reinforces cycles of dependency, rather than building resilience.

Predictability Is the First Casualty

Solidarity cannot exist without reliability. Development requires more than good intentions; it depends on the ability to plan. Predictability—in funding, in partnerships, in policies—is what allows innovation to take root and local leadership to thrive.

When funding is paused, delayed, or withdrawn with little warning, local organisations are paralysed. Clinics cannot restock. Schools cancel programmes. Nutrition centres turn away mothers and children. These are not failures of execution; they are symptoms of a system built on unstable foundations.

Predictability is what turns potential into progress. Without it, ambition is stifled. Local leaders cannot lead. Communities cannot trust. Every disruption pushes the future further out of reach.

The System Is Flawed—But It Can Be Fixed

The development system has long been criticised—and rightly so. It has too often been top-down, bureaucratic, and extractive. Partnerships have been unequal. Local knowledge has been overlooked. And accountability has not always been mutual.

But the solution is not abandonment. It is reform. The system is flawed, but it can be fixed. If we commit to redesigning it around the principles of equity, humility, and shared responsibility, it can still serve as a powerful force for good.

To do this, we must restore predictability. Only with steady, long-term commitments can we dismantle the power imbalances we’ve inherited and foster the local leadership we aspire to support.

Raising the Resources: Oxfam’s Proposals

The question is often asked: Where will the money come from? Oxfam has offered some clear answers. A proposed "rich polluter tax" on fossil fuel companies—which have reported record profits amid global climate distress—could raise over $400 billion annually for climate and development efforts (Oxfam, 2025).

Additionally, a modest tax of just 2-5% on the world’s billionaires could generate $1.7 trillion every year—enough to end extreme poverty and fund universal health and education (Oxfam, 2023). The resources exist. What’s missing is the political will to reallocate them fairly.

Solidarity isn’t about generosity. It’s about justice.

Solidarity Is Infrastructure

We cannot afford to treat solidarity as an optional gesture. It is infrastructure. It is the foundation under every school, clinic, and community centre. It is what binds the promise of international cooperation to real results on the ground.

A study in The Lancet Global Health warns that a decline in health aid could lead to over 14 million preventable deaths by 2030 (Cavalcanti et al., 2025). That is not an abstract projection. It is a window into a future we still have time to avoid.

When solidarity holds, the world stands firm. When it is struck, everything begins to crack.

References

• OECD. (2025). Cuts in official development assistance: Full Report. [online] Available at: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/cuts-in-official-development-assistance_8c530629-en/full-report.html.‌

• IDDRI (2025). Reduction in development aid: what sectoral impacts in least developed countries? [online] Available at: https://www.iddri.org/en/publications-and-events/blog-post/reduction-development-aid-what-sectoral-impacts-least-developed.

• Oxfam (2025). Rich polluter profits tax could raise up to $400 billion and help phase out fossil fuels | Oxfam International. [online] Available at: https://www.oxfam.org/en/blogs/rich-polluter-profits-tax-could-raise-400-billion-and-help-phase-out-fossil-fuels.‌

• Oxfam (2023). Survival of the Richest. [online] Oxfam International. Available at: https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/survival-richest.

• Oxfam (2025). Oxfam reaction to OECD preliminary data on aid spending in 2024 | Oxfam International. [online] Available at: https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/oxfam-reaction-oecd-preliminary-data-aid-spending-2024.

• ‌UNESCO (2023). 250 Million Children out-of-school: What You Need to Know about UNESCO’s Latest Education Data. [online] Unesco.org. Available at: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/250-million-children-out-school-what-you-need-know-about-unescos-latest-education-data.

• Cavalcanti, D.M., Lucas, Ferreira, A., Basterra, E.L., Pena, D., Monti, C., Barreix, G., Silva, N.J., Vaz, P., Saute, F., Fanjul, G., Quique Bassat, Naniche, D., Macinko, J. and Davide Rasella (2025). Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis. The Lancet, [online] 0(0). doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01186-9.

• UNICEF (2023). Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022: Special focus on gender. [online] UNICEF DATA. Available at: https://data.unicef.org/resources/jmp-report-2023/.