Global Humanitarian Overview 2025 Monthly Updates

September update

Summary

Inter-Agency Coordinated Appeal: September Update

People in Need
300M
People Targeted
181M
Requirements (US$)
$45.34B
Appeals
43
Inter-Agency Appeals Funding (US$)
$9.57B
Appeals Coverage
21%
Total Humanitarian Funding (US$)
$16.09B
People Urgently Prioritized
114M
Urgently Prioritized Requirements (US$)
$29B

As of end-September, the 2025 Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) presents consolidated funding requirements of $45.34 billion to assist 181 million of the 300 million people in need across 73 countries. To date, only $9.57 billion has been reported, representing just 21 per cent of current financial requirements. This marks a 41 per cent decrease compared to the $16.21 billion recorded at the same time last year. Total humanitarian funding has also decreased this year - $16.09 billion compared to $22.49 billion last year, a 25 per cent decline.

Funding across almost all sectors has declined significantly. Total funding for food security this year stands at only $3.35 billion, representing a 45 per cent decrease compared to the same period last year. This follows an already substantial year-on-year decline from 2022 to 2023. Countries facing worsening humanitarian crises have been particularly hard hit. For example, GHO funding for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan has dropped by 66 per cent compared to the same time last year.

The June 2025 GHO hyper-prioritization exercise identified $29 billion in prioritized funding needs to support 114.4 million people with assistance and protection until the end of the year. USG Tom Fletcher noted that the prioritized requirements are “a call to action, not a plea for charity—it’s an appeal for responsibility, solidarity, and a future built on humanity.”

For the latest figures, please consult Humanitarian Action.

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Country Focus: Sudan

After two and a half years of war, Sudan remains locked in a humanitarian catastrophe of staggering dimensions. Civilians continue to be killed, injured and displaced in ongoing attacks in the Darfur and Kordofan regions. Sexual violence remains pervasive. Famine and acute food insecurity have spread during the ongoing lean season. Attacks on healthcare and essential infrastructure are fueling the spread of cholera and other diseases.

North Darfur’s El Fasher has been under a tightening siege for more than 500 days, with entry and exit routes blocked as attacks advance deeper into the city. Advocacy on a humanitarian pause in the area continues. In Khartoum and areas in the east in which relative stability is emerging, millions of people are returning to badly damaged cities and towns littered with explosive remnants of war, and in which basic services have been decimated.

Despite challenges posed by conflict and insecurity, bureaucratic and severe resourcing gaps, humanitarian organizations continue to scale up support where possible. Local organizations and community networks remain at the forefront of the response across Sudan, while facing serious mounting threats to their safety. In total, at least 120 humanitarian workers have been killed since the current conflict began in April 2023.

As of end September, some $1.06 billion in contributions have been recorded against the $4.16 billion requested in the 2025 Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP), representing just over 25 per cent of requirements. Funding coverage is the lowest it has been in more than ten years. Last year at the same time, $1.36 billion had been recorded against the $2.7 million 2024 Sudan HNRP, covering 50 per cent of the needs. The Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan (Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda) is only 20 per cent covered, with $355.1 million recorded against the $1.81 billion requirements.

The impact of funding gaps is increasingly being felt on the ground, including cuts to food rations, closure of community kitchens, and further reductions in reproductive health services and support to survivors of sexual violence.

New injections of flexible funding are urgently needed to ensure that humanitarian organizations can adjust to the complex and highly dynamic nature of the crisis, and take full advantage of access openings as they arise. This year, partners aim to assist 20.9 million of the 30.4 million people in need. That would represent an increase of more than 40 per cent over the number of people targeted last year.

The Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SHF) remains a key channel of support for local and international non-governmental organizations (NGO), with $125 million in allocations so far in 2025. Support to grassroots partners is a central priority for the Fund and innovative modalities for reaching mutual aid groups with flexible small-scale grants continue to be refined and built upon.

Extreme access challenges in crisis-and famine-struck Sudan have made community kitchens key to helping people in need. As they provide food and social support that help hold communities together, grassroots organizations running these kitchens deserve huge credit. This work is made possible thanks to the OCHA-managed Sudan Humanitarian Fund, which the Netherlands is proud to support. We hope other countries will join in contributing to this country-based pooled fund (CBPF), so Sudanese people and communities can survive.

Nathalie Olijslager-Jaarsma

Director, Stabilization and Humanitarian Assistance, Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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Thematic Focus: Anticipatory Cash through Pooled Funds

Climate-related disasters are now more frequent and severe, but the financial resources to respond to these disasters are more stretched than ever. The question is no longer whether to act early, but how to do so more effectively.

Giving people cash ahead of a disaster (anticipatory cash) via pooled funds is one of the most effective ways to help them mitigate the disaster’s impact. They can act quickly, buy food or medicine, secure valuables, fix shelter or evacuate. Cash gives people decision-making power, improves food security, reduces harmful coping strategies and enables faster recovery.

Cash was used in every activated OCHA-coordinated anticipatory action framework in 2024, accounting for 42 per cent ($8.3 million) of the $19.6 million disbursed by the Central Emergency Response Fund to partners. Most of the cash was multipurpose, giving people maximum flexibility to choose the best way to meet their own needs.

Tom Fletcher, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, explained: “Anticipatory cash delivers what the Humanitarian Reset promises: provide aid when it counts, dignity for people, and maximum impact for every dollar. It works, and OCHA’s pooled funds are the most strategic way to scale it.”

A recent case study - Act Early, Act Together, Empower People - Lessons Learned from Anticipatory Cash Through OCHA's Pooled Funds - draws on years of OCHA’s experience in facilitating and financing anticipatory cash and the lessons learned. The evidence is clear: the most effective way to help people prepare for and withstand disasters is to provide cash with complementary in-kind assistance, delivered through coordinated joint AA frameworks and aligned with national systems wherever possible.

As Dr. Ina Heusgen, Director for Humanitarian Assistance, Germany Federal Foreign Office, said: “Germany supports OCHA's pooled funds because they deliver on what matters: speed, scale, coordination and impact. Anticipatory cash reaches people before disaster hits and helps them recover faster. For us, this is about fulfilling our Grand Bargain commitments and ensuring we have the transparency we need to demonstrate to our taxpayers that every euro is used in the most effective way possible.”

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Pooled Funds

Total 2025 Allocations (US$)
$1.03B
Countries Assisted with 2025 Allocations
38

In September 2025, OCHA-managed Pooled Funds allocated grants across 12 countries amounting to $79.3 million to enable essential and life-saving humanitarian assistance. Of this amount, the Country and Regional Funds allocated $58.3 million and the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) $21 million.

Contributions year-to-date (as of 30 September):

  • Country-based Pooled Funds (CBPFs): nearly $700 million, compared to $838 million at the same point in 2024.
  • CERF: $352 million, versus $486 million by end-September 2024.

For more information about allocations, please visit the CBPFs’ Data Hub and CERF's website

CENTRAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND

Allocations endorsed by the ERC as of 30 September 2025

September Allocations (US$)
$21M
Total 2025 Allocations (US$)
$250.8M
Countries Assisted with Allocations in September
8

Allocations in focus: On 29 September 2025, CERF allocated $928,000 to support a rapid, multisectoral response to a cholera outbreak in the Republic of Congo. The allocation aims to contain the outbreak and strengthen long-term resilience in hard-to-reach communities. The allocation targets 75,000 people across hotspot areas, including Brazzaville (Mbamou Island, Talangai) and riverine districts such as Mossaka, Loukoléla, Bokoma, and Liranga. Led by WHO and UNICEF, the response combines emergency health interventions, with WASH activities to ensure access to safe water and hygiene promotion. The emergency health interventions include cholera treatment kits, mobile clinics, and surveillance. Community engagement and risk communication are central to the strategy, which also integrates protection and inclusion measures for women, girls, and persons with disabilities.

COUNTRY-BASED POOLED FUNDS

Allocations launched by 30 September 2025

September Allocations (US$)
$58.3M
Total 2025 Allocations (US$)
$786M
Countries Assisted with Allocations in September
6

Allocation in focus: In September 2025, the Sudan Humanitarian Fund launched a $28 million Standard Allocation to reinforce protection and integrated service delivery in the context of one of the world’s largest displacement crises. Strategically designed to complement earlier famine-focused funding, the allocation prioritizes safeguarding women, children, and other at-risk groups, while sustaining continuity in health and nutrition services. Through localized, field-driven programming, it supports NGOs at the forefront of the response and complements earlier allocations from CERF. The allocation targets 2.8 million people across 25 high-risk localities in Khartoum, Darfur, Kordofan, Northern, and River Nile States. Over half of the funding supports protection interventions, while the remainder enables life-saving assistance in health, WASH, nutrition, and shelter. A central feature is the rollout of integrated service hubs that co-locate essential services and strengthen referral pathways, improving access and accountability in underserved areas.

Pooled Funds Impact Story

IDPs in Central Darfur: clean water nearby

Nemat Adam lives with her family, including her children and their grandparents, near Zalingei in central Darfur. Getting water was a daily chore.

“We suffered greatly due to the lack of available water, and as the woman responsible for managing the household, I had to walk an hour every day to fetch water. Carrying large containers on my head multiple times daily was exhausting,” Nemat explains. “To meet our family’s needs, I made several trips to collect seven jerry cans of water daily, which left me with little time to focus on my children.”

The civil war in Sudan has made access to clean water extremely difficult, especially in areas affected by fighting and displacement. The destruction of infrastructure and restrictions on movement have left many families struggling to secure enough water for daily use.

The water crisis has forced women and children to take on the exhausting task of walking long distances, sometimes through dangerous areas, to fetch water from unsafe sources, increasing the risk of deadly diseases, such as diarrhea and cholera. UNICEF says that about 17.3 million people in Sudan do not have access to safe drinking water.

With support from the Sudan Humanitarian Fund, International Medical Corps repaired water supply systems in Gulsa and Zalingei - two villages in Central Darfur - bringing thousands of people clean water, including Nemat. The organization repaired two water tanks - each capable of holding 20,000 litres, enough water to serve 2,600 people daily - and 25 water distribution points. They also installed a solar-powered pump and fenced off the water facilities.

International Medical Corps also recruited and trained a 12-member water management committee, which is now run by community leaders. They learned basic operation and maintenance procedures, as well as how to contact Central Darfur State’s Water and Environment Sanitation Agency if more complex issues arise.

“Access to clean water is essential, and seeing its impact on families such as Nemat’s reinforces why we do this work,” emphasizes Arif Osman, WASH Manager with International Medical Corps. “We have made a real difference for this vulnerable community.”

“The change was immediate,” Nemat recalls. “The water station, which had been inactive for more than three years, restored a continuous water supply for our village... Having readily available water has lifted a huge burden off my shoulders. I can now focus on caring for my children without worrying about when and how I will get water.”

Based on an original story from International Medical Corps

For more information: visit the Sudan Humanitarian Fund and for real-time contribution and allocation data go to the Pooled Funds Data Hub.

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References

  1. Funding to date is based on information reported to the Financial Tracking Service and may not yet include all resources available to humanitarian organizations.