ROME: The UN’s World Food Programme warned Tuesday that funding cuts mean it will struggle to feed even a third of the 318 million people facing severe hunger in 2026.
“Declines in global humanitarian funding are forcing WFP to prioritize food assistance to roughly one third of those in need,” targeting 110 million of the most vulnerable, it said in a statement.
That would cost $13 billion, the agency estimated – but warned that “current funding forecasts indicate WFP may only receive close to half that goal.”
The WFP’s largest donor is the United States which, under President Donald Trump, has cut foreign aid, including to UN agencies. Other big donors, including some European nations, have also shrunk their humanitarian budgets.
The 318 million people facing acute hunger is more than double the figure recorded in 2019, as conflict, extreme weather and economic instability have taken their toll, the WFP said.
UN agencies this year declared famine in Gaza and parts of Sudan, something that WFP executive director Cindy McCain called “completely unacceptable in the 21st century.”
In a foreword to the WFP’s 2026 Global Outlook report, she said the world’s response “remains slow, fragmented and underfunded.”
“Global aid now covers less than half of total needs, with steep reductions in food assistance. Almost all operations have had to cut food and cash, and prioritize which vulnerable group receive help,” she wrote.
“At the same time, attacks on aid workers have surged, revealing a growing disregard for international humanitarian law.”
For those facing hunger in 2026, 41 million people are classified as facing emergency or worse levels.
Last week, both UN food agencies – WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – warned of 16 “hunger hotspots” around the globe, from Haiti to South Sudan, saying that funding shortfalls were worsening already dire conditions.
In a joint report, the agencies said that they had so far received only $10.5 billion out of a required $29 billion to help those at risk.
UN says lacks billions of dollars to feed world’s hungry
https://arab.news/v3aw3
UN says lacks billions of dollars to feed world’s hungry
- Up to 318 million people facing severe hunger in 2026
- UN agencies this year declared famine in Gaza and parts of Sudan
145 years on, Bangladesh’s Gen Z honors Begum Rokeya, author of first feminist utopia
- Begum Rokeya was one of the earliest voices for women’s rights and education in South Asia
- Her Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ School was one of the first schools for Muslim girls in Bengal
DHAKA: Bangladeshis marked Rokeya Day on Tuesday, remembering a 19th-century pioneer of women’s liberation and education in the Indian subcontinent and author of one of the world’s first feminist science-fiction utopias.
Begum Rokeya, also known as Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, was a writer and social reformer born on Dec. 9, 1880 in colonial India, in the Rangpur district of present-day Bangladesh.
Widely regarded as one of the earliest voices for women’s rights in South Asia, she is best known for her work promoting education.
“She went door to door to convince the guardians to send their girls to school. Nowadays, it seems very easy, but in the early 20th century, it was something beyond imagination,” said Afsana Rahman, a 21-year-old student at BRAC University.
She started reading Rokeya’s works at the age of 12, when the school authorities honored her as the best student with a set of books that included “Sultana’s Dream” — one of the world’s earliest works of feminist science fiction.
Rokeya wrote “Sultana’s Dream” in English in 1905, setting the story in Ladyland, a country ruled entirely by women.
In Ladyland, women managed administration, science, and education, while men lived in seclusion, reversing the traditional system. The country was peaceful, free of crime, and developed. Powered by solar energy, it used science for social development and innovation, rather than violence or warfare.
“I was amazed by her thoughts — how a woman could imagine a women-led society more than 100 years ago, when women were not allowed to go outside their homes,” Rahman told Arab News.
“Actually, her thoughts were far ahead of her time. Since then, Begum Rokeya has become my source of inspiration and has taught me to think beyond stereotypical ideas.”
Rokeya received no formal schooling and learned Bengali and English privately at home. She advocated that women could thrive when given freedom and education, which are essential not only for their personal growth but also for the progress of society as a whole.
Her main supporter was her husband, Khan Bahadur Sakhawat Hossain, whose role, too, is seen as part of Rokeya’s legacy, as her personal life “demonstrates that men can break the cycle of patriarchal oppression and work as equal partners in the struggle for women’s rights,” said Nayma Jannat, a 23-year-old who studies international relations at Dhaka University.
“Her legacy represents courage, vision and the hope for a more equal society … Rokeya’s works and thoughts remain relevant even after nearly 150 years because the fundamental structures she critiqued continue to shape our society today.”
In 1911, Rokeya founded the Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ School in Calcutta — one of the first schools founded specifically by and for Muslim girls in Bengal. Later moved to Dhaka, the school remains influential and is still active today.
By establishing schools, Rokeya “established women’s education as a center of real liberation,” and by challenging the patriarchal society and its cultural norms, strengthened the foundation for women’s self-identity, paving the way for “decolonized feminism,” said Rawank Jahan Rakamoni, 25, who is graduating in information science.
“Rokeya did not see women’s liberation as a personal outrage. She envisioned it as a structural social transformation … This integrated approach has established her as a pioneer of women’s liberation in the subcontinent.”
Bangladesh celebrates Rokeya on her birthday every Dec. 9. Her legacy remains influential among the younger generation of both men and women.
For Ashraful Alam Khan, 24-year-old anthropology student from Dhaka University, while Rokeya “inspired generations,” the work she started is still incomplete.
“Women in Bangladesh or South Asia in general are still deprived of many rights … I think that’s the main idea why she is still relevant because we still somehow face the same difficult realities,” he said.
Prokriti Shyamolima, who lives at Begum Rokeya Hall — one of the largest and most prominent women’s dormitories at Dhaka University — wants to see herself and other female students as Rokeya’s successors.
“Today, our women are working in every sphere, and women are delivering simultaneously at home and outside. Where did the women get this courage? It began with the initiatives of Begum Rokeya,” she said.
“The legacy of Begum Rokeya will continue as long as we survive.”
