Germany plans billion‑euro cuts to development aid amid global displacement crisis

The German government’s 2025 budget draft proposes cutting €937 million from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and €836 million from the Foreign Office, a total reduction of roughly €1.7 billion in funding for development cooperation and humanitarian assistance. The cuts would affect programmes for UN agencies such as the World Food Programme and many projects in the Global South, at a time when an estimated 120 million people are displaced worldwide and millions face hunger and extreme poverty.

At the University of Bielefeld’s Interdisciplinary Research Centre (ZiF), an international research group titled “Deconstructing ‘Displacement’, Reconstructing Housing” will examine housing solutions for displaced populations. Led by scholars from Australia, the United States and Germany, the project aims to combine perspectives from architecture, public health and management to develop practical, transferable approaches for sheltering refugees and other displaced persons.