An analytical note issued by the Global Protection Cluster (GPC), an international platform for humanitarian protection coordination, analyzed the effect of funding cuts on child support programs in crisis scenarios. This study was supplemented by a survey conducted between March and May 2026, involving humanitarian organizations across 22 operations, covering Mozambique, Somalia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, collecting 786 responses, of which 391 reported direct damage to child protection programs.
The data revealed that 48.5% of participants in the capacity mapping pointed to impacts on child protection. Furthermore, 87% of affected agents mentioned losses or reductions in frontline staff, 84% reported service or activity reduction, 78% indicated loss of geographical reach, and 74% observed less interaction with assisted communities.
In Mozambique, the survey identified eight responses related to problems in child protection capacity, corresponding to 3.3% of the total occurrences related to staff reduction in case management programs. The country had the same number of responses as Ukraine, trailing contexts such as Somalia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Mali, and Yemen.
Although the report does not offer a detailed analysis of the Mozambican situation—which faces armed insurgency in Cabo Delgado since 2017, in addition to cyclones and floods that generated millions of displaced persons—it includes the country among those where losses of field staff, technical supervision, coordination, information management, and specialized knowledge in the area of child protection were documented.
The GPC concluded that financial cuts are harming crucial functions for safeguarding children, such as case management, family reunification, psychosocial support, monitoring of violations, community prevention, and referral systems for specialized aid.
The note highlights that local and national entities are the most affected by budget cuts, accounting for 43.9% of responses regarding impacts on child protection. According to the GPC, the disorganization of these organizations implies not only a decrease in services but also the collapse of community networks, local knowledge, and bonds of trust essential for child protection mechanisms in humanitarian settings.
Globally, the greatest impacts were recorded in Somalia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Syria, nations marked by armed conflicts, forced displacement, or extended humanitarian crises. The report warns that child protection systems were already operating under great strain before the financial cuts, and the scarcity of resources threatens the ability to identify, monitor, and assist children exposed to violence, exploitation, family separation, or other rights violations.
The document's conclusion is that the funding crisis is not a passing problem, but rather a factor weakening entire child protection structures, including technical teams, surveillance systems, referral mechanisms, and territorial coverage, whose reconstruction may take years.
Additionally, a United Nations report points out that Mozambique registered 552 serious violations against 355 children in 2025, concentrated mainly in Cabo Delgado. This report warns of kidnappings, forced recruitment, sexual violence, and attacks on schools committed by insurgent groups.
The latest report from the UN Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, presented in June to the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, places Mozambique among the countries where minors continue to face direct consequences of armed violence.