Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Entwicklung und Humanitäre Hilfe
Afterthought (EN)
On 9 May, Global Responsibility’s member organizations came together for Aid Matters 2025. The event created space for honest reflection and strategic dialogue in light of growing internal and external challenges. Keynote speakers from Austria, the Netherlands, and Slovakia emphasized the need for courage, clarity, and cooperation in order to adapt to these challenges.
On 9 May 2025, the directors and staff of Global Responsibility’s member organizations came together for Aid Matters 2025—a new format replacing one of our two annual general assemblies. The event created space for honest reflection and strategic dialogue in light of growing internal and external challenges: shrinking budgets, political polarization, and changing narratives around development cooperation.
During the closed opening session of Aid Matters 2025 for managing directors and other representatives of the member organizations, the 22 participants were invited to share their concerns and perspectives on the core question: How can we, as a sector, maintain our impact in an seemingly divided world? As the Chatham House Rule applied, participants were invited to speak from the heart and listen deeply, acknowledging the need for collective reflection in times of uncertainty.
In the afternoon, Aid Matters 2025 was open to the general staff of the member organizations. It included insightful input from our director Lukas Wank, Liana Hoornweg (Partos, the Netherlands), Daniel Kaba (Ambrela, Slovakia) and Stefan Wallner (Bündnis für Gemeinnützigkeit, Austria).
During his opening keynote address, our director Lukas Wank reflected on the state of international cooperation in a time of growing political uncertainty and financial pressure. He highlighted how recent political events in Austria and around the world, ranging from shifting coalitions to the reduction of major aid commitments, have exposed the fragility of the current aid system. He argued that the sector in Austria is not undergoing reform. Instead, it is witnessing the dismantling of earlier successes like increased ADA budgets and funding for climate and health.
Lukas Wank warned of an era of austerity, growing nationalism, and shrinking civic space. He identified a critical divide between those trying to improve the aid system from within and those seeking to reimagine it altogether. He emphasized that both approaches are necessary for successfully engaging in politicymaking and effective communication, and resisting the framing of aid as a transactional tool of national interest.
Above all, Lukas Wank urged the sector to move beyond defensiveness, to build on shared visions and to foster new forms of systemic collaboration, ensuring that development cooperation remains not only relevant, but transformative. “We are not witnessing the end of aid,” he concluded, “but a battle for its future.”
Liana Hoornweg, the director of the Dutch umbrella organization Partos, gave a powerful and urgent talk about the political and financial challenges the civil society currently faces in the Netherlands, which extend to broader European and global contexts. She reflected on the aftermath of the Dutch elections in late 2023, which resulted in a significant political shift to the right and dramatic cuts to development cooperation and civil society funding. Liana Hoornweg pointed out that from 2026 to 2030, the Netherlands are set to cut 2.5 billion euros in ODA—one-third of their total—while slashing two-thirds of civil society support. These actions, however, are not only driven by finances, but also by ideology. The space for NGOs’ dissent and their critical watchdog function is shrinking, as is the space for transformative partnerships.
The director of Partos warned that civil society in the Netherlands is increasingly perceived as an elitist, leftist bubble, despite its work with the most marginalized. Meanwhile, terms like localization are being co-opted to justify regressive aid models. Smaller organizations are particularly at risk, with many considering mergers or closure. Despite the sobering outlook, Liana Hoornweg’s message was ultimately one of resilience and strategic adaptation. She called for a narrative shift, a renewed effort to connect with non-traditional allies, and collective action across sectors. “We have a good story,” she emphasized. “We just need to learn how to tell it differently and find the right allies to amplify it. Let’s stand together, be strong together!”
Her talk served as a compelling call to rethink strategies and build movements rooted in justice, solidarity, and hope. “Keep your head up and your back straight,” she concluded.
Due to political shifts in Slovakia, Daniel Kaba, the director of the Slovakian umbrella organization Ambrela positioned the country as a potential “laboratory” for examining political shifts in Europe. A key moment in Slovakia’s democratic backsliding was when an unofficial political agreement was broken: that those in power would not investigate or prosecute their predecessors. This caused a loss of trust and institutional stability in an already highly polarized society that is deeply susceptible to conspiracy theories and hoaxes, as noted by Daniel Kaba. Unlike neighbouring countries such as Poland or the Czech Republic, Slovakia also displays strong pro-Russian sentiments—an important factor in shaping its domestic and foreign policy discourse.
These political developments are accompanied by worrying public attitudes. According to recent surveys such as e.g. Globsec Trends 2024,
When it comes to Slovak ODA, there were massive budget cut regarding the Slovak development cooperation grants accessible to NGOs (up to 70%) primarily due to limits on public expenses in 2024. Prioritizing economic diplomacy over civic engagement further threatens their systemic involvement in the official aid with predictability plummeting down. Frozen USAID funding has had some but rather lesser impact on projects of Slovak NGOs. The USAID freeze secondarily hit more domestic projects focusing on refugee integration. In response, Ambrela is actively rethinking its role and strategy. This includes:
Importantly, Ambrela has committed to deeper internal dialogue, recognizing the need for more trust building, informal interactions and resource pooling. Daniel Kaba concluded his talk with the words that “Slovakia may be a warning sign but it’s also a place of learning and resilience.”
Another input came from Stefan Wallner, the director of the Bündnis für Gemeinnützigkeit in Austria. In his speech, he pointed out that today’s cumulative crises are erroding common spaces and our shared foundations in society. This has led to what he called erschöpfte Gereiztheit—exhausted edginess. Consequently, this phenomenon is evident not only on social media, but also throughout public life, and it’s not going away.
Stefan Wallner argued that we have lost trust in each other (further strained by events like the COVID pandemic), in institutions (now often seen as restricting rather than enabling freedom), and in the future itself. Those who vote for the far right, in particular, no longer believe in improvement. This leads to isolation and reluctance to act or engage beyond personal comfort zones.
Building on this, Stefan Wallner also addressed the phenomenon of Emocracy—emotions dominating democratic processes, as seen during campaigns like Donald Trump’s. Today’s „post-social media” landscape is no longer an attention economy but an outrage economy (Aufregungsökonomie), where negative emotions are amplified by algorithms and fed back into society. He emphasized that this climate is here to stay and will not simply revert when political figures like Trump leave the stage.
The director of the Bündnis für Gemeinnützigkeit pointed out that NGOs and other civil society organizations are thus required to refocus on their purpose rather than to perfection their processes. They should focus on their founding mission, not just tools. „Are we just scaling or are we having a real impact?“, he asked, since operational excellence means little without a clear sense of impact.
Stefan Wallner then questioned the tendency of the sector to focus on cost income ratios and fundraising over building a relevant public identity and engaging with societal values in society. He called for greater investment in storytelling, values, and solidarity. Traditional institutions that build this foundation of society, such as unions and churches, are losing traction. Ultimately, he urged organizations to embrace strong emotions and epic narratives, asserting that facts and figures alone aren’t enough. Purpose, not just performance measurement, must guide the way forward.
After a coffee break, the 50 participants of Aid Matters 2025 gathered around tables for a World Café session to strenghten their own reselience and that of the sector. Guided by three key questions, they shared ideas, concerns, and ways to support each other. They stressed the need for unity and collaboration across the development and humanitarian sector, recognizing that today’s challenges go beyond individual organizations. This includes aligning behind common goals, stepping beyond sectoral boundaries, and joining broader movements for human rights, democracy, and solidarity.
Ultimately, the message from Aid Matters 2025 was that NGOs in Europe must step out of their bubbles, act courageously, and join forces across sectors and movements to build a more just and cooperative future.
(pk)
