UK doubles Sudan crisis funding to £231 million but aid watchdog finds impact could be strengthened

15 Oct 2025

• ICAI says UK’s ambition and money needs to be matched by adequate staffing
• Raising awareness of the conflict’s devastating impact on women and girls must translate into sustained support
• Complex funding rules make it harder to work directly with local Sudanese organisations

Sudan remains one of the world’s most under-resourced humanitarian crises despite the UK doubling its annual funding, according to a new report published today (Wednesday 15 October).

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) examines six years of UK engagement with Sudan, from the hopeful democratic transition after President Omar al-Bashir’s fall in 2019 through to today’s devastating conflict.

More than 30 million people require urgent humanitarian assistance in Sudan – two-thirds of the population – with another four million seeking refuge in neighbouring countries following the outbreak of conflict in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The aid watchdog finds that while the UK has demonstrated strong leadership on the crisis, doubling annual spending to £231.3 million in 2024-25 for Sudan and neighbouring countries, there are opportunities to improve the delivery of aid and coordinate the response more effectively across government.

The crisis has created unprecedented challenges for the global humanitarian system, with more than 12 million people displaced and famine spreading across multiple areas. The conflict has also strained resources in neighbouring Chad and South Sudan, creating regional spillover effects that require coordinated international action.

ICAI calls for the UK to use lessons from the Sudan response to rethink and adapt its approach to major crises, as global aid funding becomes more constrained while humanitarian needs around the world continue to rise.

ICAI Commissioner Liz Ditchburn, who led the review, said: 

“The UK has made the Sudan crisis a priority and doubled its aid to more than £230 million last year. We found talented and committed FCDO staff working extremely hard, but we also identified ways in which  the UK could deliver more value from its aid funds. Money and ambition must be matched by sufficient staff resources, future funding must be predictable and more cross-government action could unlock greater  opportunities for impact.

“We are particularly concerned about the devastating impact of the conflict on women and girls. While the UK’s advocacy and support are welcomed by many, there is clearly a huge gap between the needs of women and girls and action from the international community. We encourage the UK to consider providing more targeted and direct support.”

The review finds that UK influence in recent years has been inconsistent, hampered by aid budget reductions in 2021-22 that damaged relationships with partners, before recent funding increases restored some credibility. The designation of Sudan as a UK humanitarian priority by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in 2024, alongside Ukraine and Gaza, signalled renewed commitment to play a leading role in the international response, ICAI says. UK staff were widely recognised by those ICAI interviewed for their deep expertise, professionalism and commitment.

While an allocation of £120 million in bilateral aid to Sudan for 2025-26 was announced after the UK’s decision to reduce the aid budget to 0.3% of gross national income, multiple episodes of uncertainty around future aid levels have undermined the UK’s reputation as a reliable partner, ICAI finds.

Women and girls face particularly severe challenges, including large-scale conflict-related sexual violence alongside longstanding harmful practices like female genital mutilation and child marriage, according to the report.

While the UK has made gender equality central to its approach and helped raise global awareness, many Sudanese women interviewed felt international advocacy had not been matched by sustained action. One civil society leader told ICAI that “there are many speeches, but no specific support”.

The report finds that while the UK has successfully mainstreamed considerations of gender across its aid programming, there is insufficient evidence to determine whether this approach is effectively improving outcomes for women and girls, particularly in complex contexts such as Sudan.

The review also highlights significant operational constraints. Security restrictions forced the UK to evacuate Khartoum in 2023 and terminate most locally hired Sudanese staff in the British Embassy, severely weakening capacity to engage with local actors. The British Office Sudan now operates from Addis Ababa and Nairobi, with limited resources for such a complex response and high staff turnover, the review finds.

Cross-government coordination could also be strengthened, ICAI says, with engagement from the Ministry of Defence and Home Office on Sudan limited, despite large migration flows and the critical role of military cooperation in defence diplomacy.

Despite the challenges, ICAI finds that the UK has maintained strong partnerships with multilateral organisations including the African Union and UN agencies. Its humanitarian programming has reached millions through food security support, malnutrition treatment and protection services.

In Chad, the UK rapidly scaled up to become a key donor supporting refugees from Sudan’s Darfur region. In South Sudan, the UK has integrated its response to the Sudan crisis into established aid programmes such as those on health and education, supporting internally displaced people, refugees and host communities.

The review makes seven recommendations for strengthening UK engagement. These include ensuring there is sustained high-level political attention on Sudan, developing a clear regional strategy, backing Sudan’s priority status in UK development policy with multi-year protected funding, and adopting more agile aid delivery models for this and other similarly fragile contexts.

ICAI calls for the UK to increase direct funding to local organisations and simplify its complicated compliance procedures to better support Sudanese-led responses.

The review also recommends using lessons from Sudan to rethink international leadership approaches to responding to major crises, given severe global funding pressures and rising humanitarian need worldwide. The report adds that addressing this crisis requires not just increased funding but reforms to how the international community coordinates and delivers support in complex emergencies.

ICAI’s recommendations in full:   

For the UK government:

Recommendation 1: Ensure sustained high-level political attention to the Sudan conflict and humanitarian crisis, including by strengthening cross-government ownership and coordination.

Recommendation 2: Develop and implement a clear regional approach to the Sudan conflict, aligning strategies across Sudan and neighbouring countries.

Recommendation 3: Align delivery capacity with ministerial ambition by backing Sudan’s priority country status with multi-year, protected funding and by adequate capacity to deliver effectively.

For the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office:

Recommendation 4: Adopt a more agile and coherent delivery model for fragile and conflict-affected environments, to maximise agility in dynamic contexts.

Recommendation 5: Support the UK’s localisation commitment by increasing direct funding to local organisations, simplifying compliance procedures, fostering long-term partnerships and strengthening local leadership of humanitarian response and resilience building.

Recommendation 6: Address the need for more targeted programming for priority gender-related challenges in Sudan, and assess how well the current mainstreaming approach is delivering results for women and girls.

Recommendation 7: Use learning from the Sudan conflict as an opportunity to rethink and adapt UK international leadership on mobilising and coordinating the international response to major crises, given severe global funding pressures, a shifting donor landscape and rising humanitarian need.