In the remote rural community of West Pokot, Kenya, 156 young women walked across a stage this year to collect diplomas from HER Lab, a workforce skills programme designed for marginalized rural young women. Each one was the first in her family to complete post-secondary education and training — a threshold that once seemed impossibly distant. Their graduation was not simply a ceremonial moment, but concrete proof that targeted investment, trusted local partnerships and women's economic empowerment can transform lives in places where opportunity has historically been scarce.
Yet as Europe and the world celebrate these individual triumphs, the systems that made them possible are quietly eroding. The European Union faces a critical crossroads as it negotiates its post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework. While the European Commission has dubbed it "the most ambitious ever," rising debt repayments and interest costs mean that funding for external action and development is stagnating or declining in real terms. The new budget prioritizes competitiveness, industrial policy and defence — understandable choices in an unstable geopolitical moment, but ones that risk squeezing development cooperation, Official Development Assistance, and gender-focused programmes that serve Africa.
The consequences are already visible. Global aid fell by a record margin in 2025, following a 9 per cent decline in 2024. France cut Official Development Assistance by 11 per cent, Germany by 17 per cent, the UK reduced bilateral aid to Africa by 12 per cent, and the United States slashed overseas aid contracts by more than 90 per cent. Programmes supporting girls' education, health services and women's economic empowerment across Africa are being scaled back or closed.
What makes the West Pokot graduates' story significant is not just their individual achievement, but what it reveals about what works. Since 2013, the Global Give Back Circle's HER Lab programme has transitioned more than 800 rural young women in Kenya into employment, entrepreneurship or further education. Seventy-four per cent of graduates move into employment, entrepreneurship or further education, with unemployment falling sharply after programme completion. These are not isolated successes; they are the building blocks of resilient societies and credible European engagement.
The Women Action Foundation has demonstrated a parallel model in Kenya, tackling a barrier that often goes unnoticed: childcare. By establishing community-run childcare hubs alongside skills training and livelihood support, the foundation has enabled women in low-income communities to enter work, launch micro-enterprises and sustain economic independence. These are locally designed solutions delivering high impact with modest resources.
The EU's commitment to gender equality and development cooperation now faces a test of alignment between values and action. The Global Gateway Initiative, launched to mobilize up to €300 billion by 2027 with half directed to Africa, was intended as a new partnership model. Yet civil society groups have raised concerns that its focus on "bankable" projects and private sector-led delivery risks sidelining the local communities, women's organizations and grassroots NGOs most capable of delivering inclusive development. Without intentional safeguards, strategic partnerships may displace direct support for proven grassroots models.
Europe's credibility as a development partner depends on making a clear choice: to ring-fence funding for development cooperation and gender equality, to make civil society co-designers of programmes, and to insist on transparent impact reporting. The 156 women of West Pokot have already shown the way forward. The question now is whether the institutions that champion their cause will follow.