Many of today’s humanitarian crises are no longer short-term emergencies. They are prolonged periods of instability that can last for years. As crises drag on, women and girls – of whom almost 680 million live within 50 kilometres of a deadly conflict, according to the UN – often shoulder a disproportionate burden.
A girl leaves school because her family needs her to work. Another faces pressure to marry early as hardship deepens. A pregnant mother struggles to receive essential health care after being displaced. At first, these setbacks may appear to be temporary. But when crises persist, disruption can soon become permanent.
A girl who leaves school may never return, limiting her future potential and economic independence. A young woman who marries too early may lose opportunities to continue her education or pursue a career. A mother who cannot access consistent care faces greater risks during pregnancy and childbirth.
Each of these outcomes can alter the course of a life. Collectively, they can weaken communities, stunt economic growth and undermine years of social progress. What makes this so difficult to counter is how quietly it happens.
In many cases, families are not making one dramatic decision. They are responding to pressure gradually. School becomes harder to sustain financially. Transportation becomes unreliable. The route to school becomes unsafe. Expectations shift as instability continues month after month. Eventually, opportunities that once felt realistic no longer do. This is one of the reasons why philanthropy is increasingly pairing emergency relief with longer-term support.
Of course, humanitarian relief remains essential. Families need food, shelter, health care and protection. But in many of today’s crises, those immediate needs are only part of the challenge. There is also a need to help people survive a crisis while helping them preserve access to education, health care and economic opportunity as that crisis persists.
Across the Gulf, philanthropies are increasingly looking beyond emergency response and working to address the longer-term challenges mentioned above. When girls remain in education, women can participate more fully in the economy, live healthier lives and families are better equipped to navigate uncertainty. Supporting women and girls is one of the most effective ways to protect progress during periods of instability.
In Lebanon, organisations working with vulnerable girls continue to see how economic hardship can increase the risk of educational withdrawal and early marriage. This reflects a wider global pattern – according to 2024 data from the Girls not Brides NGO, in fragile states, more than one in three girls are married before the age of 18.
The reasons for this are often interconnected. As conflict and crisis deepen poverty, disrupt schooling and heighten fears for girls’ safety, families can come under pressure to make decisions that seem protective in the short term. But what may begin as a temporary response to financial pressure and insecurity can permanently narrow future opportunities.
That is why community engagement matters. Through the Meem Foundation’s partnership with Anera’s Sawa Project, girls at risk of educational withdrawal and early marriage receive support to help them remain connected to learning and future opportunities despite the pressures their families face. The project’s work with families is especially important, helping communities understand not only the safety risks girls face, but also the health and reproductive consequences of seeing girls marry too young.
Similar challenges can be seen in maternal health care. Through Meem Foundation’s partnership with Every Pregnancy, displaced and refugee mothers in Gaza and Lebanon receive support aimed at maintaining access to maternal care during periods of conflict and displacement. This partnership also shows the role innovation can play in fragile settings – for example, portable AI-enabled ultrasound can help health workers identify high-risk pregnancies earlier and improve care for displaced mothers. Pregnancy does not pause during crisis. Yet access to consistent maternal health care often becomes more difficult precisely when it is needed most. UN figures reveal that one out of every 100 people displaced in Lebanon is a pregnant woman. The consequences extend well beyond a single appointment. Continuity of care helps improve outcomes for mothers and babies while allowing women to navigate pregnancy with greater safety and dignity.
The effect of prolonged instability is often cumulative. It is felt in missed months of education that become years, in healthcare appointments that never happen and in emergency decisions that gradually reshape what families believe is possible for the future. That is why recovery should not be viewed as something that begins only when conflict ends. In many cases, it should begin with the crisis itself.
This wider shift is visible across the UAE’s philanthropic landscape. The Fatima bint Mohamed bin Zayed Initiative offers one model, combining sustainable employment for women with access to education, health care and social services in Afghanistan. The Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation’s Hub for Digital Teaching and Learning uses digital education to expand access and help institutions adapt during periods of disruption. Together, these examples point to a broader role for philanthropy in crisis-affected contexts, not only easing immediate hardship but protecting the systems, skills and opportunities that allow people to rebuild.
When crises endure, the challenge extends beyond helping people survive. It is helping girls stay in school, ensuring mothers can access health care, and enabling women to continue building independent and secure futures despite the uncertainties they face. And when crises subside, the challenge extends to enabling people to thrive.
For philanthropy, supporting women and girls is not separate from responding to crisis. It is one of the most effective ways to ensure that temporary hardship does not become a permanent setback. Once opportunity disappears for long enough, rebuilding it becomes far more difficult than protecting it in the first place.
