UNFPA has increasingly been engaged in policy work and has strengthened partnerships with governments, United Nations organizations, donors and civil society organizations to achieve common results. In 2006, UNFPA Country Offices reported more involvement than ever before in discussions to incorporate reproductive health and gender issues into national and international legislative instruments. These issues were also increasingly included in national development frameworks such as sectorwide programmes, poverty reduction strategies and MDG reports.
UNFPA continued to provide global support as a trusted, culturally sensitive source of population and reproductive health expertise. Emphasis was placed on taking effective models to scale, building capacity in countries and in UNFPA offices, defining UNFPA strategies in line with United Nations reform and strengthening partnerships at the regional level.
Supporting United Nations
Reform;
Working with United
Nations Organizations
UNFPA is fully committed to a more effective, coherent and better-coordinated United Nations system that delivers as one in the spirit of reform. In 2006, the Fund worked within the United Nations Development Group and the United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination to maintain reform momentum and to ensure that changes are harmonious and synchronized throughout the system. UNFPA’s active participation in the Joint Offices and the “One United Nations” initiatives at the country level under the unified leadership of a strengthened Resident Coordinator derives from its firm confidence in the promise of, and the opportunity offered by, these programming and operational innovations. In 2006:
- WHO and UNFPA jointly issued a letter to all representatives of both organizations calling for close collaboration to support of health-related MDGs and countries in their efforts to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015. Partners also worked together on the joint WHO/UNFPA Technical Consultation on HPV Vaccines and Sexual and Reproductive Health Programmes and the publication of a guidance note.
- As a member of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, UNFPA was involved in negotiations for grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Norwegian Government. UNFPA continued to serve as Secretariat for the broad-based International Obstetric Fistula Working Group.
Gaining Ground with Governments
More countries contributed to UNFPA in 2006 than in any year since the Fund began operations in 1969, bringing the total number of donor nations to 180, compared to the 2005 record of 172. Every nation in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa pledged funds to UNFPA in 2006. Contributions to UNFPA regular resources were also the highest ever, increasing to $389.3 million (provisional) from the previous year’s level of $365.8 million.
In 2006, the governments of 154 developing and transitional countries and territories requested UNFPA’s assistance to address reproductive health and population issues in their policies and programmes. In 2006:
- The Netherlands donated the most to UNFPA, with a contribution of $75.24 million. The largest amount of co-financing contributions from an intergovernmental organization, totalling $38.98 million, came from the European Commission.
- The European Union continued to support major regional reproductive health initiatives in 2006, including the Reproductive Health Initiative for Youth in Asia, the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme and the Reproductive Health Initiative for Youth in the South Caucasus.
- At the global level, some 180 parliamentarians and ministers from more than 100 countries adopted a strong Statement of Commitment in support of the ICPD at the International Parliamentarians’ Conference in Bangkok in November. They reaffirmed that 10 per cent of national development budgets and development assistance should be devoted to sexual and reproductive health and called for greater investment in order to meet the MDGs.
- In response to a global survey conducted by UNFPA with the Harvard School of Public Health, parliamentarians from 103 countries and the European Parliament said that to be more effective advocates for ICPD issues, they needed more information for awareness-raising, new strategies to address cultural and religious concerns, and more training on how to draft legislation, declarations and plans.
- UNFPA opened its first subregional office to serve countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Government of Oman is funding the new office, which is located in Muscat, Oman. UNFPA also opened a new office in South Sudan, where a new peace agreement made it possible to focus on longdelayed priorities, such as midwife training and a much-needed census.
Non-Governmental Organizations
NGOs are crucial advocates with governments for legislation relating to gender, adolescents, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. UNFPA strengthened partnerships with civil society groups in many developing countries throughout 2006.
- In June, UNFPA hosted a global consultation with nearly 60 developed and developing country NGOs to identify strategies to better promote ICPD issues and related commitments made in several international agreements—including the 2005 World Summit. UNFPA supports the role of NGOs in pressing for United Nations reform, HIV prevention and migration and is examining ways in which the Fund can work to help these critical partners scale up advocacy efforts.
- UNFPA continued to partner with youth networks and other organizations, such as Youth Coalition, Boy
- Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA and others, and to undertake advocacy efforts with partners such as MTV and the Dance for Life Foundation.
Generating Goodwill for Reproductive Health
- Four UNFPA Goodwill Ambassadors went on a mission to Mozambique in November 2006. Kattis Ahlstrom is a popular and highly regarded Swedish journalist and radio and television host and producer. Mikko Kuustonen is a Finnish songwriter and performer. Kari Jaquesson is one of Norway’s leading fitness personalities. Hanne-Vibeke Holst is a popular Danish columnist, television journalist and bestselling fiction author. As a result, the Mozambican and Nordic media provided extensive coverage for projects dealing with HIV/AIDS, maternal death, family planning and young people.
- Singer/actress Natalie Imbruglia launched a United Kingdom-based advertising campaign in June 2006 to call attention to obstetric fistula. In September, in preparation for the campaign’s Belgian launch in April 2007, Belgian television personality Goedele Liekens travelled to a UNFPA-supported fistula facility in Niger.
- Japanese Olympic medalist Yuko Arimori travelled to Ethiopia in March to explore how UNFPA supports reproductive health in one of Africa’s most populous countries. The Japanese public followed her when the world’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, and other key media in Japan chronicled her visit. In May, she presented UNFPA with $50,000 collected from 5,000 Japanese citizens.
- UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, British singer Geri Halliwell went to Zambia in November to promote greater international awareness of maternal morbidity and mortality and HIV/AIDS. Ms. Halliwell, who had recently become a mother, witnessed the life-threatening conditions under which poor women deliver babies and supported efforts by UNFPA, the Zambian Government and others to improve maternal health and reduce maternal deaths.
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UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador Kattis Ahlstrom visiting the Quissico Maternity Ward in the Zavala District of Mozambique. |