UNFPA is not a large organization, yet the issues it addresses have a powerful impact on individual lives, families, communities, countries and the world as a whole.

As the leading multilateral agency on population and reproductive health, UNFPA plays a crucial role in making sure that population-poverty linkages and the ICPD’s rights-based agenda are integrated into national and international development and poverty-reduction plans.

To achieve its ambitious goals, UNFPA works in alliance with governments, other development partners and civil society to marshal a broader base of resources and support for key population policies and programmes.

UNFPA assists governments at their request to integrate population and reproductive health issues into their planning and policymaking. Information about a country’s population, growth, characteristics, living conditions, spatial distribution and physical resources is vital for policy formulation, planning and implementation. For this reason, the collection and analysis of population and development data constitute a fundamental part of UNFPA’s policy-related activities.

At the country level, UNFPA engages in policy dialogue on strategies to reduce poverty. It provides empirical evidence to show governments how population and reproductive health issues are linked to the achievement of the MDGs, how investments in gender equality and reproductive health pay off, and conversely, how failing to make these investments can impede efforts to reduce poverty.

On the regional and international level, UNFPA contributes to policy dialogue by organizing and participating in meetings and forums and publishing papers and reports. It also enriches these dialogues by supporting institutions and initiatives that conduct research and analysis in population and development matters.

Under the leadership of national authorities, work towards MDG targets provides a unique opportunity for joint programming between UN agencies and other development partners within the framework of the Millennium Declaration. Development funding is increasingly being directed through national and global frameworks such as Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSs) and Sector-wide Approaches (SWAps) in an effort to reduce duplication of efforts and channel assistance effectively.

The UN reform process has introduced a harmonized programming approach reflected in Common Country Assessments (CCAs) and UN Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs) to bring greater coherence to the work of UN agencies in individual countries. UNFPA participates in all of these planning and policy frameworks, drawing upon its unique technical expertise and programming experience deeply rooted in the communities it serves.

Learn More:
	The Case for Investing in Young People: As Part of a National Poverty Reduction Strategy
	Report of the UNFPA Workshop on Sector-Wide Approaches (SWAps)
	Financial Resources for Population Activities in 2001