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UNFPA GLOBAL POPULATION POLICY UPDATE
Issue 2 - April 28 2003
The second issue of our IPCI/ICPD Global Population Policy Update focuses
on funding trends for population activities. The information in this newsletter
was excerpted from a UNFPA report prepared for the 36th session of the Commission
on Population and Development entitled, “Flow of financial resources for
assisting in the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development.”
International population assistance and domestic expenditures, which had
been increasing steadily but slowly since the International Conference on
Population and Development was held in 1994, declined in 2001, according
to preliminary figures. External assistance for population was estimated at
$2.3 billion in 2001, compared with $2.6 billion in 2000. Domestic governmental
and non-governmental expenditures in developing countries were estimated
at $7.1 billion in 2001, compared with $8.6 billion in 2000. The estimate
of domestic expenditures should be treated with caution because the data are
far from complete and are not entirely comparable with those on international
assistance. Furthermore, it should be noted that most domestic resource flows
originate in a few large countries. Together, external assistance and domestic
expenditures for population activities yielded a global estimate of $9.4
billion in 2001, as compared with a target figure for 2000 of $17 billion
estimated in the Programme of Action.
The present report has been prepared by the United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA) in response to a request of the Commission on Population and
Development at its twenty-eighth session for an annual report on the flow
of financial resources for assisting in the implementation of the Programme
of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.
The report reviews the flow of external financial resources for 2000 and
provisional figures for 2001 and provides estimates of expenditures by governments
and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for population activities in developing
countries for 2001. Data on both donor and domestic resource flows were collected
by the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) under
a contract with UNFPA. NIDI and UNFPA jointly evaluated and analysed the
data.
The report analyses external and domestic financial resource flows for
population activities that are part of the costed population package set
out in paragraph 13.14 of the Programme of Action. The population package
includes family planning services; basic reproductive health services for
maternal health; activities for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases
(STDs) and HIV/AIDS; and basic research, data and population and development
policy analysis. The Programme of Action estimated that the implementation
of this population and reproductive health package in the developing countries
and countries with economies in transition would cost $17 billion by 2000.
Approximately two thirds of the projected costs would come from the countries
themselves and one third, or $5.7 billion, would come from the international
donor community.
Assistance for population activities flows through a diverse network,
moving from the donor to the recipient country through one of the following
channels: (a) the bilateral channel, flowing directly from the donor
to the recipient country government; (b) the multilateral channel, through
United Nations organizations and agencies; and (c) the non-governmental organization
channel, through such organizations as the International Planned Parenthood
Federation and the Population Council. In 2000, over half of all population
assistance went through the non-governmental channel, and bilateral programmes
and multilateral organizations each received 23 per cent. Provisional figures
for 2001 show that this has remained unchanged, with the non-governmental
channel continuing to dominate the flow of final expenditures.
External assistance for population activities has been increasing steadily,
albeit slowly, since the Conference. In the period immediately following
the Conference, assistance for population activities increased 54 per cent,
from a total of $1.3 billion in 1993 to $2 billion in 1995. Assistance increased
negligibly in 1996, to just over $2 billion, but by 1997 it had decreased
for the first time since the Conference, to $1.96 billion. This slight downward
trend was reversed in 1998, when the amount rose to $2.1 billion. In 1999,
assistance stood at $2.2 billion and by 2000 it was almost $2.6 billion.
Preliminary indications are that this upward trend was reversed in 2001.
International assistance for population activities decreased to $2.3 billion
in 2001. This figure represents just 40 per cent of the $5.7 billion target
agreed upon in Cairo as the international community’s share in financing
the Programme of Action by 2000.
Donor countries contributed some $1.5 billion for population assistance,
multilateral organizations and agencies increased funding levels to $89 million
and private sources decreased their contributions to $233 million. The World
Bank made available $449 million in the form of multi-year loans and $2
million in the form of grants to population programmes; these figures reflect
a decrease in loans and an increase in grants.
Bilateral assistance increased from $777 million in 1993 to $1.6 billion
in 2000. The United States of America continued to be the largest donor,
contributing $659 million in population assistance in 2000, or 41 per cent
of the resources of the donor countries. The Netherlands was the second largest
donor, contributing $170 million in population assistance, or 11 per cent
of funds contributed by donor countries. Other major donors in 2000 were the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Japan, Germany, Sweden,
Norway, Denmark and Canada.
Provisional figures for 2001 point to a decrease in total bilateral population
assistance to $1.5 billion.
Provisional 2001 figures show that family planning services accounted
for 32 per cent of final expenditures for population activities; basic reproductive
health services, 30 per cent; STD and HIV/AIDS activities, 29 per cent; and
basic research, data and population and development policy analysis, 9 per
cent. As the 2001 figures for more donors become available, it is expected
that the proportion of expenditures for HIV/AIDS activities will increase
because of the increased emphasis on addressing the global AIDS pandemic,
including the Millennium Development Goal of combating HIV/AIDS, malaria
and other diseases, and the creation of the global HIV/AIDS Fund. These percentages
should be treated as estimates because, with the trend towards integration
of services, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to distinguish between
the four categories of population activities. Many data-recording systems
include family planning services and/or STD and HIV/AIDS activities with
reproductive health services.
Donor countries contributed 2.93 per cent of their total official development
assistance (ODA) to population assistance in 2000, which represented an increase
after a two-year decline. Preliminary figures for 2001 show that the proportion
of ODA going to population activities decreased to 2.79 per cent. Since
total ODA decreased from $53.7 billion in 2000 to $52.3 billion in 2001,
population activities are receiving a smaller share of decreasing ODA. ODA
in 2001 was below the 1993 level of $56.3 billion.
In 2000, donor countries contributed, on average, $66 per million dollars
of gross national product for population assistance, a $7 increase from the
previous year. The preliminary figure for 2001 shows a decline — $61 per
million dollars. The average dollar amount conceals the large variation between
countries, ranging from $6 to $342 per million dollars. Despite the decrease,
the amount of money that countries spent on population assistance is still
more than the pre-Cairo period in 1993, when it stood at $42 per million
dollars of gross national product.
In 2000, $434 million flowed through multilateral organizations and agencies;
the preliminary figure for 2001 is $365 million. UNFPA is the leading provider
of United Nations assistance in the population field, with $326 million flowing
through the organization in 2000 and $339 million in 2001.
Most loans for population assistance come from the World Bank, which supports
reproductive health and family planning service delivery, population policy
development, HIV/AIDS prevention and fertility, and health survey and census
work. The World Bank reported lending $449 million for population activities
in 2001, down from $538 million in 2000.
Foundations, non-governmental organizations and other private organizations
are also important sources of population assistance. In 2000, foundations
and NGOs contributed $299 million to population activities. The top five
foundations funding population activities in 2000 were the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Ford Foundation,
the Rockefeller Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
The preliminary 2001 figure for private population assistance stands at $233
million. It seems that the economic downturn affected the contributions of
a number of foundations.
Provisional figures for 2001 point to an increase in funds going to sub-Saharan
Africa, which received 45 per cent of the population assistance contributed
to the five geographical regions. Asia and the Pacific received 31 per cent;
Latin America and the Caribbean, 12 per cent; Western Asia and North Africa,
9 per cent; and Eastern and Southern Europe, 2 per cent. In 2001, 29 per
cent of total population assistance went to global and interregional activities.
UNFPA calculated a rough estimate of global domestic resource flows for
population activities that came to $7.1 billion in 2001.
Although the global figure of domestic resource flows is a rough estimate,
it is nevertheless useful in providing some idea of the progress made by
developing countries, as a group, in achieving the financial resource goals
of the Conference. The global total shows real commitment on the part of developing
countries, but it should be noted that most domestic resource flows originate
in a few large countries. Many countries, especially those in sub-Saharan
Africa and the least developed countries, faced with competing development
priorities, are simply unable to generate the resources necessary to finance
their own national population programmes. Case studies confirm that the international
donor community plays an important role in financing population activities
in most developing countries and that, in some countries, funding for population
activities is largely donor-based. National NGOs play an increasing role
in the provision of services, but they remain highly dependent on external
sources.
Almost one third of governmental expenditures was allocated to STD and
HIV/AIDS activities, 27 per cent to family planning services, 26 per cent
to basic reproductive health services and 16 per cent to basic research,
data and population and development policy analysis. National NGOs distributed
their funds as follows: 34 per cent for family planning services; 36 per cent
for basic reproductive health services; 23 per cent for STD and HIV/AIDS activities;
and 8 per cent for basic research, data and population and development policy
analysis.
Both donor and developing countries have indicated that a significant
amount of resource flows go to other population-related activities that
address the broader population and development objectives of the Cairo agenda
but that have not been costed out and are not part of the agreed target of
$17 billion by 2000.
The growing trend towards the integration of services and the increasing
use of sector-wide approaches, particularly in health and education, make
it more difficult to track the level of funding going to the costed population
package. As a result, more resources are spent on population activities than
are reported here because sometimes it is not possible to isolate the costed
population package in integrated projects and sector-wide approaches from
the relevant population-related activities that are not included in paragraph
13.14 of the Programme of Action.
There was some progress, albeit rather modest, since the Conference was
held in mobilizing financial resources to achieve the goals of the Conference.
International assistance for population activities increased from a total
of $1.3 billion in the immediate pre-Cairo period in 1993 to $2.6 billion
in 2000. But the trend seems to have been reversed, and preliminary data
put the figure at $2.3 billion in 2001. This figure represents only 40 per
cent of the 2000 target of $5.7 billion agreed upon in Cairo.
Developing countries are making efforts to mobilize domestic resources
for population activities and, as a group, have met more of their share of
the commitment made in Cairo, mobilizing almost 63 per cent of the target
of $11.3 billion. However, most of the resource flows come from a few large
countries; the majority of developing countries are not in a position to generate
the necessary funds to cover the cost of their population programmes and
rely on external assistance.
Since 1994, health-care costs have skyrocketed and the AIDS pandemic in
many of the poorest developing countries is of a magnitude that had never
been envisaged at the time of the Cairo conference. The need to mobilize
adequate resources has become more acute than ever, both to implement the
Programme of Action as well as to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Implementing the Cairo Programme of Action, especially the reproductive
health goal, is essential for meeting the Millennium Development Goals directly
related to health, social and economic outcomes, especially those in the
areas of children, mothers, HIV/AIDS, gender and poverty. It is essential
that population issues figure prominently in development programmes and poverty
reduction strategies.
A lack of funding remains one of the chief constraints to the full implementation
of the Programme of Action. Additional resources are urgently needed to fund
population and development programmes in developing countries. It is essential
that all Governments, of both donor and developing countries, recommit themselves
to implementing the Cairo objectives and mobilizing the additional resources
needed to reach the financial goals. Without a firm commitment to population,
reproductive health and gender issues, it is unlikely that the goals and
targets of the Conference and of the Millennium Summit will be met.
This report was prepared by Ann Pawliczko for the
Commission on Population and Development.
This newsletter is issued by the United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in its capacity as secretariat for the International
Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme
of Action (November 2002, Ottawa, Canada). These dispatches are intended
to highlight important developments taking place around the world so that
parliamentarians can be kept informed of and learn from the successes, setbacks
and challenges encountered by their fellow parliamentarians in other countries
and regions in their efforts to promote the implementation of the Programme
of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (September
1994, Cairo, Egypt). It should be noted that UNFPA does not necessarily
endorse all of the policies described in this newsletter.
Please send mailing list update information to Dave Parks at parks@unfpa.org. If you have any questions
or comments on the content of this newsletter, please contact Harumi Kodama
at kodama@unfpa.org or Stirling Scruggs
at scruggs@unfpa.org.
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