New Zealand

New Zealand’s support to UNFPA’s mandate reflects the priority accorded to health, human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment in New Zealand’s development cooperation work. New Zealand recognizes that investing in health is crucial for human and economic development. More specifically, support to UNPFA’s work is helping to reduce the maternal death rate, combat violence against women and girls, eliminate child marriage and female genital mutilation, and improve demographic data for national planning. This work is crucial to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. New Zealand particularly values UNFPA’s work in the Pacific region, where there is low usage of contraceptives, high incidence of early marriage, and high levels of violence suffered by women and girls.

New Zealand works with UNFPA in a number of ways. The provision of regular resources under a multi-year funding arrangement gives UNFPA the flexibility required to meet priority needs and to maximize the impact of its work. Besides, New Zealand has been a long-standing supporter of UNFPA’s Humanitarian Response in the Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh to help meet the urgent needs of Rohingya refugees and recently contributed to UNFPA’s Humanitarian Response in Afghanistan. Capacity Development of the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Cadre (BARMM) is another field of cooperation. New Zealand also provides resources to support UNFPA’s sexual and reproductive health programmes in Pacific Island countries.