UNITED NATIONS, New York – A comprehensive evaluation report by the Multilateral Performance Network (MOPAN), released in January 2025, praised “UNFPA’s resilience and adaptability in a complex global environment”.
In particular, MOPAN highlighted UNFPA’s adaptability, decentralized model and strong partnerships, which have enabled it to sustain critical, life-saving services even in times of disruption, like COVID-19. It also emphasized UNFPA’s growing role as a humanitarian actor, one that works closely with hundreds of local and national partners that represent the majority of its implementing network.
Strong and getting stronger
At the same time, the report noted five areas of opportunity for the organization, which would help UNFPA build on the momentum of global trends, safeguard achievements, and advance rights and choices for the people it serves.
Sixteen months later, UNFPA has advanced in each of these areas.
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Strategic focus on population and development
MOPAN’s first area of opportunity was: “Reaffirming UNFPA’s core mandate in population and development would require a strong focus at the strategic and intervention levels.”
UNFPA’s Strategic Plan 2026-2029 does exactly this. In addition to its existing three transformative results (accelerating progress on meeting the unmet need for family planning; accelerating progress on ending preventable maternal deaths; accelerating progress on ending gender-based violence and harmful practices), the Strategic Plan adopts a fourth outcome: “Adapting to demographic change through evidence and rights-based policies.”
This new outcome will ensure UNFPA is ready to help countries address demographic changes of all kinds. “Changing patterns of fertility, mortality, ageing and migration are shaping the size, structure and distribution of populations which are intersecting with urbanization, climate change impacts, technology and inequality,” the Plan notes. “Ensuring that countries are equipped with rights-based, gender responsive and evidence-informed policy solutions that promote inclusive and sustainable development is critical.”
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Bring sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) into universal health coverage
“While maintaining a focus on the transformative results, sharpening UNFPA’s scope would be necessary to encompass other SRHR issues within the framework of universal health coverage,” the MOPAN assessment says, describing the second area of opportunity for UNFPA.
UNFPA is working to integrate the entire package of sexual and reproductive health and rights into universal health coverage by promoting a comprehensive life-course approach. This will ensure interventions – from maternal care and family planning, adolescent health, to gender-based violence prevention – are embedded within national health systems.
By prioritizing equity and quality of care without discrimination, UNFPA assists countries in moving beyond vertical health programmes toward integrated service delivery that protects the most vulnerable from financial hardship.
UNFPA is also advancing sustainable financing to support this integration. And in view of next year's High-Level Meeting on universal health coverage, UNFPA is working with the World Health Organization and other partners to strengthen this integration and ensure that health for all remains a central pillar of the 2030 Agenda.
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Strengthening the link between humanitarian, development and peace
MOPAN encouraged, “strengthening the humanitarian-development-peace nexus and reflecting it better in UNFPA’s programme design process.”
Within months of the MOPAN report’s release, UNFPA had launched its new Policy and Procedures for Emergency Response (EPPs), a framework that standardizes and accelerates crisis action across the organization. It also ensures that every response is designed with a transition strategy, supporting sustained, life-saving services beyond the initial phase of the crisis.
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Strengthen accountability to affected communities
“It is currently a challenge to establish clear standards and procedures for [Accountability to Affected People] that involve these populations in decisions directly impacting their lives,” MOPAN’s assessment notes.
Despite these challenges, UNFPA is making concrete progress. In September 2025, UNFPA launched its corporate Accountability to Affected People (AAP) Framework, which provides a standardized approach for mainstreaming AAP across all levels of the organization, ensuring meaningful engagement of affected populations in decision-making.
Additionally, UNFPA revised reporting lines and job descriptions of monitoring and evaluation staff to enhance independence.
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Diversify funding sources
As its last area of opportunity, the MOPAN assessment said: “Building on the new strategy for financing the ICPD Agenda, actively pursuing strategies to increase new funding from governments in the form of domestic resources and leverage additional development financing resources would be necessary.”
UNFPA has since diversified its funding base with strong private sector support. In 2025, surpassed its overall annual target of $28.5 million for private sector contributions, for example. UNFPA is also expanding individual giving, and is finalizing a new financing mechanism with the European Investment Bank to serve as a guarantee for multi-year donor commitments to the UNFPA Supplies Partnership.
Future-fit in a changing world
These steps represent only a handful of efforts that UNFPA is undertaking to respond to the challenges of the day. They also highlight that the MOPAN assessment is understood not only as independent feedback on its performance; it is also understood to be a roadmap for excellence.
“We recognize the importance of this assessment in ensuring we remain agile and effective,” said UNFPA Executive Director, Ms. Diene Keita. “By rapidly implementing these suggestions for improvement, we are strengthening our resilience and sharpening our capacity to protect the rights of women, girls and young people in an increasingly complex global environment.”
