United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

UNFPA logoWhat is UNFPA?

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

 

 Be Counted, Say What You Need - UNFPA poster

 

      World Population Day 2010

This vision drives UNFPA to advance a comprehensive approach to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights and it is one that has put the Fund at the forefront of some of development’s most sensitive and pressing issues.

UNFPA is guided in its work by the Programme of Action adopted by 179 governments at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994, which contains the following goals:

  • universal access to reproductive health by 2015,
  • universal primary education and closing the gender gap in education by 2015,
  • reducing maternal mortality by 75 per cent by 2015,
  • reducing infant mortality,
  • increasing life expectancy and
  • reducing HIV infection rates.

These goals were reconfirmed in the Millennium Declaration and at the 2005 World Summit, and inform the eight Millennium Development Goals. These mutually reinforcing development blueprints guide UNFPA in its efforts to improve lives, support reproductive health and rights, and advance gender equality.

Worldwide activities

UNFPA works in 158 countries, areas and territories through its headquarters in New York and five regional, six subregional and 115 field offices worldwide. UNFPA supports family planning programmes in over 140 countries and assists in reducing maternal deaths, promoting HIV prevention, and addressing unmet needs for fa© Don Hinrichsen/UNFPAmily planning worldwide. UNFPA also promotes effective population policies to alleviate poverty and to empower women and men to make the choices necessary to improve their lives and those of their families.

UNFPA pursues its goals in many ways: By providing training for midwives and safe motherhood supplies for refugees; by helping to devise national action plans to address violence against women, by forging partnerships with civil society, including faith-based organizations, by encouraging youth participation and by assisting governments in collecting and analysing population data that can help them understand population trends.

Support from the EU, financial as well as political, has been essential to UNFPA’s ability to carry forward tSudanese women and childrenhe vision of reproductive health as a cornerstone of sustainable development. EU Member States provide over two thirds of UNFPA’s core funding, and in 2009, the European Commission was the largest intergovernmental co-financing contributor. The UNFPA-EU partnership and shared vision is also reflected in various EU development policy documents. For instance, the European Consensus on Development, adopted in 2005, states the EU's commitment to the ICPD Programme of Action in the context of poverty eradication and human development. The EU-ACP Cotonou Agreement also commits to “integrating population issues into development strategies in order to improve reproductive health, primary health care, family planning; and prevention of female genital mutilation; promoting the fight against HIV/AIDS”. Also, the Joint Africa-EU strategy, adopted in December 2007, commits to the promotion of “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights … with the aim of achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015 and to reduce newborn, infant and maternal morbidity and mortality…”.

Girls Education programme by UNFPAIn Europe, UNFPA is represented by liaison offices in Geneva, Copenhagen and Brussels, which are strategically located to enhance the Fund’s ability to work closely with its core constituencies. The key functions of the offices are policy dialogue with stakeholders, representation at international, regional and national meetings, advocacy, resource mobilization, and media relations.

UNFPA Brussels Office

UNFPA Brussels Office represents the Fund vis-à-vis the European Union institutions and the ACP Group of States on all matters of mutual interest. This office also engages in outreach, information, advocacy and policy dialogue with the governments and other partners in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Visit the links below to learn more about

UNFPA Website:

Contacting UNFPA in Brussels

UNFPA Brussels Office
14 Rue Montoyer
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Tel : +32 2 550 1830
Fax : +32 2 5501833
Contact person: Ivan Hermans
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.unfpa.org/europe