Mission Statement

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.

UNFPA helps governments at their request to formulate policies and strategies to reduce poverty and support sustainable development. The Fund also assists countries to collect and analyse population data that can help them understand population trends. And it encourages governments to take into account the needs of future generations, as well as those alive today.

Framework for Action

Guided by the Programme of Action of the Cairo Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and Millennium Development Goals, UNFPA provides its assistance to countries in addressing development needs, supporting programmes in the field of Reproductive Health and Rights, Population & Development and Gender.

ICPD

The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) articulated a bold new vision about the relationships between population, development and individual well-being. At the ICPD, 179 governments adopted a forward-looking, 20-year Programme of Action (PoA) that built on the success of the population, maternal health and family planning programmes of the previous decades while addressing, with a new perspective, the needs of the early years of the twenty-first century.

The ICPD Programme of Action, sometimes referred to as the Cairo Consensus, was remarkable in its recognition that reproductive health and rights, as well as women's empowerment and gender equality, are cornerstones of population and development programmes. The Consensus is rooted in principles of human rights and respect for national sovereignty and various religious and cultural backgrounds.

As an outcome of the Conference, the participant countries agreed upon on a Roadmap to progress broadly under the following goals:

a)  Universal access to reproductive health services by 2015
b)  Universal primary education and closing the gender gap in education by 2015
c)  Reducing maternal mortality by 75 per cent by 2015                
d)  Reducing infant mortality
e)  Increasing life expectancy
f)  Reducing HIV infection rates

ICPD + 5 and ICPD +10

In 1999, the UN General Assembly convened a special session, ICPD+5, to review progress towards meeting the ICPD goals. The review revealed that greater urgency was needed to achieve the Programme of Action, especially in the areas of education and literacy, reproductive health care and unmet need for contraception, maternal mortality reduction and HIV/AIDS. The Key Actions that emerged from ICPD+5 affirm the ICPD goals and set benchmarks for achieving them.

In 2004, as the ICPD reached the midpoint of its 20-year plan, UNFPA appraised progress at the country level. In regional meetings, governments reiterated their commitment to the Cairo Consensus. Overwhelming government support was also displayed at a special meeting of the UN General Assembly, where Member States stressed the importance of the ICPD PoA to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

MDGs

The Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, are derived from various summits and conferences held over the decade around the world, including the ICPD in Cairo 1994.

It is the precipitation and identification of key goals and targets recognized by World leaders which was incorporated into the “Millennium Declaration” on September 2000 as follows:

Goal 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2 Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3 Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4 Reduce child mortality
Goal 5 Improve maternal health
Goal 6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Goal 7 Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8 Develop a global partnership for development
           
UNFPA activities in the fields of reproductive health and rights, women's empowerment and population issues are essential in achieving of all of the MDGs.

	“We are committed to leading the ICPD agenda because we know, and this has been confirmed by studies and asserted by world leaders at the 2005 UN World Summit, that reproductive health is central to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. It is now widely accepted that we will not reduce poverty, advance women’s empowerment and gender equality, improve maternal health, reduce child mortality, combat HIV/AIDS, and achieve sustainable development unless greater progress is made to ensure universal access to reproductive health. “ Thoraya  Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director

 

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