UNFPA in India
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is the leading UN sexual and reproductive health agency. UNFPA’s mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled ensuring rights and choices for all. Our work is guided by the principles of a human rights-based approach set in place by 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), gender empowerment and equality, and the imperative that no one is left behind.
We work towards achieving three transformative results that promise to change the world for every woman, man and young person by 2030:
- Ending preventable maternal deaths
- Ending unmet need for family planning
- Ending gender-based violence and harmful practices
UNFPA has been operating in India since 1974. The India Country Office collaborates extensively with a range of stakeholders such as the government (centre and state), civil society, private sector, academia, the medical community, media, judiciary, and most importantly, communities.
Country Programme - 10 (2023-2027)
The current Country Programme (2023-2027) envisions an India where every woman and young person, including those from the most vulnerable groups, enjoys gender equality, fully realizes sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, and fully contributes to sustainable development.
Guided by the new UNFPA Strategic Plan, 2022-2025, the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the new country programme will galvanize efforts to end preventable maternal deaths, unmet need for family planning, and gender-based violence and harmful practices, including in humanitarian situations.
The country programme was developed in consultation with national and State governments, civil society, United Nations organizations and other stakeholders, including women and youth-led organizations, based on the principles of inclusion, human rights and gender equality.
The programme responds to the national priorities articulated by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), with special targeting of subnational-level aspirational districts within four high-burden States at the heart of lagging statistics. Focus will be placed on working in the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan that together account for approximately 25 per cent of the country’s population (332 million people) and 22 per cent of young people and include 31 per cent of the country’s poorest districts (36 districts out of 117 aspirational districts as categorized by the Government). It is estimated these four States together account for 40 per cent of the total maternal deaths in the country, 25 per cent of unmet need, and 27 per cent of spousal violence faced by women.
The Country Programme will scale up efforts and drive accelerated progress towards the three transformative results through the following accelerators:
- promoting human rights-based, gender transformative and evidence-informed approaches to improve access to quality sexual and reproductive health services and shape policies and programmes to reach the furthest left behind women and youth;
- mapping and multiplying partnerships with influential and wide-reaching youth and women-led civil society movements, initiatives and organizations and building the capacity of select partners to become frontline responders, promoting their access to influencing and decision-making space and pioneering new ways to address discriminatory social norms, including through digital means;
- strengthening data systems and promoting greater use of data and evidence to design and advocate for policies and programmes that impact the furthest left behind and hasten the pace of change required to achieve the three transformative results;
- developing and building ownership of investment cases for the three transformative results to strategically shift the focus from funding to financing;
- taking advantage of the country’s thriving and dynamic digital ecosystem to design, implement, assess and scale up innovative solutions; and
- informing South-South and triangular cooperation, in line with the ICPD Programme of Action.
