Sub-Regional Office,
Suva, Fiji Islands
Telephone: (679) 308-022
Facsimile: (679) 312-785
E-mail: registry@unfpa.org.fj
UNFPA Staff 2000
Facts about the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
What
is UNFPA?
What
are UNFPA's Function and Mandate?
What
is the Scope of UNFPA Operations?
UNFPA in the Pacific
The Pacific Programme:
1998-2001
Who
Contributes to UNFPA?
What
is UNFPA's Stand on Human Rights?
Does
UNFPA Monitor the Project it Funds?
Does UNFPA Provide Assistance to Non-Governmental
organisations (NGOs)?
UNFPA, the United nations Population Fund, is the largest internationally funded source of population assistance to developing countries. The Fund, which began operations in 1969, is a subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly. UNFPA extends its support to countries based on their request to assist them address population and reproductive health issues. UNFPA is the largest multi lateral agency addressing population and development issues in over 180 countries of the world. By 1999, UNFPA had mobilised over US $4.5 billion for population assistance to developing countries.
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What are UNFPA's Function and Mandate?
UNFPA assists developing countries to improve reproductive health and family planning services on the basis of individual choice, and to formulate population policies in support of efforts towards sustainable development.
The Fund is an advocate for the strategy endorsed by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which emphasizes the numerous linkages between population and development and focuses on meeting the needs of individual women and men rather than on achieving demographic targets. Key to this new approach is empowering women and providing them with more choices through expanded access to education, health services and employment opportunities. The ICPD Programme of Action calls for making reproductive health care including family planning universally available by 2015 or sooner.
UNFPA's mandate, established by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1973 and reaffirmed in 1993, is (1) to build the knowledge and the capacity to respond to needs in population and family planning; (2) to promote awareness in both developed and developing countries of population problems and possible strategies to deal with these problems; (3) to assist their population problems in the forms and means best suited to the individual countries' needs; (4) to assume a leading role in the United Nations system in promoting population programmes, and to coordinate projects supported by the Fund.
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What is the Scope of UNFPA Operations?
In 1995, UNFPA provided support to 150 countries, 45 in sub-Saharan Africa, 34 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 42 in Asia and the Pacific, and 29 in the Arab States and Europe. Since 1969, the Fund has provided a total of $3.4 billion to virtually all developing countries. UNFPA directly manages one fourth of the world's population assistance to developing countries. In addition, UNFPA provides a multilateral channel through which donors can direct bilateral population assistance to recipient countries for specific programmes or projects.
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The UNFPA Pacific Sub-Regional office was established in Suva in the early 1970s. The office serves fourteen Pacific Island countries, namely: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. UNFPA has been supporting Pacific Island countries through various project since the early 1970s.
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The Pacific Programe: 1998-2001
UNFPA assistance to the Pacific Region comprises of both country specific and regional interventions. In keeping with UNFPA priority areas, the Pacific programme focuses on Reproductive Health including Family Planning and Sexual Health (RH/FP-SH) and Population and Reproductive Health Advocacy as its two major sub-programmes. Technical assistance on Population and Development strategies (PDS) was included under the programme.
The current four-year cycle of UNFPA assistance to the region is a significant departure from earlier interventions. The new programme of assistance has moved from traditional maternal and child health and family planning programme towards focusing on the broader aspects of reproductive health. In addition, special attempt is being made to ensure access to reproductive health care and services to outer island populations, youth, adolescents and men. Moreover, contrary to past assistance, partnerships between the Ministries of Health, Women, Information and Youth and Non Government Organisations (NGOs) is under scored not only as beneficiaries but as key stakeholders involved in project implementation. Furthermore, the most significant departure of the new cycle is undoubtedly the sub-programme approach which moves away from small piece-meal projects to concentrated efforts in the area of health, in particular reproductive health.
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UNFPA is wholly funded by contributions which are voluntary and not part of the regular United Nations budget. In 1995, the Fund had 85 donors, most of them developing countries; the major donors were, in descending order, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United States, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Finland, Switzerland, Canada, Belgium, Australia and Italy. UNFPA's total income in 1995 was $312.6 million.
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What is UNFPA's Stand on Human Rights?
UNFPA supports the principle, endorsed by the world community in 1968 and reaffirmed at the International Conference on Population and Development, that all couples and individuals have the basic human right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information, education and means to do so. Coercion in any form is unacceptable.
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Does UNFPA Monitor the Project it Funds?
A strict accounting system, periodic audits and monitoring and evaluation reports ensure that UNFPA funds are used only for the activities stated in project documents. UNFPA is held accountable to its Executive Board for all funds it receives in contributions, and for all funds it distributes in assistance.
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Does UNFPA Provide Assistance to Non-Governmental organisations (NGOs)?
UNFPA was one of the first UN agencies to support national and international NGOs, recognizing the value of their special expertise, innovative approaches and grass-roots experience. In 1995, 15 per cent of UNFPA assistance went to projects carried out by NGOs.
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