Marie Stopes International has announced it will double its commitment to Family Planning 2020 (FP2020), the global partnership dedicated to improving voluntary access to family planning information, services and supplies for women and girls in the world’s poorest countries.
With this announcement, Marie Stopes International doubles its 2012 pledge to expand access to contraception to 6 million women and girls who have previously been unable to access it. The organisation now commits to reaching 12 million new users of contraception by 2020, representing 10 per cent of FP2020’s overall goal to enable 120 million more women and girls to use contraceptives by 2020.
Marie Stopes International made its original commitment at the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning, from which the FP2020 partnership was born. Since the summit, the organisation has already enabled more than 3 million women who have never had the opportunity to use contraception to access a method of their choosing.
To meet its new goal, the organisation aims to halve the amount it costs to reach each new user by using economies of scale, improving operational efficiencies, and harnessing emerging forms of contraception. As well as increasing the overall contribution of Marie Stopes International’s own funds, it will also seek to double its annual income from donor and domestic financing.
Simon Cooke, Chief Executive of Marie Stopes International, said: “At the 2012 London Summit, we committed to reaching more women with contraception than ever before. We are on track to reach this goal, but unless we urgently accelerate our efforts, commitment makers will fall short of their promise. That’s why we are doubling our own efforts, and pledge to reach 12 million new users by 2020.
“I’m optimistic that we already have the capacity and commitment to achieve our shared goal, but only with our fellow commitment makers. We urge them to join us not just in re-committing to their specific contributions but taking practical steps to get there, now.”
Cooke is among the newest members of FP2020’s Reference Group, the 18-member body tasked with steering the partnership towards its goal of expanding contraceptive access. FP2020 and Marie Stopes International share a commitment to a rights-based approach that will ultimately empower women and girls to determine matters critical to their own health and wellbeing for themselves.
FP2020 Executive Director Beth Schlachter said Marie Stopes International’s intention to double its commitments will help drive important progress toward FP2020 goals.
“By reinforcing and increasing its commitment to expanding contraceptive access to women and girls by 2020, Marie Stopes International challenges all of us to consider how we can do more. As the world works together to craft and drive towards the Sustainable Development Goals, this critical moment demands our collective effort to accelerate progress and ensure no one is left behind.”
Notes to Editors
For interviews, further information and images please contact:
Email: press@mariestopes.org
Telephone: +44 (0)20 3219 8245 / +44 (0)7769 166 516
About Marie Stopes International
Millions of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable women trust Marie Stopes International to provide them with quality family planning and reproductive healthcare. We have been delivering contraception, safe abortion, and mother and baby care for over thirty years and operate in over 35 countries around the world.
Our clients are at the centre of everything we do: through our innovation and partnerships, underserved women and couples are able to access services and make choices about their sexual and reproductive health. By providing high quality services where they are needed the most, we prevent unnecessary deaths and make a sustainable impact on the lives of millions of people every year. For more information, please visit our website www.mariestopes.org.
About FP2020
Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) is a global partnership that supports the rights of women and girls to decide, freely and for themselves, whether, when and how many children they want to have. FP2020 works with governments, civil society, multilateral organizations, donors, the private sector and the research and development community to enable 120 million more women and girls to use contraceptives by 2020. FP2020 is an outcome of the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning where more than 20 governments made commitments to address the policy, financing, delivery and socio-cultural barriers to women accessing contraceptive information, services and supplies. Donors also pledged an additional US$2.6 billion in funding. At the 2013 International Conference on Family Planning in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, an additional five countries made commitments to FP2020.
Led by an 18-member Reference Group, guided technically by Working Groups, operated daily by a Secretariat and hosted by the United Nations Foundation, FP2020 is based on the principle that all women, no matter where they live, should have access to lifesaving contraceptives. FP2020 is in support of the UN Secretary-General’s global effort for women and children’s health, Every Woman Every Child. For more information visit www.familyplanning2020.org.
