Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) is a global movement 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.
An outcome of the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning, FP2020 is based on the principle that all women, no matter where they live, should have access to lifesaving contraceptives. Achieving the FP2020 goal is a critical milestone to ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights by 2030, as laid out in Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5, and is key to unlocking all development priorities. FP2020 is in support of the UN Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health.
Building on the decades of work preceding the London Summit, we have seen FP2020’s vast potential to transform the lives of women and girls across the globe. The partnership now includes more than 80 commitment makers—including nearly 40 countries—reflecting a marked increase in political will among governments as well as growing interest across diverse sectors.
During our initial phase, FP2020’s governance model comprised the Reference Group, the Secretariat, and four expert Working Groups: Country Engagement; Market Dynamics; Performance Monitoring & Evidence; and Rights & Empowerment. This structure enabled representatives from all sectors to coordinate activities, pool talents, align agendas, and collaborate to address the policy, financing, supply, delivery, and sociocultural barriers to women accessing contraceptives.
The tremendous commitment of the Reference Group and the Working Groups has underpinned FP2020’s momentum at every step, helping FP2020 achieve progress grounded in principles that promote quality, choice, equity, and voluntarism.
The work of our partners around the world has made a difference in peoples’ lives. An unprecedented number of women and girls are now using modern methods of contraception: 290.6 million across the 69 focus countries. This means 24.4 million more women and girls were able to exercise their right to use modern methods of contraception in July 2015 than in July 2012. And, as access expands, so too does the global demand that family planning policies and programs respect and respond to the needs of women and girls.
These are impressive results. Yet, as we near the halfway point of the partnership, we find that we are not on track to achieve global and country goals to meet the contraceptive needs of women and girls. With an estimated gap of 10 million, FP2020 recognizes that we need to make changes now—both in our structure and in our prioritization—in order to deliver on the ambitious agenda that the global community has committed to achieve. We must learn from what has and hasn’t worked and, based on a combination of experience and data, make the necessary changes to accelerate progress.
