Donor Government Assistance for Family Planning in 2012

In July 2012, the U.K. Government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), civil society organizations, developing countries, donor governments, the private sector, and multilateral organizations – co-sponsored the London Summit on Family Planning, an effort to provide voluntary family planning services to an additional 120 million women and girls in developing countries by 2020 through new commitments. A key step in assessing progress towards these commitments is tracking expenditures for family planning.  While all financing sources are critical to helping to scale-up the response, donor governments provide a significant share of global funding for family planning services.¹

This analysis establishes a baseline level of funding in 2012 that can be used to track total international assistance funding levels for family planning over time as well as specific donor government progress in meeting London Summit on Family Planning commitments.  It examines funding for family planning provided by the 24 governments who were members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in 2012. Of these, eleven made specific commitments at the Summit to increase funding for family planning including: Australia, Denmark, the European Commission, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the U.K.² In addition, there are several other donor governments, particularly the United States and Canada, which, while not making specific commitments at the Summit, also provide funding for family planning activities. In general, family planning services are defined to include the following activities: counseling; information, education and communication activities; delivery of contraceptives; capacity building and training.  In addition, family-planning-related activities funded in the context of other official development assistance sectors (e.g. education, civil society) are reflected in this analysis. Key findings include (also, see Table):

• In 2012, donor governments provided US$899.8 million for bilateral family planning programs and an additional US$432.3 million in core contributions to the UNFPA.
• The U.S. was the largest bilateral donor providing US$485.0 million and accounting for more than half (54%) of total bilateral funding in 2012. The U.K. (US$99.4 million, 11%) was the second largest bilateral donor followed by the Netherlands (US$65.5 million, 7%), France (US$49.6 million, 6%), and Germany (US$47.6 million, 5%).
• The eleven who made specific commitments at the Summit accounted for US$371.8 million (41%) of total donor government disbursements for family planning in 2012.
• Sweden (US$66.3 million) was the largest donor to UNFPA followed by Norway (US$59.4 million), the Netherlands (US$49.0 million), and Denmark (US$44.0).
• While complete funding data for 2013 are not yet available, two donor governments (the U.K. and Norway) have already budgeted increased levels of funding for family planning in 2013; U.K. family-planning-specific funding is estimated to be approximately US$103 million, a 5% increase over prior year levels, and the Norwegian budget provides approximately $25 million in new family planning-specific funding. In addition, while family-planning-specific funding data is not yet available, the Netherlands increased budgeted funding in 2013 for “Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights, including HIV/AIDS” to US$504.1 million. The increases by the U.K. and the Netherlands fulfill their London Summit commitments.

In the wake of the commitments made during the London Summit, timely and accurate tracking of donor financing for family planning takes on new urgency. The data presented in this analysis should be considered a work in progress as donor governments refine existing methodologies to track funding for family planning activities. As we continue to track donor government funding for family planning in future years, we will aim to provide additional detail and trend analyses.

Table: Donor Government Family Planning Disbursements, 2012
Country	Bilateral Disbursements (US$ millions)	UNFPA – Core Contributions (US$ millions)	Total (US$ millions)
Australia	$42.7	$14.9	$57.5
Canada	$41.5	$17.4	$58.9
Denmark	$13.0	$44.0	$57.0
France	$49.6	$0.5	$50.1
Germany	$47.6	$20.7	$68.3
Netherlands	$65.5	$49.0	$114.5
Norway	$3.3	$59.4	$62.7
Sweden	$41.2	$66.3	$107.5
U.K.	$99.4	$31.8	$131.2
U.S.	$485.0	$30.2	$515.2
Other DAC Countries	$11.0	$98.0	$109.1
Total	$899.8	$432.3	$1332.1