United Nations

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

1. Improving accessibility to integrated, comprehensive, high-quality reproductive health services at the national level, including the development and adoption of standardized protocol for obstetric care;
2. Ensuring the availability of reproductive health commodities and supplies;
3. Ensuring access to basic life saving services (safe delivery) in areas with restricted mobility and in crises;
4. Supporting and strengthening the national midwifery programme, in addition to the creation of community midwifery model;
5. Integrating sexual and reproductive health issues in the Palestinian curriculum;
6. Advocating for the protection of Palestinian women and girls within the framework of  UN Resolution 1325;
7. Providing technical and financial support to a number of governmental and non-governmental organizations to implement projects that seek to strengthen the delivery of psychosocial services to young people;
8. Supporting the Ministry of Planning in establishing a national population forum that aims to raise awareness on the importance of integrating population dynamics into national strategies;
9. Increasing the national capacity of integrated population, gender and reproductive health into development and emergency planning processes; and
10. Enhancing the national capacity to generate and utilize disaggregated data, especially the data generated through the second Population, Housing, and Establishment Census 2007, of which UNFPA provided major technical and financial support to its implementation.  

• UNFPA has a consolidated team of professionals working in programming (medicine, public health, advocacy, and gender), administration and finance.
• In addition to its main office in Jerusalem, the Fund has also two sub-offices in Ramallah/West Bank and the Gaza Strip. 
• Long-standing positive relationships with Palestinian governmental and non-governmental institutions, in particular the Ministries of Health, Planning, Social Affairs, Education and Higher Education, Women’s Affairs, Youth and Sports, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association, the Women Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, and Miftah; these have built UNFPA credibility in managing programmes and projects.
• UNFPA has a worldwide tested procurement system including long-term agreements for supplies, drugs and equipment for women’s and infant’s health and emergency needs in reproductive health.
• A long programmatic experience in oPt, including emergency and humanitarian work, that is linked to the community level, including emergency response mechanisms for safe motherhood, delivery and postpartum care. 
• Extensive outreach and experience in reaching out to communities in rural and urban areas using innovative communications-for-behavior-change.
• As part of the UN family, UNFPA is closely coordinating and will coordinate its efforts with other UN sister agencies for effective use of available resources. UNFPA currently chairs two main UN Theme Groups; on HIV/AIDS and on Young People.