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Overview

UNFPA, the United Nations Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency, is an international development organization working to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA's assistance to Ethiopia began in 1973 and it has since implemented 8 Country Programme cycles. Currently, UNFPA is implementing the 9th Country Programme cycle (2020-2025) which draws from the priorities and Outcomes of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2020-2025), the Sustainable Development Goals, and the ICPD Programme of Action.

In the last few decade, Ethiopia has made significant progress towards achieving its national and international development goals, and sectoral programmes and strategies for improving maternal health, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, and combating the HIV epidemic. The Maternal Mortality Ratio declined from 871 per 100,000 live births at the turn of the century to 412 per 100,000 live births in 2016.The number of child delivery at a health facility increased to 28 per cent during the same period while the contraceptive prevalence rate increased from 8 to 36 percent. The Total Fertility Rate dropped to 4.1 in 2016.

However, unmet need for family planning is the highest for young married adolescents, 15-19 years old, with 33 percent unmet need for spacing. There are also other emerging sexual and reproductive health needs that draw the attention of the government and partners such as cervical cancer.

The fertility transitions in Ethiopia is leading to the demographic window of opportunity which eventually ensures demographic dividend if proper investments are planned and implemented to strengthen capacities and to create development opportunities for young people. This calls for integration of population dynamics including sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and youth at all levels of development planning and their interventions. Such endeavors should also accommodate adolescent and youth with special needs and those living in regions which need equitable development.

9th Country Programme

UNFPA is currently implementing the 9th Country Programme cycle (2020-2025) which which draws from the priorities and Outcomes of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2020-2025), the Sustainable Development Goals, and the ICPD Programme of Action.

The Country Programme is aligned to the Ethiopian Government’s Home Grown Economic Reform Agenda and the 10-Year Perspective Development Plan and sectoral plans. The Programme also aligns with the UNFPA Strategic Plan (2018-2021) which stipulates key transformative results the Fund aims to achieve by 2030 – ending preventable maternal deaths; ending unmet need for family planning; and ending gender-based violence and harmful practices against women and girls.   

The main thrust of the Country Programme is to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the people of Ethiopia, especially women and young people, through promoting universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. In particular, the programme seeks to improve maternal health through provision of information and services on EMNoC, skilled human resources for maternal health and redressing the unmet need for family planning; address the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents and youth; address gender inequality with a special focus on gender based violence  and harmful practices; and ensuring better understanding of population dynamics through adhering to human rights based approach and leaving no one behind.

The programme promotes strategic partnerships with the government, UN Agencies, donors and civil society organizations. The 9th Country Programme is being implemented in selected districts in 9 Regions (Tigray, Afar, Amhara, Somali, Oromia, Benishaguel, Gambella, SNNPR, Sidama) and Addis Ababa City Administration covering over 90 percent of the Ethiopian population. UNFPA Ethiopia is one of the largest Country Offices in the Africa Region both in terms of staff, resource and programme with an estimated budget of USD 112 million for the five years of its implementation.

UNFPA's engagement in UN Delivering as One Initiatives

The 9th Country Programme is set in the context of UN Delivering As One, where following the endorsement of the United Nations Country Team agencies have agreed to formulate the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2020-2025). The 9th Country Programme will contribute to selected outromes of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.