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UNFPA executive stepping down after eight years highlights midwife training, contraception distribution and funding threats
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Summary
The executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, speaking in an interview, reviewed the agency's work training midwives and distributing contraception while warning that donor funding cuts — including from the United States — threaten services for women and girls.
The executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said she is stepping down after more than eight years and highlighted the agency's work training midwives, distributing contraception and expanding humanitarian services while warning that donor funding cuts threaten care for women and girls.
"UNFPA has upheld the rights and choices of women and girls, adolescent girls in particular, when it comes to ****** and reproductive health and rights," the UNFPA executive director said, listing achievements since taking the post. She said the agency has "trained, hundreds of thousands of midwives" and "provided contraception literally billions of units" during her tenure.
The director also described efforts to improve access at the local level. "We have modernized our ability to reach the last mile. It means lines are shorter. Women can get care closer to their homes," she said, and noted an expansion of UNFPA's humanitarian services in response to rising needs.
On broader framing, the executive director said UNFPA has sought to reframe population discussions around the experience of young girls. "We've also put our stamp on the idea that world population is a worthy subject of discussion, and the lens for that should be through the eyes of a 10 year old girl," she said, adding that questions such as whether a girl can stay in school or will be derailed by child marriage, female genital mutilation or poverty are central to the agency's work.
Asked about the timing of her departure amid what the interviewer called "major funding cuts from donors, including The United States," the executive director said staff have "weathered many a storm" but that current pressures feel more acute. "These funding cuts have devastating impact on women and girls who are always bearing the brunt of whatever it is, climate change, conflict, the migration of people. It's women and girls who are, going to be losing their health care, who are going to be unable to safely walk to the school," she said.
She urged frank communication to build support for reproductive health programs. "So, I think we have to tell the truth, and we have to tell it in a way that's compelling enough so that we can garner the allies that this, that this movement for ****** and reproductive health and rights really requires," she said.
The interview contained reflections on program delivery and organizational priorities rather than announcements of specific policy changes or new funding. The executive director's comments framed UNFPA's recent work and warned of service losses if donor support continues to shrink.
