Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) is a left-of-center campaign to implement the United Nations’ goal to expand birth control and abortion access in developing countries, particularly in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and southeast Asia. It is a project of the United Nations Foundation, a U.S.-based foundation formed by CNN founder Ted Turner that supports goals set by the United Nations. ¹ Prominent partner organizations that FP2020 facilitates include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Planned Parenthood, and pharmaceutical corporations that manufacture contraceptives such as Mylan, Pfizer, and Bayer.

Mission

In 2012 the London Summit on Family Planning was held with the goal of expanding access to contraception to 120 million women and girls around the world. Family Planning 2020 was born out of that conference as a support framework for the various governments, companies, and non-profits that pledged their support. ²

FP2020 explicitly states in its statement of principles that girls should be able to access any contraception of their choice without parental consent and that it seeks to eliminate any policy that would deny adolescents access to contraception. ³

One of the organization’s main functions is the Performance Monitoring and Evidence Working Group. This group works to measure the effect of partner goals and to understand how efforts are affecting people in the target areas. ⁴ FP2020 also works to estimate the total amount of family planning spending that has been undertaken in 69 of the project’s target countries. The project estimates that consumers, domestic governments, and international donors spent $3.8 billion on family planning in 2017. ⁵

As of July 2019, FP2020 reports that 53 million additional girls are using contraception compared to 2012, well short of their FP2020’s initial goal of 120 million. ⁶

The project plans to continue operation past the end of 2020, and states that new goals for 2030 will be formulated to guide continued operation. ⁷

Non-Profit Partners

United Nations Foundation

Family Planning 2020 is housed under the auspices of the United Nations Foundation and is identified with their mailing address. As of the end of 2018, the foundation has spent $21,443,418 advancing the goals of FP2020. ⁸

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been a major supporter of the FP2020 Initiative and in 2012 pledged to donate $1 billion to providing contraception and information about family planning. As of the end of 2018, the organization has disbursed $830,600,000. ^{9 10} The president of global development at the foundation, Christopher Elias, is the co-chair of the Reference Group that governs FP2020. ¹¹

Bloomberg Philanthropies

Bloomberg Philanthropies has pledged to spend $50 million towards FP2020 goals by 2020. As of their most recent self-reported update, the group has largely worked in Tanzania and supported Planned Parenthood Global in Nicaragua, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Uganda. ¹²

Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Planned Parenthood participates in FP2020 goals on both the domestic and international levels. Planned Parenthood reports seeing 2.3 million clients in 2015 in the United States and training over 112,00 teachers and educators. On the international level, Planned Parenthood Global worked in 12 countries ion Africa and Latin America in 2015-2016 and reports providing services and supplies to 2.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million were classified as adolescents and youth. Planned Parenthood Global efforts include their Youth Peer Provider Program, were the organization trains youths to provide their peers with contraception and to bring them to family planning facilities. On the international level, Planned Parenthood also helps partner organizations provide access to the abortion drug misoprostol. ¹³  Dr. Alvaro Bermejo, the director general of the International Planned Parenthood Federation is a member of the Family Planning 2020 governing Reference Group. ¹⁴

Population Council

The Population Council works to expand access to contraception and to develop new contraception methods and conducting social research in target countries. It reported that in 2019 it expanded access to contraceptive vaginal rings in countries in Africa and Asia and that in 2018 it obtained FDA approval for a new hormonal contraceptive ring. It also works to expand contraception access through the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition. ¹⁵

Julia Bunting, the president of the Population Council, is a member of the Family Planning 2020 governing Reference Group. ¹⁶

Population’s Council has roots in funding the American Eugenics Society for over 20 years, and the group has a history of advocating for the population control, sometimes with proposals based on deception or compulsion, especially in developing countries. ¹⁷

Corporate Partners

Mylan

Mylan is a large pharmaceutical company that manufactures contraceptive pills. In 2017 it pledged to provide contraception to 25 million women and girls and to expand contraception sales to 80 percent of the 69 Family Planning 2020 target counties. ¹⁸ In 2019 Mylan reported that it had provided contraception to 14 million women and anticipated meeting a goal of 25 million by 2020. They also reported that it had succeeded in having contraceptive products registered in 64 of the 69 FP2020 target countries. ¹⁹

Pfizer

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer pledged to work to increase access to its injectable contraceptive, Sayana Press. Pfizer has introduced it in 15 FP2020 target countries and has pledged to invest $270 million in the effort by 2022. ²⁰

Viacom

The MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which is part of MTV and its parent company Viacom, have pledged to expand youth programming in several FP2020 target countries in several formats including television, radio, and internet to promote sexual health awareness and direct young people to resources. This has included the distribution of condoms at events promoting the programing. ^{21 22}

Bayer

Bayer Healthcare has committed to spending $8.4 million for contraception awareness and has worked to promote young people around the world who are working to promote family planning and contraception use. ^{23 24}

Leadership

Reference Group

Family Planning 2020 is led by the Reference Group, comprised of various representatives from project partners. Dr. Chris Elias, the president of the Global Development Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Natalia Kanem, the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, serve as the co-chairs. The Reference Group also includes Alvaro Bermejo of International Planned Parenthood Federation, Julia Bunting of the Population Council, and Margaret Schuler of World Vision. ²⁵

Executive Director

Beth Schlachter is the executive director of the day-to-day operations of Family Planning 2020. She began working for FP2020 in 2014; previously, she had worked in the State Department as a Senior Population Policy Advisor. ²⁶

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