Australia

The Government of Australia takes a comprehensive approach to advancing the rights of women and girls, targeting its investments to initiatives that enhance gender equality, global health and humanitarian relief. These efforts include issues such as leadership, economic empowerment, sexual and reproductive health, ending gender-based violence, family planning, and maternal health, with a strong focus on the Indo-Pacific region. The AUD 30 million Transformative Agenda for Women, Adolescents and Youth 2018-2022 is one of Australia’s largest partnerships with UNFPA and aims to improve access to sexual and reproductive health and rights with a focus on family planning in six Pacific countries.

 

In addition to naming women’s and girls' rights as one of six investment priority areas, Australia’s foreign assistance policy states that “80 per cent of investments, regardless of their objectives, will effectively address gender issues in their implementation.” This approach creates a measurable and tangible framework through which to enact gender mainstreaming and affirms the relevance of the partnership with UNFPA.

 

Specific areas of collaboration include: population data, family planning, safe motherhood, HIV/AIDS prevention, ending gender-based violence and promoting disability-inclusive development. Australia’s humanitarian contributions support sexual and reproductive health care, as well as supplies for preventing and treating gender-based violence in disaster-prone countries across the Indo-Pacific region, Asia and the Middle East. The Government of Australia also supports UNFPA Supplies, which facilitates access to reproductive health commodities.