Europe’s Funding

One of the core functions of the Countdown 2015 Europe partners is to collect financial data on their governments’ official development assistance (ODA) to reproductive health and family planning. Based on the latest data collected, trends analyses have been developed for Europe and each of the individual European donor countries on support for RH/FP. Please also visit our country profiles to read more about each European donor country’s policies on RH/FP in development. Learn more about the Countdown 2015 Europe methodology and added value in tracking European donor funding and policies for RH/FP in development here.

European Support to Reproductive Health and Family Planning: Overall Policy and Financial Trends Analysis for 2014-2015

January 2016 –  Though European policy and financial commitment  to reproductive health and family planning (RH/FP) is strong,  overall policy context for ODA is worrying – says C2015E report analysing European donor financial and policy support to RH/FP in 12 European donor countries for 2014-2015.

In 2015, European countries continued to firmly support RH/FP through their policy commitments. This contributed to RH/FP featuring prominently within the Sustainable Development Goals.  Several European countries have released policy documents and development cooperation laws with a strong reference to increasing access to family planning and ensuring 120 million additional women and girls have access to contraceptives by 2020.

As a result, financial expenditure from 2013 to 2014 has increased for population assistance in all but two countries across Europe, and growing over the past six years. Additionally, funding to UNFPA – both project and core funding – remained strong, and increased between 2013 and 2014. Interestingly in 2015, new ways of financing RH/FP were introduced, which will be closely monitored in the coming years.

However, there have been new governments elected in various European countries, and forthcoming budget changes are likely to decrease the amount allocated to Official Development Assistance (ODA). Critically, these ODA cuts are likely to affect expenditure on RH/FP.  The prominence of the refugee crisis in Europe might also threaten funding for ODA in the next year, and again this might see a change in the amount spent on RH/FP.

Therefore, in 2016 it will be critical for vibrant civil society organisations to increase and intensify advocacy to their governments to ensure European alignment of financial expenditure to RH/FP policy commitments.  Advocacy has been proven to work – as demonstrated in late 2015 by sustained funding to civil society in Norway, despite previously proposed budget cuts.

To find out more, please download our full trends analysis for 2014-2015 or see Country Profiles  for detailed information on each of the 12 countries and the European Institutions.

Countdown 2015 Europe is committed to publishing these reports annually. 

2015 factsheet on EU development funding

Our latest factsheet focuses on EU support for family planning and reproductive health, and how stakeholders can help to strengthen it. Read more.

Archive

For information on previous years, you can download Countdown 2015 Europe’s annual reports on detailed trends in European donor support to RH/FP in 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011. We also published a multi-annual report for 2009-2013 giving overall policy and funding trends.

National tracking factsheets 2014, published in January 2015, highlight policy and funding commitments by European governments for reproductive health and family planning in development.

Individual country factsheets from this document are also available in our country profiles.

For individual country overviews on European donor funding for RH/ FP for previous years (2011-2013) you can consult the annual reports in the table below.

Belgium201120122013
Denmark201120122013
European Union201120122013
Finland201120122013
France201120122013
Germany201120122013
Ireland201120122013
Netherlands201120122013
Norway201120122013
Portugal201120122013
Spain201120122013
Sweden201120122013
Switzerland201120122013
UK201120122013
General notesAll financial data refers to disbursements.Financial data is updated on a real-time basis – as and when data becomes available.Each country page includes a pdf citing data sources and explaining country-specific data caveats.Each country page includes a pdf explaining the RH/FP ODA flows through bilateral support.The detailed database can be accessed by partners by logging in below. It is not publicly available.