Family Planning
Family Planning Strategy | Guiding Principles and U.S. Legislative and Policy Requirements
In the 1960s, the average woman in Latin America had six children and many died in childbirth. Back then, most women in remote areas didn’t have access to family planning or know that they could space or limit their pregnancies. Today, most women have between two and three healthy children. Read about USAID's family planning legacy in Latin America.
Photo credit: Virginia Lamprecht, Courtesy of Photoshare
Saving Lives, Protecting Health
USAID's Family Planning program is one of the success
stories in U.S. development assistance. Since the
launch of the program in 1965, families are better able
to feed, clothe, educate, and provide health care for
their children. Countless women and children are alive
today as a result of USAID assistance.
Learn more about USAID's History of Achievements and Timeline in Family Planning.
Enabling couples to determine
whether, when, and how often to have children is vital
to safe motherhood and healthy families. Voluntary
family planning has profound health, economic, and
social benefits for families and communities:
- Protecting the health of women by reducing high-risk
pregnancies
- Protecting the health of children by allowing
sufficient time between pregnancies
- Fighting HIV/AIDS through providing information,
counseling, and access to male and female condoms
- Reducing abortions
- Supporting women's rights and opportunities for
education, employment, and full participation in
society
- Protecting the environment by stabilizing population
growth
USAID's Family Planning Strategy
USAID advances and supports voluntary family planning and reproductive health programs worldwide. To achieve this objective, USAID's Office of Population and Reproductive Health (PRH):
- Exercises global leadership in policy, advocacy and services
- Generates, organizes and disseminates knowledge
- Provides support to the field for implementing effective programs
View USAID's Strategic Framework for Family Planning
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Learn more about this five-year public/private global alliance to contribute to the goal of reducing the unmet need for family planning by 100 million women, expand skilled birth attendance and facility-based deliveries, and increase the numbers of women and newborns receiving quality post-natal care by 2015. Read more. |
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New Resource on Gender Integration for Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs and Policies [PDF, 542KB]
This paper, “Synchronizing Gender Strategies: A Cooperative Model for Improving Reproductive Health and Transforming Gender Relations,” developed by the RESPOND Project at EngenderHealth and the BRIDGE Project, at the Population Reference Bureau, in consultation with the Interagency Gender Working Group at USAID, explores gender integration approaches to sexual and reproductive health programs and policies to demonstrate why it is important to promote gender equality from a relational/harmonized perspective in sexual and reproductive health.
Announcement of a Virtual Leadership Development Program for Local Public and Private Sector Family Planning/Reproductive Health Teams Working In Monitoring & Evaluation In Anglophone Countries
USAID's MEASURE Evaluation Population and Reproductive Health (PRH) Associate Award is pleased to announce a Virtual Leadership Development Program (VLDP) for local public and private sector family planning/reproductive health teams working in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in Anglophone countries. PRH priority countries are especially encouraged to apply but all qualified applications will be considered. The main goal of this VLDP is to empower those involved in the collection, analysis, and use of health data, at all levels of an organization, to lead teams to face their M&E challenges and achieve their desired results.
The Standard Days Method® (SDM) Toolkit: Your One-Stop Source for Reliable and Relevant Web-Based Information and Resources about the SDM
The SDM Toolkit provides policy makers, health care providers, and program managers across the globe with state-of-the-art information on this highly-effective fertility awareness-based method (FAM) of family planning that has been proven to expand choice for women and couples. The SDM Toolkit ensures that professionals have quick and easy access to comprehensive information on programming and policy considerations relevant to the SDM. Learn more and join the discussion. |
USAID's Family Planning Guiding Principles and U.S. Legislative and Policy Requirements
Principles of voluntarism and informed choice guide USAID's family planning program. These principles are articulated in program guidelines and a number of legislative and policy requirements that govern the use of U.S. family planning assistance. The requirements fall into two general categories:
- Voluntarism and Informed Choice
USAID is committed to ensuring that women and couples in developing countries have access to voluntary family planning services and are free to make informed decisions about their reproductive lives.
- Restrictions on Support for Abortions
There are several legislative and policy restrictions relating to abortions.
USAID takes these family planning requirements very seriously and works with Missions and partners to ensure compliance with the family planning requirements in their programs.
USAID's family planning program is subject to certain restrictions on the use of funds, which are implemented through standard provisions inserted in all grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts that include family planning activities. The current standard provisions for Voluntary Population Planning Activities, including both mandatory and supplemental requirements, for cooperative agreements and grants are available in the USAID Automated Directives System (ADS) Chapter 303. The current standard provisions that apply to contracts are found Acquisition & Assistance Policy Directive 08-01.
For Assistance Awards (Cooperative Agreements and Grants):
For Contracts:
For more information on Family Planning, please contact Liz Bayer at ebayer@usaid.gov. |
