Good morning.
As we begin, I invite you to watch a short video highlighting UNFPA’s life-saving humanitarian work. We are deeply grateful to Member States and partners for your continued support — and for standing with women, girls and the most vulnerable at moments of greatest need.
Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Members of the Executive Board,
Esteemed colleagues, dear friends,
I warmly congratulate you, Ambassador Cornel Feruță, on your election as President of the Executive Board. I look forward to working closely with you and with the Bureau: Ambassadors Brian Wallace of Jamaica, Jonibek Hikmat of Tajikistan, Chola Milambo of Zambia, and Lauri Voionmaa of Finland.
My sincere thanks also go to Ambassador Andrés Montalvo Sosa and the outgoing Bureau for their leadership, which enabled the consensus endorsement of UNFPA’s Strategic Plan and Integrated Budget last year.
This is my first Executive Board session as Executive Director, and it is both a pleasure and an immense privilege to be with you.
I am also pleased to share senior leadership updates. Mr. Pio Smith joins us today as Deputy Executive Director (Programme), ad interim. Many of you know Pio from his role as Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.
We also welcome Ms. Paula Narváez, former Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, as our new Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean; Mr. Joel Rehnstrom as Director ad interim of the Independent Evaluation Office; and Ms. Sarah Craven as Director ad interim of the Division of External Relations. I look forward to their important contributions.
Mr. President,
Distinguished Members of the Executive Board,
The new year begins in a global landscape fraught with challenges. Deepening geopolitical divides, escalating humanitarian crises, and mounting attacks on the rights of women and girls are severely straining the multilateral system.
For UNFPA, 2025 was an incredibly demanding year. We faced unprecedented funding cuts, soaring humanitarian needs, widening inequalities, and growing pushback against sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Yet through it all, our teams upheld our mandate — for rights and choices — and delivered for women, girls and young people in all their diversity.
Today, I would like to speak about the road ahead: results, resilience, returns.
At the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, Member States agreed that reproductive rights are human rights — central to women’s empowerment and gender equality, and therefore a cornerstone of sustainable development.
The Executive Board reaffirmed this commitment in approving UNFPA’s Strategic Plan 2026–2029. As the last of three consecutive plans leading up to 2030, it reaffirms our commitment to accelerate progress toward our three transformative results:
- ending preventable maternal deaths,
- ending unmet need for family planning,
- and ending gender-based violence and harmful practices.
It also strengthens UNFPA’s contribution to providing the demographic intelligence and policy support countries need to adapt to demographic change.
And that is exactly what I intend to do — to build on what works, to step up progress, and to stand firmly with Member States in delivering for their people, especially those furthest behind.
Mr. President,
Let me now turn to results.
UNFPA is a public health, population and human rights agency with a unique mandate and role within the United Nations — one we have carried for nearly 60 years.
Today, UNFPA is among the world’s largest supporters of population data systems, including censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, and demographic analysis.
UNFPA is also the world’s single largest provider of donated contraceptives, and the only multilateral organization equipped to provide sexual and reproductive health services and commodities immediately and at scale during humanitarian crises.
In 2024, UNFPA reached more than 10 million people with sexual and reproductive health services and more than 3.6 million people with gender-based violence protection in crisis-affected settings — where we remain the provider of last resort.
These are not luxuries. They are life-saving essentials. Our priority is to ensure that women’s and girls’ needs remain central to humanitarian response.
Our 2026 global humanitarian appeal is for US$1 billion. This will enable us to reach 34 million women, girls and young people across 42 crisis-affected countries with life-saving services and support.
I am pleased that the Board was able to witness our humanitarian work firsthand during its recent visit to Jordan, where UNFPA midwives and health-care providers deliver life-saving care in Za’atari refugee camp. Since the opening of the camp’s sole maternity clinic in 2013, UNFPA has supported nearly 19,000 safe births — without a single maternal or newborn death. Today, funding shortfalls threaten the continuity of these life-saving services.
Through our flagship Maternal and Newborn Health Fund, we have achieved results at scale: 37 million women have accessed safer delivery care and about 800,000 midwives have been trained and supported since 2008.
A major driver of UNFPA’s results is the trust we build with governments. For example, the 54 UNFPA Supplies partner countries have increased their contraceptive spending five-fold since 2020, reaching a record US$52 million in 2024. This progress is not accidental — it reflects courageous political will.
In 2025 alone, 28 countries leveraged match funding through UNFPA Supplies, mobilizing millions of additional domestic resources for family planning. The Partnership’s innovative financing mechanisms strengthen country ownership and drive sustainable impact.
Preliminary figures for 2025 show that the UNFPA Supplies Partnership helped prevent nearly 10 million unintended pregnancies and almost 200,000 maternal and newborn deaths, generating over US$700 million in direct health-care cost savings.
This is the technical, programmatic and normative work that Member States value — and that millions of people rely on across more than 150 countries, alongside our partners in civil society, philanthropy and the private sector. By any metric, UNFPA delivers results that matter.
These results — supported by partners in this room and beyond — show that multilateralism is both essential and effective. The work of the Executive Board is one of the clearest expressions of that effectiveness.
Today, thanks to our shared efforts and your guidance, more women and newborns survive childbirth and thrive; more women and couples can decide freely whether and when to have children; more girls are in school; and child marriage and female genital mutilation are declining — though not fast enough.
Demographic shifts are also reshaping societies — with rapid population growth in some places, and ageing, urbanization and migration in others. Concerns about falling fertility rates have, in some contexts, prompted calls to roll back family planning programmes — or worse, to introduce coercive incentives that undermine women’s rights and choices.
UNFPA’s position is clear: rights and choices must remain at the centre.
In response to Member States’ requests, our Strategic Plan strengthens our ability to provide the data-driven demographic intelligence that countries need — and that only UNFPA can deliver — to prepare for population shifts. We support evidence-based investments that enable people and societies to thrive through change — what we call demographic resilience.
The Strategic Plan will be operationalized in line with national policies and laws and rooted in national ownership, as expressed in the Country Programme Documents — 15 of which are before the Board this session for adoption or extension. As we implement them, our focus will be on impact and accountability, locally led solutions, stronger partnerships and innovative financing.
Mr. President, distinguished delegates,
Let me now turn to resilience.
As we implement our new Strategic Plan, we will continue strengthening our crisis response and our work across the development-humanitarian-peace continuum. This includes pre-positioning supplies and supporting national systems to deliver at scale.
We are acutely aware that the aid landscape is rapidly changing. We therefore continue our shift toward more diversified approaches to funding and financing — including supporting countries to increase domestic investments, strengthening ties to international financial institutions, and mobilizing private and philanthropic capital.
For example, we are deepening our collaboration with the African Development Bank and others to tackle maternal mortality in Africa — where 70 per cent of maternal deaths occur. There is no inevitability to the fact that 700 women die each day from preventable causes. This is something we can and we continue to change.
That is why I am focusing on strengthening resilient national systems and doubling down on proven solutions — including supporting midwives — underpinned by sustainable financing. This is central to shifting the needle and reaching those furthest behind.
It is also why we are accelerating innovation to improve maternal health outcomes and harnessing artificial intelligence tools, drones and other technologies to reach women and girls who are too often beyond the reach of services.
We look forward to engaging with Member States on these issues at the upcoming Commission on Population and Development, which will explore population, technology and research in the context of sustainable development.
I’ve spoken about demographic resilience — but we are also strengthening resilience internally at UNFPA.
As I said, 2025 was difficult. There were many reasons to be knocked down: funding cuts, pushback against rights, attacks on aid workers, and more people affected by more crises. Yet we came through with our heads high — and our work on the ground continued to deliver.
How? Because we are never complacent. We continuously learn — from audits, from evaluations, from our peers, from the realities we face — and we look ahead to mitigate risk.
One of my top priorities is to build a future-fit organization. That means cultivating a high-performing, agile workforce and strengthening our talent pipeline. The Staff Council is an important partner in this.
UNFPA has long been a champion of reform and a model of efficiency: relocating about 25 per cent of New York-based personnel to Nairobi; co-leading the Business Innovations Group for the entire UN system; and outsourcing back-office operations. We will continue pursuing efficiencies while investing in accountability, transparency and oversight — to ensure UNFPA remains effective, responsive and trusted.
We are deeply grateful to Member States for your generous voluntary support. In 2025, UNFPA surpassed US$1 billion in total contributions for the ninth year in a row. We do not take this support for granted. We work hard to honour your trust. I also wish to thank civil society organizations and parliamentarians who advocate for these resources, and programme countries that are increasing domestic investments.
With increased resources come heightened expectations of accountability. That is why I am championing an ethical culture of integrity, diversity and inclusion, and zero tolerance for wrongdoing.
All of this depends on the core resources that underpin everything we do — enabling us to plan, adapt and deliver efficiently before, during and after crises. Yet the number of core contributors is shrinking. We urge more countries to become core funders, and I especially encourage programme countries to pledge core support.
Mr. President, distinguished delegates,
At UNFPA, we are unwavering in our commitment to stand with Member States to advance well-being across the life course; deliver transformative results; and build the resilience of individuals, communities and countries.
There is another “R” as well: returns — the tremendous returns countries reap when they invest in their people, especially in sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Every dollar invested in family planning yields nearly US$27 in social and economic benefits — this is among the smartest investments a country can make.
And according to a World Economic Forum analysis, women spend 25 per cent more of their lives in poor health than men. Closing this health gap could unlock up to US$1 trillion in global GDP by 2040. This is not only a health statistic — it is a growth strategy and a resilience strategy.
In a context of widening inequalities, we will continue ensuring UNFPA programmes reach the most vulnerable — including adolescents and youth, women and girls, and marginalized communities — strengthening human capital and economic resilience. And we will continue to be the force on the ground of youth, peace and security, as one of the three members of the secretariat.
Accountability and good governance will remain central to our management.
Mr. President, distinguished delegates,
To quote Nina Simone: “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day.”
UNFPA has a new Strategic Plan — and I feel confident. Why?
Because we have steadfast partners.
Because we have extraordinary, dedicated personnel whose passion shines through in all they do.
And because we know who we serve — and why we are here.
In this new normal,
We are here for the young woman in a refugee camp afraid for her safety.
For the adolescent girl in a war-torn community determined to stay in school.
For the pregnant woman in a remote area for whom a UNFPA-trained midwife is a lifeline.
For the men and community leaders working with us to transform harmful norms.
And for young people building their confidence and leadership — our best hope for peace and prosperity, today and for generations to come.
Our teams work every day to deliver for the communities we serve — and to ensure people receive what they need and are entitled to.
In uncertain times, one thing is certain: UNFPA will remain steadfast — present in the most vulnerable settings, standing with those furthest behind, and standing for sexual and reproductive health and rights for all, everywhere — simply because everyone counts.
We are here for the long haul. Since taking office, my message to staff has been simple: keep your heads up — and keep pushing forward, even as we navigate reforms around us.
Are you with us? Can I count on you?
Please know you can count on us at UNFPA.
We appreciate your partnership — past, present and future — and we look forward to working with you to deliver on our Strategic Plan, towards a world where every pregnancy is intended, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
Je vous remercie de votre aimable attention.
