Human Rights-based Approach to Family Planning: Support Tool

Expanding access to contraceptive services and improving health outcomes require services to be delivered in ways that respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of everyone who seeks or uses contraceptive information and services. 

This Support Tool provides practical guidance for assessing family planning programmes through a human rights lens. It provides a conceptual framework that shows what rights-based family planning looks like in practical programmatic terms. The tool creates a foundation for designing or improving family planning programmes that apply human rights principles and standards at all levels of the health care system. It was developed in response to a 2020 UNFPA study that identified a need for such guidance. The tool comprises a framework depicting an ideal human rights-based programme, an eight-step assessment and planning process as well as an agenda and materials for a stakeholder workshop.

The tool has been revised to ensure relevance and applicability in humanitarian contexts—supporting efforts to uphold rights and access even in crisis-affected settings.