2. ACCELERATION 

The UNFPA Strategy for Family Planning identifies eight strategic priorities. This Acceleration Plan operationalizes the strategy. 

Accelerating progress on family planning requires a sound understanding, contextualization and appreciation of programmatic gaps and opportunities, as explored in the Assessent section and its checklist. Did the assessment process help to identify areas where additional efforts may be needed?  In this section, Acceleration, priority areas of action are identified, and then elaborated through programmatic options for various contexts and needs.  The acceleration plan will help UNFPA country and regional offices to identify what needs to be done and provide practical guidance on how to do it. Click on a strategic priority to see tailored priority actions and programmatic options. 

How to speed progress on the UNFPA family planning strategy

Eight strategic priorities form the core of the UNFPA Strategy for Family Planning, 2022–2030. Action based on these strategic priorities is the fastest route to ending the unmet need for family planning. The strategic priorities are grounded in UNFPA’s global mandate and draw on experience and lessons learned. They enable UNFPA to optimize its impact and respond to the root causes and persistent barriers to family planning progress. In approaching programming in these priority areas, everything flows from UNFPA values and principles – applying approaches that are human rights-based, gender-transformative and leave no one behind. 

This acceleration plan operationalizes the UNFPA family planning strategy, which features eight strategic priorities. Each strategic priority is associated with an output, and under each output are selected priority actions and associated programmatic options for implementation in various contexts. Ultimately, each element of this acceleration plan tracks back to the outputs, pathways and accelerators of the UNFPA strategic plan.

8 strategic priorities of the family planning strategy

• Deepen integration of family planning into national health policies, strategies and plans, including primary health care and universal health coverage

• Increase sustainability of national family planning programmes with strengthened health systems, more domestic commitment to financing and more efficient use of resources

• Improve quality of person-centred care and services by expanding contraceptive choices, counselling, health workforce skills, competency and quality of care at the service delivery point

• Expand availability and access to family planning choices, including through self-care interventions and new contraceptive method innovations

• Enhance agency and address discrimination to ensure the full range of family planning services for women and girls from marginalized groups and others at risk of being left behind

• Strengthen and disaggregate data to assess barriers, identify opportunities and improve financial tracking, using tools to generate, analyse and apply evidence in advocacy

• Build resilience and improve adaptation, in settings of humanitarian crisis and environmental change, starting with the Minimum Initial Service Package and including family planning in national policies, plans and strategies

• Engage adolescents and youth as agents of change and provide rights-based and gender-responsive services, including contraception

What are “priority actions”? 

This plan showcases a total of 18 priority actions to help you focus your efforts to accelerate progress in line with the family planning strategy. Each priority action is followed by a set of programmatic options for you to consider when designing work plans. 

What are “programmatic options”? 

The programmatic options are drawn from evidence-based and promising practices, including recommendations from High Impact Practices (HIPs). In many ways they can be described as “standardized interventions”.  These interventions can be adapted and used by countries to operationalize the UNFPA Strategy for Family Planning and accelerate progress.