imageAround the world, 222 million women want to delay or avoid pregnancy, but aren’t using modern contraception. Family Planning 2020 is a global partnership working to reach 120 million more women with voluntary access to family planning information, services, and supplies by the year 2020.

As partners and countries around the world work to address women’s right to and need for voluntary family planning, one of the biggest challenges is quickly delivering resources to where they are needed the most.

Many organizations and countries have planning and budget cycles that can make it difficult to quickly get resources out the door to address unexpected challenges – for example, if a health center in a community runs out of a certain type of contraception or if health workers need training to understand new guidelines or policies.

To fill this urgent need, today Family Planning 2020 announced exciting news: the launch of a Rapid Response Fund to provide fast and flexible resources to respond to unanticipated opportunities or critical emergencies.

The Rapid Response Fund, which was established with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, will feature:

  • Flexible grants. Grant requests can cover supply, demand, and advocacy for opportunities that have high potential for impact in the short-term. Grants will range from USD $25,000 to $250,000.
  • Quick turnaround. Funds will be deployed quickly through a simple deployment mechanism and must be spent within one year.

Why this matters
Women should be able to get the health information, services, and supplies they need where they want them and when they want them.

The Rapid Response Fund can deploy resources at critical times or in emergencies. Resources can be used to train new family planning service providers. And technical assistance to countries through the Rapid Response Fund will allow governments to strengthen the capacity of their reproductive health care systems.

All of this means that more women can get quality health care and voluntary family planning services. When women have the tools to plan their families, their families are healthier and more secure, benefiting the world.

Learn more about the Rapid Response Fund, or visit www.familyplanning2020.org. You can also stay informed by following @FP2020Global on Twitter.