Government of the Netherlands Invests US$68 Million in the Global Financing Facility to Accelerate Progress on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

The Netherlands joins Canada, Denmark, Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and MSD for Mothers as GFF Trust Fund Investors

NEW YORK CITY – The Government of the Netherlands announced today during the United Nations General Assembly that it was contributing 58,5 million euros (US$68 million) to the Global Financing Facility in support of Every Woman Every Child (GFF), which is working with low- and lower-middle-income countries to transform how they prioritize and finance the health and nutrition of their people. The GFF aims to save as many as 35 million lives, and greatly improve people’s and countries’ abilities to thrive in the global economy.

Every year in 50 countries across the world, more than 5 million women, children and adolescents die from preventable conditions and their economies lose billions of dollars to poor health and nutrition. This is in large part due to a significant financing gap for health and nutrition. The GFF is working with countries to mobilize the financial resources to accelerate progress on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and to scale and sustainably finance health and nutrition in the medium- and long-terms, contributing to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for the elimination of preventable deaths of mothers, newborn and children by 2030.

“The Kingdom of the Netherlands invests in the Global Financing Facility to provide young people in developing countries with freedom of choice regarding their sexual and reproductive health. This is critical to individual rights and development,” said Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, the Netherlands.

The GFF is a financing mechanism that supports human capital through more and better investment in the health and nutrition of women, children and adolescents. The GFF is working in 27 countries[1], with the aim of expanding to a total of 50 countries with the greatest health and nutrition needs. The GFF is one of the only multilateral facilities that invests in comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights, with family planning accounting for about 30% of the GFF’s funding in countries. The GFF supports integrated service delivery, bringing sexual and reproductive health and rights into maternal and child health, as well as nutrition services.  

"Women, children, and adolescents around the world are dying from preventable causes. Fixing this is the right thing to do—for the people who are affected, their families and their countries,” said Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank Chief Executive Officer. “I am delighted that the Netherlands is investing in the Global Financing Facility, to help countries do more with existing funding and mobilize the additional resources they need to save millions of lives." 

The GFF has the potential to help countries make smarter investments in reproductive, maternal and child health. When women have fewer children, and longer time between births, households have more income available to spend on the survival, health and education of their children, and women are more likely to receive formal education and find job opportunities outside of their homes.

The demand from GFF-eligible countries to join the GFF is high, and the GFF is more than halfway to supporting 50 countries with the greatest need. With an additional US$2 billion raised for the period 2018-2023, the GFF can continue investing in 27 GFF countries and expand to 23 new countries. On November 6, 2018, the Governments of Norway and Burkina Faso, the World Bank Group, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will co-host a GFF replenishment event in Oslo, Norway.

The World Bank, Canada, Norway, the United Nations and other partners launched the GFF at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa in July 2015, as a pathfinder for innovative financing of the SDGs, to address the unfinished agenda of women, children and adolescent health and nutrition and to close the financing gap.

About the Global Financing Facility

The Global Financing Facility (GFF) is a multi-stakeholder partnership that is helping countries tackle the greatest health and nutrition issues affecting women, children and adolescents. The GFF Trust Fund is supported by the Governments of Canada, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and MSD for Mothers. The GFF supports governments to bring together partners around a country-led plan, prioritizing high-impact but underinvested areas of health. The GFF Trust Fund acts as a catalyst for financing, with countries using modest GFF Trust Fund grants to significantly increase their domestic resources alongside the World Bank’s IDA and IBRD financing, aligned external financing, and private sector resources. Each relatively small external investment is multiplied by countries’ own commitments—generating a large return on investment, ultimately saving and improving lives. Learn more: www.globalfinancingfacility.org and @theGFF