You are here

About us

WHO WE ARE
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that is guided in its work by the Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994. UNFPA promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. It supports countries in collecting, analysing and utilising population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

WHAT WE DO
UNFPA's major areas of support are Reproductive Health, Gender, and Population and Development:

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Under this component UNFPA supports reproductive rights as human rights. This include family planning counselling, information, education, communication, services and commodities, prevention for HIV/AIDS and adequate commodities for that purpose (male and female condoms), Information, education, counselling, services and commodities for prenatal care, safe delivery and post-natal care including referral to emergency obstetric care facilities. It further supports prevention of abortion and post abortion care and counselling, as well as violence against women including female genital cutting/female genital mutilation. 
In Lesotho UNFPA supports the Government of Lesotho through two projects under this component.

POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT 
This component promotes understanding of, and strengthening capacities to document and analyse the complex linkages between population dynamics and sustainable social and economic development of both national and sub-national levels. This is done through support of capacity development in collection, analysis and dissemination of population data; the formulation of social and economic development policies and strategies at both national and sub-national levels. Two projects are currently running under this population and development component. These are Population Dynamics and Interlinkages where the National Population Policy Revision is in the process, and Data for development - where the 2006 Population and Housing Census, Vital Statistics and Demographic Survey are being supported by UNFPA.

GENDER
The Fund supports, under human rights principle, empowerment of women through both their reproductive and productive roles. This is achieved through support of policies and programmes that ensure gender equality and equity. Currently UNFPA and the Government of Lesotho have two projects under this component.