The Role of UNFPA in India: Championing Rights, Health and Dignity

Role of UNFPA in India: The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is the UN’s lead agency for sexual and reproductive health and rights. Since 1974 in India, UNFPA has played a major role in transforming and improving lives, particularly of women, adolescents, and marginalized communities. Through a people-centered approach, UNFPA strives to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is realized.

India, with a vast and diverse population of more than 1.4 billion, presents a range of demographic challenges and opportunities. The country’s development story is largely predicated on responses to population dynamics, gender inequalities, maternal health, and youth empowerment. UNFPA India supports both national and state governments, civil society, and communities on these fundamental priorities in a rights-based, inclusive, and sustainable manner.

Sexual and Reproductive Health: Safeguarding Women and Girls

1. Maternity Health and Safe Birth

UNFPA is working tirelessly to decrease maternal death rates through the promotion of skilled attendance at birth, access to emergency obstetric care, and quality reproductive health services. In partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, UNFPA supports programs that strengthen:

Antenatal and postnatal care
Training of midwives and health workers
Improvements in the physical environment in maternity wards
Respected and non-discriminatory maternity care

UNFPA is currently focusing on the states that are underserved, namely Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Rajasthan, to ensure women in rural and tribal areas have the necessary support for safe births.

2. Family Planning and Contraception Access

UNFPA promotes universal access to family planning, allowing individuals and couples to decide when to have children and how many to have. The agency supports:

Improving the method mix for contraception
Improving contraceptive supplies
Training health staff to counsel in family planning
Building awareness at the community level to dispel myths and stigma

In these ways, UNFPA participates in reducing unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal mortality.

Also Read: UNDP India Research on Poverty Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation

Role of UNFPA in India – Youth Empowerment: A National Investment

India has the largest number of adolescents and youth in the world. UNFPA believes that empowering young people with information, life skills, and opportunity is key to advancing national progress.

3. Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)

UNFPA promotes age-appropriate, culturally responsive, and scientifically accurate sexuality education through school and community-based programs. CSE programmes include:

Puberty and bodily changes
Gender roles and relationships
Respect and consent
Safety and reproductive health and rights

With the support of state education departments and NGOs, UNFPA supports adolescent girls and boys to safely transition to adulthood.

4. Life Skills and Career Guidance

In addition to sexual health, UNFPA aims to help young people develop life skills, such as communication, decision-making, and critical thinking skills. Through training or vocational training, career counseling, and entrepreneurship programs, young people—especially from marginalized backgrounds—gain the tools to build a better future.

Promoting Gender Equality and Ending Gender-based Violence

5. Combating Gender-based Violence (GBV)

UNFPA is preventing and responding to gender-based violence, especially violence against women and girls. UNFPA is providing:

Helplines and crisis centers for survivors
Training of police, health, chain of command, and legal professionals
Community awareness programs that challenge societal norms and practices that perpetuate gender-based violence

In humanitarian settings like refugee camps or quick post-disaster, UNFPA ensures women and girls have access to safe spaces, informal counseling and basic services.

Also Read: The Role of Greenpeace India in Environmental Research and Advocacy

6. Ending Child Marriage and Harmful Practices

In many parts of India, child marriage is still an issue. UNFPA works to advocate against child marriage with government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to delay the mean age of marriage by:

Informing communities of the risks of early marriage,
Keeping girls in school,
Providing parents with other means of livelihood,
Advocating for legislation and policy that protects the rights of the child.

The UDAAN project in Rajasthan shows how educational experiences and building the capacity of community members to mobilize has reduced child marriage rates and mobilized the community around the issue of child marriage.

7. Providing support for Data Driven-Demand and Development

UNFPA plays a significant role as a technical partner for India’s population scenario analysis, data analysis, and policy planning. UNFPA collaborates with institutions such as: the NITI Aayog, National Statistical Office (NSO), and state governments to:

Conduct population-based surveys
Examine demographic landscapes
Project population targets and outlooks
Contribute to evidence-based policy

UNFPA is strengthening India’s ability to plan for health, education, employment and urban development through a number of initiatives, such as the Decade of Action on Census and Civil Registration.

8. Promoting the Demographic Dividend

India has a tremendous economic opportunity in its demographic dividend: its incredible proportion of working-age individuals. UNFPA champions policies that address this demographic dividend through:

Increasing the investment in youth education and skills
Encouraging health and gender equity
Encouraging women’s economic participation
Expanding reproductive rights and family planning

UNFPA ensures that its strategies around demographic are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to promote inclusion, participation, and equity in development.

Also Read: International Rescue Committee Research on Refugee and Migrant Support in India

Role of UNFPA in India – Menstrual Health and Hygiene: A Quiet Revolution

Menstrual health is fundamental to girls’ education, health, and dignity issues. Fortunately, in India, millions of adolescent girls have considerable challenges around managing menstruation due to:

No access to sanitary products
Poor infrastructure in schools with respect to sanitation
Unacceptable taboos and social stigma

Role of UNFPA in India – UNFPA supports programmes that:

Educate adolescents and community about menstruation
Strengthen school infrastructure (toilet, water and disposal systems)
Encourage usable and eco-friendly menstrual products
Involve boys and men in conversations to laze customary associations with menstruation

All of these activities are focused on moving towards girls’ rights so that no girl needs to miss school or opportunities because of a natural biological process.

Reaching the Marginalized: Tribal, Rural, and Migrant Populations

Equity and inclusion are fundamental to all UNFPA programming, with great focus on:

Tribal people in isolated and remote communities
Rural populations without access to healthcare
Migrant workers who are situated as outside regular health systems
People with disabilities (and other marginalized populations) are related to their reproductive health

UNFPA’s approach, using community-based models and local partners, contributes to ensuring no one is left behind.

Partnerships for Progress: Working with India’s Government and Civil Society

UNFPA’s presence is based on partnerships and capacity-building. The bilateral nature of Saturday’s cooperation runs through:

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Ministry of Women and Child Development
Health Departments in the states
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO)
Accredited institutions of the Academic and Research community

By strengthening institutional frameworks and empowering local leadership, UNFPA ensures that the impact of its work is scalable and sustainable.

Also Read: CARE International Studies on Women Empowerment and Livelihood in Rural India

COVID-19 and Humanitarian Response: Rising to the Challenge

During the COVID-19 pandemic, UNFPA India played a crucial role in protecting sexual and reproductive health services. It:

Distributed hygiene and dignity kits
Supported healthcare workers with PPE and training
Provided tele-counseling and helplines for mental health survivors and survivors of GBV
Ensured continuity of family planning services

UNFPA India’s actions ensured that quality essential health services were not disrupted for women and adolescents during the COVID-19 crisis.

A Vision for a Healthier, More Equitable India

As it continues to move towards inclusive development under the Sustainable Development Goals, UNFPA’s work is needed now more than ever. UNFPA is committed to advancing gender equality, strengthening health systems, supporting the empowerment of young people, and advocating for reproductive rights for all.

UNFPA India’s vision is very much aligned with India’s national priorities and global commitments as outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Conclusion: Empowering Every Individual and Strengthening the Nation

UNFPA role in India cannot be reduced to technical complexities, numbers and policies. It is about empowering individuals, especially women and the youth, to make informed choices, respect their dignity and support them to contribute in their own meaningful way into society. It is about building a future where reproductive health is a right, not a privilege; where every girl can dream beyond marriage; and where every young person can grow into a healthy, educated, and empowered adult.

Also Read: Research by ActionAid India on Women’s Rights and Social Inclusion

UNFPA stands as a steadfast ally in India’s journey towards equity, health, and human rights—one life, one family, and one community at a time.