The United Nations Population Fund.

• Author: Sadik, Nafis
• Position: Then and Now - Success stories of work with women

"Thirty years ago, my predecessor U Thant transferred a small trust fund to the new United Nations Development Programme", said Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1999. "A small group of donors provided a small amount of money for the new fund's operations. Such were the modest beginnings of what we know today as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) -- one of the United Nations leading success stories of the last half-century." Today, UNFPA is active in 146 countries.

As one privileged to participate in the success story of UNFPA, which reflects an evolution, not only of the Fund and the United Nations system overall but also an increasing awareness among people, I will briefly detail a few of the most relevant highlights.

In the mid-twentieth century, population issues were shunned as a political hot potato. All the organizations hoped another organization would catch it. Fortunately, leaders such as Sweden's Ulla Lindstrom, a formidable advocate of the United Nations involvement in family planning; Alva Myrdal, former senior official in the United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; the United Kingdom's Lord Caradon; the United States' John D. Rockefeller 3rd; Ambassador Gardener; General Draper and others, fought to bring international attention to population issues.

At that time, the population field was mainly concerned with numbers, such as setting goals and targets. Now we concern ourselves with people such as Fatima.

Fatima's dream was to educate her eight children and give them more opportunities in life than she had. At 38, she had never learned to read and write. She lived with her family in a shack in Umbaddah, Sudan. When she could no longer afford school fees, her children had to drop out of school. Fortunately, Fatima learned of a UNFPA-supported programme that helps women start small businesses. She began buying clothes from the market and reselling them, door to door. Soon Fatima was able to buy two goats and some chickens, and send her eldest daughter, Siham, back to school. Siham earned excellent grades and gained entrance into medical school in Khartoum.

Over time, Fatima was able to send the rest of her children back to school. And that was just the beginning. Through the UNFPA project, Fatima learned about reproductive health issues and family planning. She began practising family planning herself and advocating this for her neighbours. She also shared what she learned...