Financing for the Nairobi Summit on ICP25 received a significant boost on 26 September with the separate announcements of a combined $2.2 million in direct contributions from Norway, Finland, Sweden and Ireland.
This brings the total amount raised so far is now close to $8 million, boding well for a successful summit.
At Join Us on the Road to Nairobi, an event jointly organized by Kenya, Denmark and UNFPA on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly, Norwegian Minister of International Development Dag-Inge Ulstein said his country will allocate 7 million Norwegian kroner (around $770,000) to demonstrate Norway's support for the objectives of the Nairobi Summit in an age of growing opposition to the global movement in favor of sexual and reproductive rights for all.
Norway is going to Nairobi “to push back [against that] pushback," said Mr. Ulstein, adding that his country plans to unveil at the Summit a new strategy to help combat harmful practices against women and girls,
As sexual and reproductive health and rights come under attack in many parts of the world, "Sweden will not back down," noted Peter Eriksson, Minister for International Development Cooperation.
Sweden, he confirmed, will contribute $500,000 to make the Nairobi Summit a success and end the unfinished business of ICPD.
For his part, Finnish Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari announced another $500,000 to pay for the Nairobi Summit because women and girls are always a good investment and completing the ICPD agenda "is the right thing to do."
Mr. Skinarri explained how Finland learned the importance of spending on comprehensive sexual education when it briefly suspended and then reinstated funding for such programs in schools. Cutting funds saw the country's teenage pregnancy rise, and then almost immediately drop when sex education returned to the classrooms.
Ireland will put forward $400,000 to ensure least developed countries and small island nations are present in Nairobi.
"We fully support the objectives of the Nairobi Summit," said Katherine Zappone, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, adding that it is an "opportunity to turn ambitions into commitments" to realize the promise of ICPD.
