She Decides conference raises further €81 million for family planning

More than 40 countries took part in the She Decides reproductive rights conference in Brussels, organised by federal minister for development co-operation Alexander De Croo and his counterparts in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. The four governments launched the initiative with a collective pledge to fund the campaign with €51 million.

The impetus for the campaign was a decision by the Trump administration in the US to withdraw development funding from NGOs that perform abortions or even provide information on the procedure. The withdrawal of US funding is estimated to leave a shortfall of €600 million worldwide.

Dutch minister Liliane Ploumen launched the international crowdfunding campaign in January to make up the difference. De Croo and the Scandinavian nations, represented by ministers Isabella Lövin en Ulla Tørnæs, soon joined up.

The four central nations have pledged €51 million, and the shortfall of €600 million was raised from governments and private donations across the world within five weeks. “If we can keep up this tempo, things are looking good,” said Ploumen.

“We never imagined we would be able to mobilise so many countries,” De Croo said. “The important thing now will be to strengthen that support. We cannot accept that access for girls and women to information on family planning, Aids prevention and mother-baby care can be withheld.”

During the conference, further pledges came in, including $20 million (CAD, or €14 million) from Canada, €20 million (USD, or €19 million) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and $50 million (USD, or €47.5 million) from an anonymous donor.

The conference was attended by representatives from international NGOs and governments including Afghanistan, Canada, Chad, Finland, France, Mali, Mongolia, Nepal and Vietnam.

Photo, from left: Ministers Ulla Tørnæs (Denmark), Liliaane Ploumen (the Netherlands), Alexander De Croo (Belgium) and Isabella Lövin (Sweden) at the She Decides conference in Brussels on 2 March ©Nicolas Maeterlinck/BELGA