This July, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the British government’s Department for International Development (DFID) will hold the London Family Planning Summit. This Summit is a golden moment: an opportunity to change the way that family planning – as a part of reproductive health – will be supported and provided around the globe. The event signals a major commitment by governments, donors, corporations, and others to work towards meeting family planning needs, such as information, services, and supplies, for developing countries by 2020. It may leverage and release significant amounts of funding for family planning advocacy and services.
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)’s is working to garner civil society signatories for a global letter of support. This two-page letter (available in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese) will be submitted to David Cameron and Melinda Gates and will be published in a Financial Times supplement just before the Summit, along with the names and logos of all the agencies who sign on. The letter has been carefully crafted, taking into account comments received from more than 220 NGOs across 53 countries.