Statement by Ms. Diene Keita Executive Director, UNFPA at the First Regular Session of the Executive Board Joint segment on UN80

Mr. President,
Madam Deputy-Secretary-General,
Excellencies, Distinguished Members of the Executive Board,
Esteemed colleagues,

It is a pleasure to address this joint segment on UN80.

UNFPA fully supports the Secretary-General's vision of a more agile, integrated, and effective UN, and, as the Board is aware, we are already implementing reforms aligned with UN80 priorities.

Within UN80, UNFPA is engaged across key workstreams, including human rights, supply chains, efficiencies, funding, knowledge hubs, and regional and country configurations, as well as the sunsetting of UNAIDS.

We hope to build on what we know works and what is most valued by Member States, the millions of people UNFPA serves, and our many partners - and that is our technical, programmatic and normative work. In a world grappling with demographic shifts, growing crises and increasing need, demand for UNFPA's unique services is growing.

By any metric, UNFPA delivers results that matter. Our MOPAN and Joint Inspection Unit assessments underscore the robustness of our systems and processes.

On the Humanitarian Reset, our priority is to ensure that women's and girls' needs are central to humanitarian response, and that we remain the provider of last resort on gender-based violence.

For UNFPA, UN80 is not about protecting institutions, it is about protecting rights, delivering better for those furthest behind, and accelerating progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. The world has changed, and we need to adapt too.

UNFPA welcomes the opportunity to assess the benefits and risks of a merger with UN Women, as requested by the Secretary-General. If there is a better way of delivering for women, girls, young people and all those at risk of being left behind, then it is important we look at how that can be done. The assessment, a draft of which is before the Steering Committee, covers the current "as-is" baseline, the feasibility of a possible merger, potential benefits and principal risks, a limited set of credible merger pathways or approaches, and conditions for success. We are still working on the risk matrix and cost-benefit analysis.

The assessment deliberately focused only on a possible merger scenario.

The vision statement, which we have shared with you, is about creating a world where gender equality is a lived reality, where every woman and girl counts and thrives; where she is in full command of her rights and lives with equality, dignity, bodily autonomy, economic power, choices, and unlimited potential.

In many countries, UNFPA and UN Women already work side by side. The assessment tests whether greater institutional integration could plausibly strengthen coherence, accountability, and political resilience while safeguarding operational delivery and impact.

This assessment spells out the primary potential benefits of a merger:

• A stronger unified voice on gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights at global, regional and country levels.
• Strengthened end-to-end value creation - from global standards to frontline delivery in communities.
• Enhanced coordination in humanitarian and crisis settings.

The primary risks identified are:

• Political backlash or the risk that so-called sensitive issues get "merged away". It is crucial that mandates are preserved fully intact.
• Transition complexity and potential disruption of life-saving services. What is absolutely essential is to safeguard our operational work in both development and humanitarian contexts and build on proven delivery and technical assistance models. This includes our life-saving work on the nexus, on population activities, on delivering reproductive health commodities and on supply chains.
• Funding uncertainty. Member States raised their concerns about this at the informal last week.
• And finally, legal complexity and operational feasibility.

The assessment also identified the risks of inaction at a time of mounting pushback and declining resources.

I thank the Deputy-Secretary-General for her leadership of the Steering Committee, of which both Sima and I are members.

As we engage in this process, we continue to underscore that our work on sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, data, census and addressing demographic change has always been intrinsically linked, as captured in the Strategic Plan you endorsed by consensus in August. This work is fundamental to the achievement of Agenda 2030 as is our work with young people, including Youth, Peace and Security.

We are enormously grateful to Member States for their generous support for our work, all of which is voluntarily funded. We do not take this support for granted and work hard to honour your trust.

Distinguished delegates,

Whatever the outcome, we will continue to uphold our core principles:

• Women's rights are human rights.
• Reproductive rights are fundamental freedoms.
• Sexual and reproductive health and rights are for everyone, and
• Gender equality benefits everyone, everywhere

The question is how we can work together in new ways to truly transform the lives of women, girls and young people in all their diversity.

The ICPD Programme of Action and the Beijing Platform for Action remain our shared north stars. If not for the UN, who will protect and advance sexual and reproductive health, rights and choices for everyone, whoever and wherever they are?

Any decisions about the path forward will, of course, be taken by Member States. Until then, UNFPA looks forward to continued consultations with the Board, civil society and other partners whose trust and engagement are essential to our shared mission.

We deeply value the guidance of the Board and count on your support throughout the UN80 process so that we can deliver on our ICPD mandate, our new Strategic Plan, and our promise to every woman, girl and young person of dignity, rights and opportunity - for a brighter future.

I thank you for your kind attention and look forward to our discussion.