T

wo months ago, world leaders met at the UN and adopted a set of ambitious goals that can advance health and human progress faster than at any time in history.

Now, we must begin the hard work of translating these Sustainable Development Goals into action. Women and girls will be a driving force behind this global push, and their rights and well-being must be our top priority.

Ensuring that every woman has the information and services she needs to decide when and how many children to have is a critical first step. We have seen first-hand the huge gains for women, families and communities when there is equitable access to voluntary family planning and contraceptive services, and the devastating effects when there is not.

The benefits of family planning extend far beyond the individual. Access to a full range of contraceptive options will significantly reduce maternal and infant deaths and improve the overall health of families.

Allowing young women to plan whether and when they want to start their families gives them the option to stay in school, join the workforce or pursue other dreams.

This virtuous cycle that begins with empowering one woman can lift entire communities out of poverty. There is compelling evidence that increasing the number of healthy, educated and productive women will shift the economic well-being of countries like Indonesia.

This shift will only occur if countries pair their economic and social policies with strong voluntary family planning programs.

To support efforts to bring these benefits to all communities, the global community pledged at the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning to ensure 120 million additional women and girls in the poorest countries get access to voluntary family planning by 2020. Family Planning 2020, or FP2020, is a global partnership launched at the London Summit to carry this momentum forward.

Earlier this month, FP2020 partners released a report on the progress made against the 2020 goal. The report shows that family planning programs are reaching millions more women than ever before.

Since 2012, 24.4 million additional women have been using modern contraceptives '€” more than 1.2 million in Indonesia alone. In the past year, access to modern contraceptives has prevented 16,000 maternal deaths in Indonesia.

 Yet it is no time to be complacent. Millions of women are not yet being reached. With only five years left until our 2020 deadline, we must act with greater urgency to speed up progress.

Thankfully, we know what works. We have a wealth of high-quality data and evidence on effective interventions, such as investing in youth, particularly adolescent girls, expanding access in both rural and urban settings and improving the quality of services and number of contraceptive options that women have available to them.

These solutions provide a strong base to inform our efforts moving forward. In order to reach more women and girls, we can look to innovative programs like those in Indonesia.

Indonesia has made increasing access to family planning a national priority. As part of this effort, it launched a universal health coverage scheme last year that includes free or low-cost family planning services for eligible couples.

Innovative programs, such as '€œRight Time, Right Method, My Choice'€ '€” a multimedia campaign that broadcasts messages about family planning '€” reach millions of women with important information about where and how to access services.

Faith-based organizations are also sharing information about family planning and birth-spacing during prayer groups and Koran readings. These are the types of successful, locally owned programs that are the cornerstone of family planning progress.

The launch of the third annual FP2020 progress report provides an opportunity for advocates, partners and government leaders to celebrate progress made, identify areas where we are falling behind and collectively recommit to the FP2020 goal.

However, countries such as Indonesia must continue to share their successes and learn from each other'€™s experiences. We must also search for new solutions '€” using the evidence available to drive decision-making.

This will require identifying innovative sources of financing and building on effective in-country programs so that we don'€™t leave women and girls behind.

Now is the time to re-evaluate where we stand, ask hard questions and chart a path forward. The stakes are high. If we fail to meet our family planning goals, we will be putting the broader development agenda at risk.

The global goals adopted at the UN in September represent a vision of a better world.

Ensuring access to voluntary family planning so that every woman and girl has the means to invest in her future is the best way to make good on that promise.
__________________________________

Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, UN under-secretary-general and executive director of UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, and Dr. Chris Elias, president of Global Development Programs at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are the co-chairs of the FP2020 Reference Group.