Policy Context

Germany’s coalition agreement highlights the government’s commitment to strengthen rights, resources and representation of women and girls in the context of its feminist foreign and development policy. In this context, the aim to strengthen SRHR and ensure unlimited access to health systems is mentioned as a central priority.

The strategy on feminist development policy, published in March 2023, includes language on MNCH and SRHR. MNCH is mentioned in two of three ‘Rs,’:

• Rights: The BMZ advocates for the removal of legal barriers restricting women’s choice of occupation and economic opportunities, which includes affordable access to social security and health services, particularly maternity, paternity, parental and other care-related leave, childcare, and long-term care services; and
• Resources: The BMZ advocates for equal access to general health services, including pre- and post-natal care, as part of its effort to strengthen health systems. 

Strengthening resilient health care systems for mothers and children and SRHR are also mentioned in BMZ’s Africa Strategy under the chapter on health and pandemic prevention. Implementation of this strategy focuses on the Team Europe Initiative “sexual and reproductive health and rights in Africa,” and the bilateral Initiative “tights-based family planning and reproductive health for all.

MNCH, in connection to SRHR, has received increasing attention through the launch of the feminist development policy strategy, as well as the announcement of a sixth BMZ core theme of “health, social security, and population policy”.

Funding Trends

How is Germany’s bilateral ODA to MNCH evolving?

Germany’s funding to MNCH increased by 42% between 2019 and 2020. This is driven by an increase in child health funding through infectious disease control. Germany’s funding to reproductive health and basic nutrition also saw significant increases.

How does Germany allocate bilateral MNCH ODA?

Of allocable bilateral MNCH ODA in 2021, the largest share went to LICs. In line with Germany’s Africa Strategy, MNCH ODA prioritizes SSA.

Key Bodies

How is ODA to MNCH calculated?

ODA to MNCH is estimated using the Muskoka2 methodology which estimates the proportion that each relevant OECD CRS purpose code contributes to reproductive health (RH), maternal and newborn health (MNH), and child health (CH). Disbursements that benefit MNCH were determined using CRS purpose codes for all donors except GAVI, UNFPA, and UNICEF, for which fixed percentages of disbursements were considered to benefit MNCH.