Finland promotes sexual and reproductive health, tax transparency and school meals in developing countries together with international non-governmental organisations

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs awarded EUR 13 million to five international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) for 2023–2025. This is an established call for government grant applications. The previous call for applications was in 2021.

This year, EUR 8 million in discretionary government grants was awarded to promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), EUR 3.2 million to strengthening tax justice and EUR 1.8 million to school meal programmes.

The funding for sexual and reproductive health will improve especially the possibilities of young people to access sexual and reproductive health services. It will also contribute to the global efforts to promote sexual rights.

The funding for tax justice will strengthen the capacity and opportunities of civil society to hold their governments accountable for collecting taxes and spending them fairly on public services in the sub-Saharan Africa. The funding for school meals helps develop a school meals system in Somaliland that uses high-nutrition locally grown food.

Discretionary government grants were awarded to the following organisations:

The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) was awarded EUR 4.5 million in 2023–2025. The IPPF is an international federation of family planning associations. Its 118 Member Associations (including Family Federation of Finland) offer information about sexual and reproductive health and rights and related training and services. The Federation is one of the most important advocates for sexual and reproductive health and rights in international forums.

Ipas was awarded EUR 3.5 million in 2023–2025. Ipas works globally to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights. It focuses on ensuring access to safe abortion and on improving the availability modern contraceptives. Ipas prioritises work in African countries where the availability of abortion services is limited.

Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen (SOMO) was awarded EUR 1.9 million in 2023–2025. SOMO is a non-profit centre for research on multinational corporations. It investigates the impacts of multinational corporations’ business practices on people and the environment. It works in close cooperation with African non-governmental organisations.

The Global Financial Integrity (GFI) was awarded EUR 1.3 million in 2023–2025. The GFI focuses on investigating illicit financial flows, corruption and money laundering and on developing related legislation. It advocates for greater transparency of the global economic system together with other non-governmental organisations and the private sector.

CARE Deutschland (CARE) was awarded EUR 1.8 million in 2023–2025. The organisation is part of the CARE International network. CARE has helped about 3.8 million people through 130 projects in 45 countries. It focuses on strengthening healthcare, food security and gender equality. It has been active in Somalia and Somaliland since 1981.

By funding international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), Finland seeks to promote the objectives of its foreign and development policy and to strengthen the operating space of civil society in developing countries.

 

Inquiries

  • By email to um.ingo@formin.fi
  • Eevamari Laaksonen, Director, Unit for Civil Society, Department for Development Policy of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 295 351 383.
  • The email addresses of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are in the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi