{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,23]],"date-time":"2026-08-23T18:43:09Z","timestamp":1787510589156,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,30]],"date-time":"2023-05-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1685404800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Glob. Womens Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development was a landmark moment for the international family planning community, who committed to adopt a women-centred approach to programming\u2014one that would prioritise the reproductive and contraceptive intentions, or autonomy, of individuals over population-level demographic concerns. The FP2020 partnership, established in 2012 and lasting until 2020, also described itself using women-centred language. However, throughout the period of FP2020, critics questioned the extent to which women-centred principles truly defined why family planning programmes were funded and how they were implemented. In this study, we use thematic discourse analysis to examine six major international donors' rationale(s) for funding family planning and the measurements they used to articulate successful programming. We present an overview of the rationales and measurements used by all six donors before offering four case studies to demonstrate divergences in their approaches. Our analysis demonstrates that, although donors described the importance of family planning for fostering women's autonomy and empowerment, they also justified family planning on the basis of demographic concerns. In addition, we identified a misalignment between how donors described family planning programmes\u2014using the language of voluntarism and choice\u2014and how they measured their success\u2014through increased uptake and use of contraceptive methods. We call on the international family planning community to reflect on their true motives for funding and implementing family planning and engage in radically rethinking how they capture programme success, in order to better align their rhetoric with their practice.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fgwh.2023.1148851","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,30]],"date-time":"2023-05-30T09:13:25Z","timestamp":1685438005000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Putting our money where our mouth is? The degree of women-centred family planning in the era of FP2020"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"4","author":[{"given":"Alice","family":"Witt","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eloisa","family":"Montt-Maray","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marieme","family":"Fall","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elizabeth","family":"Larson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nour","family":"Horanieh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","volume-title":"Reproductive rights and wrongs: The global politics of population control","author":"Hartmann","year":"1995"},{"key":"B2","volume-title":"The origins and evolution of family planning programs in developing countries","author":"Seltzer","year":"2002"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"123","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1728-4465.2014.00381.x","article-title":"Understanding unmet need: history, theory, and measurement","volume":"42","author":"Bradley","year":"2014","journal-title":"Stud Fam Plann"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.1016\/0968-8080(93)90057-Z","article-title":"Population and family planning policies: women-centred perspectives","volume":"1","author":"Berer","year":"1993","journal-title":"Reprod Health Matters"},{"key":"B5","first-page":"31","article-title":"\u201cWomen's declaration on population policies\u201d","volume-title":"Population policies reconsidered: health, empowerment and rights","author":"Sen","year":"1994"},{"key":"B6","year":"2014"},{"key":"B7","article-title":"Family Planning","year":"2020"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"97","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1728-4465.2015.00017.x","article-title":"Aligning goals, intents, and performance indicators in family planning service delivery","volume":"46","author":"RamaRao","year":"2015","journal-title":"Stud Fam Plann"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"786","DOI":"10.1111\/dech.12423","article-title":"Population control in the troubled present: the \u2018120 by 20\u2019 target and implant access program","volume":"50","author":"Hendrixson","year":"2018","journal-title":"Dev Change"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"112531","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2019.112531","article-title":"\u201cI was obligated to accept\u201d: a qualitative exploration of contraceptive coercion","volume":"239","author":"Senderowicz","year":"2019","journal-title":"Soc Sci Med"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"351","DOI":"10.1080\/0966369X.2018.1555145","article-title":"Targets and technologies: Sayana Press and Jadelle in contemporary population policies","volume":"27","author":"Bendix","year":"2020","journal-title":"Gender Place Culture"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"161","DOI":"10.1111\/sifp.12114","article-title":"Contraceptive autonomy: conceptions and measurement of a novel family planning indicator","volume":"51","author":"Senderowicz","year":"2020","journal-title":"Stud Fam Plann"},{"key":"B13","volume-title":"Unmet need for family planning (%)","year":""},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"689","DOI":"10.1111\/padr.12478","article-title":"Supply-side versus demand-side unmet need: implications for family planning programs","volume":"48","author":"Senderowicz","year":"2022","journal-title":"Popul Dev Rev"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e2200030","DOI":"10.9745\/GHSP-D-22-00030","article-title":"What do we demand? What do we demand? Responding to the call for precision and definitional agreement in family planning's \u201cdemand\u201d and \u201cneed\u201d jargon","volume":"10","author":"Short Fabic","year":"2022","journal-title":"Glob Health Sci Pract"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e2100450","DOI":"10.9745\/GHSP-D-21-00450","article-title":"Language and measurement of contraceptive need and making these indicators more meaningful for measuring fertility intentions of women and girls","volume":"10","author":"Speizer","year":"2022","journal-title":"Glob Health Sci Pract"},{"key":"B17","article-title":"The FP Agenda, Family Planning 2030","year":""},{"key":"B18","volume-title":"Ouagadougou partnership coordination unit","year":""},{"key":"B19","volume-title":"The archaeology of knowledge and the discourse on language","author":"Foucault","year":"1972"},{"key":"B20","volume-title":"Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison","author":"Foucault","year":"1977"},{"key":"B21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315403069","volume-title":"Discourse analytic research: repertoires and readings of text in action","author":"Burman","year":"2016"},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"142","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2017.11.034","article-title":"The possible worlds of global health research: an ethics-focused discourse analysis","volume":"196","author":"Brisbois","year":"2018","journal-title":"Soc Sci Med"},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1037\/13620-004","article-title":"\u201cThematic analysis\u201d","volume-title":"APA Handbook of research methods in psychology. Vol 2, research designs: quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological","author":"Braun","year":"2012"},{"key":"B24","volume-title":"The 17 goals","year":""},{"key":"B25","volume-title":"Demand for family planning satisfied\u2014modern methods (%)","year":""},{"key":"B26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e185202","DOI":"10.1590\/18094449201800520002","article-title":"Beyond \u201cempowerment lite\u201d: women's empowerment, neoliberal development and global justice","volume":"52","author":"Cornwall","year":"2018","journal-title":"Cadernos Pagu"},{"key":"B27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"259","DOI":"10.1111\/dech.12363","article-title":"The political economy of family planning: population dynamics and contraceptive markets","volume":"49","author":"Bendix","year":"2017","journal-title":"Dev Change"},{"key":"B28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"333","DOI":"10.1080\/0966369X.2018.1553859","article-title":"A feminist exploration of \u2018populationism\u2019: engaging contemporary forms of population control","volume":"27","author":"Bhatia","year":"2020","journal-title":"Gender Place Culture"},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1080\/00324728.2021.1996623","article-title":"What's so troubling about \u2018voluntary\u2019 family planning anyway? A feminist perspective","volume":"75","author":"Nandagiri","year":"2021","journal-title":"Popul Stud"},{"key":"B30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"285","DOI":"10.1080\/01436590802681066","article-title":"Choosing words with care? Shifting meanings of women's empowerment in international development","volume":"30","author":"Eyben","year":"2009","journal-title":"Third World Q"},{"key":"B31","volume-title":"Development brokers and translators: The ethnography of aid agencies","author":"Lewis","year":"2006"},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"471","DOI":"10.1080\/09614520701469302","article-title":"Buzzwords and fuzzwords: deconstructing development discourse","volume":"17","author":"Cornwall","year":"2007","journal-title":"Dev Pract"},{"key":"B33","author":"Goddard","year":""},{"key":"B34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"202","DOI":"10.1525\/can.2001.16.2.202","article-title":"Feminist theory, embodiment, and the docile agent: some reflections on the Egyptian islamic revival","volume":"16","author":"Mahmood","year":"2001","journal-title":"Cult Anthropol"},{"key":"B35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"783","DOI":"10.1525\/aa.2002.104.3.783","article-title":"Do muslim women really need saving? Anthropological reflections on cultural relativism and its others","volume":"104","author":"Abu-Lughod","year":"2002","journal-title":"Am Anthropol"},{"key":"B36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"274","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2007.03.019","article-title":"\u201cLife is still going on\u201d: reproductive intentions among HIV-positive women and men in South Africa","volume":"65","author":"Cooper","year":"2007","journal-title":"Soc Sci Med"},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"69","DOI":"10.1080\/01674820701409959","article-title":"The value of children in African countries: insights from studies on infertility","volume":"28","author":"Dyer","year":"2007","journal-title":"J Psychosom Obstet Gynecol"},{"key":"B38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"561","DOI":"10.1007\/s11113-017-9427-3","article-title":"Women's agency and fertility: recent evidence from Egypt","volume":"36","author":"Samari","year":"2017","journal-title":"Popul Res Policy Rev"},{"key":"B39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"229","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1728-4457.2002.00229.x","article-title":"On the modernity of traditional contraception: time and the social context of fertility","volume":"28","author":"Johnson-Hanks","year":"2004","journal-title":"Popul Dev Rev"},{"key":"B40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"171","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1728-4465.2014.00383.x","article-title":"Do natural methods count? Underreporting of natural contraception in urban Burkina Faso","volume":"45","author":"Rossier","year":"2014","journal-title":"Stud Fam Plann"},{"key":"B41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105","DOI":"10.1080\/17441730.2019.1578532","article-title":"\u2018The final decision is with the patient\u2019: reproductive modernity and preferences for non-hormonal and non-biomedical contraceptives among postpartum middle class women in Yogyakarta, Indonesia","volume":"15","author":"Spagnoletti","year":"2019","journal-title":"Asian Popul Stud"},{"key":"B42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"212","DOI":"10.3390\/socsci9110212","article-title":"Beyond \u2018family planning\u2019\u2014local realities on contraception and abortion in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso","volume":"9","author":"Drabo","year":"2020","journal-title":"Soc Sci"},{"key":"B43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"427","DOI":"10.37597\/ajphes.2020.26.4.6","article-title":"Practices, taboos and techniques of indigenous contraception among batswana traditional healers in Ngaka Modiri Molema district, South Africa","volume":"26","author":"Moroole","year":"2020","journal-title":"Afr J Phys Act Health Sci"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Global Women's Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fgwh.2023.1148851\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,30]],"date-time":"2023-05-30T09:13:39Z","timestamp":1685438019000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fgwh.2023.1148851\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,30]]},"references-count":43,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fgwh.2023.1148851"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fgwh.2023.1148851","relation":{},"ISSN":["2673-5059"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2673-5059","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,30]]},"article-number":"1148851"}}