UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. UNFPA because everyone counts.

The development policy of the Federal Republic of Germany is an independent area of German foreign policy. It is formulated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and carried out by the implementing organisations.

The German government sees development policy as a joint responsibility of the international community, with Germany making effective and high-profile contributions. Germany has pledged to take an active part in realising the goals set out in the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The interdepartmental Program of Action 2015 is the German government's principal instrument for implementing this pledge. It was adopted by the Federal German Cabinet only a few months after the Millennium Summit. In the Program of Action 2015 the German government sets out the form its contribution will take within the overarching international framework for action, and how this is to be further developed. It will be guided in this by four guiding principles:

• Reducing poverty worldwide
• Protecting the natural environment
• Building peace and realising democracy
• Promoting equitable forms of globalisation