Thank you very much.
Briefly, I think this is part of the reason why, in my opinion, Canada has been unique in terms of how you've addressed your foreign policy, and the effect of solidarity around the world, which cannot be minimized. UNFPA is on the front lines when women and girls need attention in places like South Sudan, right now in Tigray, Ethiopia, and all around the world where we are called on not only to bear witness to some very sad situations, but also to act and to do things.
The import of your question is what can be done. From our perspective, when you ask women what they would want, the terminology of sexual and reproductive health is how we summarize respect for her body and respect for the power that she should have to make decisions. How sad it is that when we polled women last year, it turns out that less than 60% of women—57%—said that they had agency to decide, “Today I'm going to the clinic,” or “Today I'm leaving home,” or “Today I will decide on sexual relations” with the male member of the family.
Ultimately, whether married or not, I think women are in a precarious situation. By talking about sexuality, sometimes UNFPA is open to questions of taboo. We know from facts and evidence that comprehensive sexuality education, such as is championed in Canada, is protective. It makes a difference.
The last point that I'll make, given the time, is that Canada has also provided a lot of flexibility in terms of how UNFPA can program our funding in a humanitarian circumstance but also under peacetime. During COVID we were able to get out ahead of the curve because core funding was available. I could make decisions about redeploying at a time when logistics, crossing borders and all of the barriers went up to transport PPE, deliver personal protective equipment. That reprogramming of funds really allowed us to get on our feet, readapt and be able to meet the moment.
I would also like to acknowledge that we have tried to interpret for the taxpayer perspective in Canada the value of what a Canadian dollar does when you can stretch that further. This also overlaps with what Joel Spicer was saying vis-à-vis it's not just the commodity. How are we going to get it to that rural area where that disabled person or that woman who doesn't necessarily know that she has rights can avail herself of something like contraception?
Ultimately, your political weight as well as your financial weight have made a world of difference.