Strategic context

Financing for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health (WCAH), including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), has entered a period of sustained contraction and volatility. After two decades of progress, stagnating domestic health expenditure, declining development assistance for health, rising debt burdens and shifting geopolitical priorities are placing health systems under severe strain and threatening hard-won gains.

In many low- and middle-income countries, domestic public spending on health remains far below the levels required to deliver essential services through primary health care (PHC) and universal health coverage (UHC) platforms. At the same time, projected reductions in official development assistance (ODA) for health and increasing conditionalities are compounding fiscal pressures. This dual squeeze is already affecting access to essential services for women, children and adolescents, which are often among the first to be deprioritized during fiscal tightening.

Across Africa and other regions, there is growing recognition that strengthening domestic resource mobilization, improving public financial management, and reinforcing global solidarity are central to building resilient and equitable health systems. Initiatives such as the Accra Reset and regional health sovereignty discussions underscore the importance of country leadership, regional cooperation and sustainable financing for health.

As a multi-stakeholder platform, PMNCH is uniquely positioned to convene partners across constituencies to advocate for sustained and increased financing for WCAH, strengthen accountability for financing commitments, and ensure that financing decisions translate into improved outcomes.

The establishment of a PMNCH Working Group on Financing for WCAH aims to support delivery of PMNCH’s 2026–2030 strategy in part through oversight of the 2026-2027 financing campaign (TBC) by strengthening coordinated advocacy, policy influence and partner mobilization around sustainable and equitable health financing.

Scope and objectives

The ad hoc Working Group will be established for an initial period of two years to provide strategic guidance, coordination and technical input to strengthen PMNCH’s work on financing for WCAH.

The overall objective of the Working Group is to support coordinated global, regional and national advocacy to increase, protect and better allocate financing for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health.

Specifically, the Working Group will support PMNCH to:

1. Strengthen domestic resource mobilization and financing accountability

- Promote increased and protected domestic public financing for WCAH within PHC and UHC frameworks
- Support advocacy for improved budget allocation, execution, tracking and accountability
- Elevate inclusive governance and participation of civil society, youth and communities in financing processes
- Identify and promote evidence-based approaches to expand fiscal space and improve efficiency

2. Sustain and reshape global solidarity for health financing

- Engage with global and multilateral financing processes to ensure WCAH prioritization
- Promote reforms to the global health financing architecture to better support country needs and equity

3. Elevate WCAH within financing and policy decision-making

- Ensure WCAH is prioritized within national and global financing decisions
- Promote use of investment cases, resource mapping, and return-on-investment evidence
- Strengthen accountability for financing commitments and results
- Amplify country leadership and lived experience in financing advocacy

Functions of the Working Group

The Working Group will:

- Provide strategic guidance on PMNCH financing advocacy priorities and approaches
- Identify key policy and financing opportunities at global, regional and national levels
- Support coordinated partner engagement and joint advocacy
- Contribute to development of advocacy tools, briefs and knowledge products
- Elevate country perspectives and leadership in financing discussions
- Support monitoring of progress and accountability for commitments

Membership

Membership will reflect PMNCH’s multi-constituency model and include representation from:

- Governments (including Ministries of Health and Finance)
- Donors and development partners
- Multilateral organizations and development banks
- Civil society and youth constituencies
- Academia and technical experts
- Private sector and foundations 

Members will be selected based on expertise, constituency representation and ability to contribute to strategic advocacy and partner mobilization.

Operational modalities

The Working Group will convene every two months (virtually), with additional meetings aligned to key advocacy moments as needed. 

PMNCH Secretariat will provide coordination, technical and administrative support.