Women and Girls in Humanitarian Crises: Of the 143 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, one in four are women and adolescent girls of reproductive age. Their rights, safety, health and dignity are undermined by the collapse of health and justice systems. No matter the kind of crisis – whether natural hazard, violent conflict, or disease outbreak – affected women and girls have little to no access to sexual and reproductive health services and are at increased risk of sexual and gender-based violence. This session will call for renewed efforts to amplify the voice and reaffirm the agency of women and adolescent girls in all phases of a humanitarian emergency, from preparation efforts before a crisis through the response and recovery.

Harnessing the Power of Cities: Urbanization and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health: Sustainable development cannot be achieved without ensuring safe and sustainable cities. There are many powerful urban leaders and actors raising the bar for smart cities, women-friendly cities, youth-friendly cities and environmentally friendly cities. Today’s urban areas are engines for experimentation, transformation and development. This session will bring together mayors, city activists, local leaders and thought leaders from around the world to discuss the power and potential of urban action.

Democratizing Data As A Public Good: Without dependable population data, whole communities of people remain invisible and their needs and rights ignored. In order to leave no one behind, high-quality disaggregated data are required at national and local levels. Meeting the growing data needs of decentralized governance is critical. Population trends will shape national development and investments effectively only when population and household data are widely accessible and utilized as a public good, while safeguarding the rights of respondents to privacy. This session focuses on making data a public good in order to guarantee zero invisibility and to leave no one behind.

Innovative Partnerships: Harnessing Creative Industries to Tackle Stigma and Taboo: Many in the private sector are pioneering ethical and sustainable modes of production. Some are using their reach and influence to promote reproductive rights and address social norms to uncover how partnerships in multibillion-dollar industries can help tear down taboos and promote women’s health and empowerment.

Ending Harmful Practices: Making Commitments Real: On average, more than 33,000 girls are forced into child marriage every day. Every year, more than 4 million girls are subjected to female genital mutilation. Son preference, gender-biased sex selection, and other harmful practices cause gender imbalances that negatively impact the fabric of societies. This session will dispel the myths that perpetuate these practices and their staggering toll. The global target of eliminating harmful practices by 2030 will be achieved only if efforts to address these problems are dramatically intensified.

Ensuring Safe Pregnancy and Childbirth for All Women and Newborns: Today, an estimated 830 women die every single day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and many more experience acute or chronic morbidity. With the Sustainable Development Goals, the global community has committed to reducing global maternal mortality to less than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births. The task of saving women's lives and protecting their health requires strong capacity in the health system to address the full range of direct causes of maternal mortality and morbidity. This session will focus on evidence-based strategies for accelerating progress by improving quality, coverage and equity in maternity care through an effective, well-functioning primary health care system, including safe abortion. It will also discuss the need for increased attention to preventing and treating maternal morbidities, and how to ensure that maternity care respects women’s rights and is free of violence and discrimination.

Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our World: 1.8 Billion Reasons: This youth-led signature session will focus on the more than 1.8 billion young people in the world today between the ages of 10 and 24. How the sexual and reproductive health needs and aspirations of adolescents and youth are met defines young people today and will define our common future. This signature session will discuss the challenges and opportunities of young people from around the world in realizing the ICPD agenda. It will focus on the barriers adolescents and youth face in realizing their sexual and reproductive health and rights. The session puts the young people in the driver's seat and provides a platform for young adolescents and youth to share their ideas for solutions based on their expertise and experience, and share how they are holding governments accountable to their promises.

A Feminist Approach to Humanitarian Action: Two billion people live in countries affected by conflict and fragility – and a large proportion of them are women and young people. They are not simply vulnerable to humanitarian crises, they are also key to finding durable solutions. Foreseeing humanitarian trends, including the impact of crises on women, young people, people with disabilities, displaced persons, refugees and migrants, this session will call on participants to make concrete policy, operational and financial commitments that will reduce their vulnerability and address their needs.

South-South and Triangular Partnerships to Accelerate the ICPD Promise: South-South and Triangular Cooperation is increasingly important as the new way of mobilizing knowledge and resources for global development. This session will capitalize on successes in population and reproductive health programing, which are expanded through South-South and Triangular Cooperation commitments. It will bring in experts to explore how new opportunities can be leveraged to deliver Agenda 2030 and accelerate the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.

Demographic Dividend and Diversity: Building Inclusive Societies: Today’s world is more demographically diverse than ever before, bringing new challenges and creating opportunities. This signature session will delve into changing demographics as a driver for sustainable growth, poverty reduction, and human capital development. The session will investigate how countries can seize these opportunities and respond to their inhabitant’s needs by making the right investments in health, family planning, youth empowerment, education, and employment opportunities, all while safe guarding human rights and pursuing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Participants from young and ageing societies will share experiences and lessons learned from harnessing the demographic dividend.

Accelerating Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls: Sustainable Development Goal 5 recognizes that women’s and girls’ rights and well-being are central to the long-term welfare of humanity. Yet we have gained little ground in the effort to end violence against women and girls. This signature session will begin by setting the stage in terms of scale, scope and consequences: Despite rhetoric at all levels, violence against women continues in every country, and can increase in some conditions. Services and support remain inadequate. Access to justice is scant, and security for women and girls continues to be elusive. This session will take the discussion forward with the understanding that now is the time to make real change for women and girls.

Ending the Unmet Need for Family Planning: Rights and Contraceptive Choices: Today, more women have access to family planning information and services than ever before. Yet 232 million women in developing countries who want to prevent pregnancy are not using modern contraceptives. How can we meet their needs? What will it take to reach marginalized communities and those living in fragile and humanitarian settings? And who is going to pay for it? This signature session will explore the path forwards – engaging across sectors – to expand rights, agency and contraceptive choices to ensure that everyone everywhere can prosper as equal partners in sustainable development.

Integrating Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights into Universal Health Coverage: Health care is a matter of equity, quality, accountability and justice. Sexual and reproductive health and rights are an important part of the health and well-being of people, and thus integral to universal health coverage (UHC). Marginalized groups, including minority ethnic groups, young people, unmarried people, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, people with disabilities, and the rural and urban poor continue to face barriers in accessing quality care. UHC provides a renewed opportunity to uphold their rights. Highlighting new scientific evidence, this signature session will cover how far the world has come towards providing an integrated and essential package of sexual and reproductive health interventions, the remaining challenges and obstacles, and how to overcome these.

Building Financing Momentum: The Investment Case for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights – Costs and Gaps: We are 10 years away from delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet the world’s progress has thus far been insufficient to meet the targets on reducing maternal deaths, ending violence against women and girls, and providing universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. This session will highlight the urgency and the price tag associated with each target. The latter will come from a major collaborative analysis between academic and multilateral partners indicating the dollar amount needed to reach these goals.