The year 2023 was challenging in so many ways!

It was the year of human rights suppression and wartime atrocities live-streamed onto billions of smartphones in real time. Selective government outrage and transactional diplomacy. Right-wing populists with loose lips who care little about the impact of their words on the human rights of ordinary citizens. And an increasingly dysfunctional, ungovernable United Nations, leading to fragmentation, an “each country for itself” attitude and issue-specific alliances.

Renewed hostilities between Israel and Hamas, war crimes in Gaza and Sudan and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Myanmar, Ethiopia, and the Sahel caused tremendous suffering.

Governments struggled to deal with what is likely to be confirmed as the hottest year on record and the onslaught of wildfires, drought, cyclones and storms wreaked havoc on millions of people in Bangladesh, Libya, Australia and Canada.

And if climate, security and human rights are faring poorly, the economy did not do much better. As the world nears the midpoint of what was intended to be a transformative decade for development, all we have to show is the slowest half-decade of GDP growth in 30 years. All with growing inequality: The richest 1% grabbed nearly two-thirds of all new wealth created since 2020, almost twice as much money as the bottom 99% of the world’s population.

Across regions, autocrats have worked to erode the independence of key institutions vital for protecting human rights and shrink the space for expressions of dissent with the same end game in mind: to exercise power without constraint. The rights of women and girls and LGBTQI+ communities faced harsh backlashes in many places, exemplified by the Taliban’s gender persecution in Afghanistan and the approval of a Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act with the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”. Gender violence persists in the home and by the hands of the state, unabated and unchecked.

Against that backdrop, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) implemented the first year of its new six-year strategic period. We did not rest. As you will read in this report, Foreword from the Director General 04 | Foreword we delivered person-centred care and we agitated for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and justice for women, girls and marginalized populations. We reached even more people requiring potentially lifesaving SRHR services in humanitarian crises. We built exciting partnerships. We mobilized voters and they turned up at polls, in Poland, in Spain and elsewhere to vote for their sexual and reproductive rights. We worked to define our values and shape a new brand. And the Secretariat underwent a much-needed transformation to better align with the strategy.

Once again, IPPF has proven itself delivering sexual and reproductive health services to those excluded and marginalized in many societies, and those experiencing humanitarian crises. It has also demonstrated its resilience and passion; I am in awe of the expertise and courage of our frontline healthcare workers and activists.

A year of transition from one strategy to the next is always tight. Many (core and restricted) contracts come to an end and new ones get delayed, particularly in the current economic and political environment. Huge thanks to the many close allies for steadfast support to IPPF. We ended the year with a strong financial position. Thank you for believing in the journey we are on, shaping the future of sexual and reproductive healthcare and progressing the most intimate of rights. We are coming together!

Alvaro Bermejo, Director General