It also calls for the transfer of ESCAP's resource bases, and certain information services and products to appropriate channellers and disseminators during this time-frame, as had been discussed during the Asia-Pacific POPIN Consultative Workshop held in June 1995.
Below are the results of interviews with representatives of two active members of the East and South-East Asia subregional network, Mr. Xiao Zili, Director of the China Population Information and Research Centre, and Ms. Chantarat Rabiabloke, Chief of the Thai Population Information Centre, giving their views about the future.
Q. UNFPA plans to cease funding the post of the Asia-Pacific POPIN coordinator in ESCAP at the end of 1998. Therefore, the functions currently carried out by the secretariat in coordinating Asia-Pacific POPIN will be transferred at that time to three subregional networks covering the national members in their respective subregion. As you will recall, the possibility of this development was mentioned a during the Consultative Workshop held at Bangkok in June 1995. Of course, ESCAP will not abandon Asia-Pacific POPIN, but its role will necessarily be quite limited. Could you please outline for the readers of this Bulletin what you think your Centre would be able to do to continue to foster population information networking both in-country and subregionally and regionally?
A. China: In-country, China POPIN will continue its networking activities in line with the newly formulated Ninth Five-Year Plan and the forthcoming planned revision of the China POPIN Constitution. We have a number of plans aimed at increasing the sharing of population data and information, and improving cooperation among in-country network members as well as enhancing the knowledge of our professionals involved in this work. Subregionally, we hope that we shall be able to take an active part in the activities of East and South-East Asia POPIN.
On a regional basis, CPIRC plans to co-organize training workshops with ESCAP for population information professionals on a wide range of topics in the areas of population science itself and information technologies. China POPIN will strive to promote the continuation of TCDC (technical cooperation among developing countries) activities with other members of Asia-Pacific POPIN and we shall seek to undertake joint research projects with specialists from other countries in the region.
Thailand: Our Information Centre is also in the process of "re-engineering". Some major changes may take place in the Health Department so it would be somewhat premature for me to describe the kinds of activities we will be doing. But as a principle, the Thai Population Information Centre will continue to maintain a positive approach to in-country networking and subregional and regional information development as a member of Asia-Pacific POPIN.
Q. In the area of population information, some of the major goals of Asia-Pacific POPIN have been the establishment of standards for the effective sharing of data and information as well as the development of databases and directories for the benefit of the clients served by the national centres. What do you think are your centre's strong points in this regard?
A. China: CPIRC and other China POPIN members have already established standards for (a) databases concerning China's population and family planning activities as well as for various social and economic indicators, (b) a bibliographic database related to the CPIRC collection, and (c) the China Population Information Directories of population experts, current research and institutions. We are willing to share our standards and our expertise in these areas with other members of Asia-Pacific POPIN.
Q. What are you doing to set up or expand an in-country network that includes policy-making offices and those implementing your country's programme in family planning and maternal and child health?
A. China: Subject to the approval of funding for China POPIN activities during the Fourth UNFPA Cycle, we plan to set up population information centres in Chinese provinces having a population of 50 million or more. Further, we plan to continue to strengthen our lateral ties with various departments involved in policy-making and in implementing the family planning and maternal and child health care programmes. Membership in China POPIN is open to all offices and organizations interested in this work.
Thailand: The Thai Population Information Centre completed a membership expansion programme a year ago that brought in various policy-making offices as well as those involved in implementing the national population programme. At the moment we are in the process of consolidating our own collections and strengthening our network, Thai POPIN.
Q. Could you give us a brief description of your current population information products and services, i.e. what you provide for your country and for others regionally or internationally?
A. China: As the country with the world's largest population, we have a wide range of products and services to serve a variety of users of population data and information. In-country we produce the following: Population and Family Planning (in Chinese); Population Abstracts (in Chinese with article titles in English); China Population Data Sheet (in Chinese and English); China Family Planning Yearbook (in Chinese); Computer Counselling System on Sexuality Education (in Chinese); China Population and Development (multi-media product in Chinese and English); Data User Service -- a service group that offers any data on China's population and related socio-economic data to assist demographic research, conduct market analysis, make investments in China and so on; and serve users with data from the population census or sample surveys in China, various kinds of publications and data sheets both in Chinese and English, and data on floppy diskettes and on other kinds of media. It is also able to provide specialized services on request: processing and analyzing data, drawing graphs and maps, purchasing books for readers, searching for data on clients' behalf, making population projections and estimates.
Regionally or internationally the following are produced: China Population Today (English); China Population Data Sheet (in Chinese and English); China Population and Development (multi-media product in Chinese and English); Data User Service -- a service group that offers population and related socio-economic data on China to help professionals to conduct demographic research and so on as described previously. CPIRC will co-organize training workshops with ESCAP. Also we can accept professionals and researchers from other countries for a three-month research/study course in China on demography, library science, editing and publishing technology, population information counselling and other related technology. Besides this, we can also send out our senior researchers, senior demographers, senior librarians, senior editors and senior statisticians to other countries to provide lectures, training courses and counselling on request.
Thailand: For national distribution, the Thai Population Information Centre produces the following publications: TPIC Newsletter, Cooperative Acquisition List on Population and Family Health of TPIC and its Networks, translation products, occasional papers and articles, newspaper clippings on family planning and on maternal and child health, and various manuals. For international distribution, which also is sent to the national mailing list for the information of users, we produce the following titles: Selected Population and Family Health Statistics, Index on Maternal and Child Health Study/ Research, and Index on Family Planning Study/Research. As for population information services, we provide the following: enquiry services, information services, current awareness services, selective dissemination of information (SDI) services, technical and advisory services, and training and internship programmes for members of Thai POPIN.
Q. What kind of information could your centre share with others in the region through the Asia-Pacific POPIN Bulletin? Please elaborate on the steps you plan to take in this regard.
A. China: Without taking any special preparatory steps, CPIRC could provide information and data on China. We could also provide extracts of our research findings, news about the on-going development of China POPIN and the use of new technologies etc., necessary for enhancing our work.
Thailand: We could provide articles on current progress in the area of population information development in Thailand, highlighting our own activities. Also, we could provide views and perspectives on subjects of mutual interest to other members of the Network. And of course, things like statistics and abstracts, but that may not be so interesting for a broad audience.
Q. Last year, ESCAP's work in information development over the previous five years was assessed by two internationally known information specialists. One of their recommendations was that some of the training activities normally conducted by ESCAP be subcontracted to various members of Asia-Pacific POPIN, according to their level of expertise. Do you think your centre has any particular expertise in this regard? Would you be interested in hosting an English-language training programme for other members on a TCDC-basis? If not, which of the national POPIN centres do you think could best conduct such training? Please discuss.
A. China: Yes, we are quite confident of the value of our expertise in this area. China POPIN is capable and willing to host English-language training programmes for other members of Asia-Pacific POPIN. We have a large number of experts in a number of fields of interest to network members. As you will recall, both in 1993 and 1995, training workshops had been hosted at CPIRC for participants from 14 countries in Asia-Pacific POPIN. CPIRC will co-organize training workshops during the period 1996-1998 with ESCAP for population information professionals from countries in the region. The topics likely to be covered are some basic concepts in population science, demographic indicators, population projections, family planning programme management and the use of multi-media, among others. Based on the evaluation of these workshops, it is intended that other workshops be developed in future years with more and more professionals taking part at their own expense.
Thailand: Yes, we think we have expertise in some areas that would be of interest to members of Asia-Pacific POPIN. We would be willing to host an English-language training programme on the subject of population information management and production.
Q. What area of population information work do you find most difficult? Would it help if you could send one of your staff to be trained in that field at the ESCAP secretariat, understanding of course that you may have to obtain the funds yourself from government or donor sources to cover the cost of air fare and room and board etc.?
A. China: The most difficult task for us at our current stage of development is for our editors to edit publications at a high standard of English. It would be a great help if ESCAP could train our staff in this task, but of course, that depends on the level of funding for such an activity.
Thailand: Because of the speed with which developments take place in "library automation", we would like to be able to attend a refresher course in this area, even if on a self-supported basis.
Q. You are aware of some of the benefits that can be obtained through the utilization of telecommunications technologies for population information work. What plans does your centre have to use telecommunication facilities such as the Internet for information access and dissemination? And CD-ROM? Multi-media?
A. China: CPIRC is now using the Internet and CD-ROM technologies. We have also developed a number of multi-media products concerning China's population and its development work, which had been produced for the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development. We would like to improve out ability to utilize these technologies in the future. We plan to set up a computer network in CPIRC first and later extend it to the network in the State Family Planning Commission of China, and then connect it with all members of China POPIN.
Thailand: We are already using the Internet; our e-mail address is tpic@health.moph.go.th As for CD-ROM, we offer searching of the POPLINE database and the TPIC database. We also use multi-media for presentation purposes. As readers may be aware, Thailand has a high-level policy for making this country a centre for telecommunications development in Asia. It is very active in the field of information technology, so we shall take advantage of this for the purpose of making population information widely available.
Thank you very much, Mr. Xiao and Ms. Chantarat, for taking the time to answer these questions; our readers are very much interested in your views.