Bangladesh's need for population data and information has grown with the development of the National Family Planning Programme since the country's establishment.
The success being achieved by the family planning programme in recent years has highlighted the importance of an adequate and timely flow of data and information to sustain programme gains and to make further advances in delivery of data and information to a variety of information users.
In this context, the Government has decided to strengthen its population data and information capacity by adopting the Asia-Pacific POPIN model for building a decentralized system of national and local population information service providers for Bangladesh.
To introduce the POPIN system in Bangladesh, the Government invited Mr. Fred Burian, Chief, Population Information and Communication Section, ESCAP Population Division, to help organize the National Workshop on Strengthening Asia-Pacific POPIN in Bangladesh, and to advise the Government and UNFPA on strategies for improving the quality of population documentation and information networking activities at the national, provincial and local levels.
The Workshop, held at the Bangladesh Academy of Rural Development (BARD), Comilla, Bangladesh between 27 and 29 July 1996, brought together 35 information and communications specialists representing the key population data and information-providing organizations throughout Bangladesh.
At the outset, the Workshop identified several target groups in need of improved access to population data and information services and products on a priority basis: policy and decision makers, programme administrators, and researchers, educators and students.
The Workshop examined a range of strategies to meet the population data and information needs of targetted clients in three areas: reproductive health and family planning, population and development, and advocacy for population programme implementation.
On the second day, the workshop participants were divided into three work-teams, each designing an information subnetwork uniquely responsive to the information needs of those clients in one of the above-mentioned areas.
Objectives and activity plans were developed for each of three subnetworks, and subnetwork coordinating mechanisms were developed for an expanded national population information system which would integrate the major components of UNFPA support for population information activities in Bangladesh under the umbrella of a national POPIN system.
Before concluding, the Workshop strongly endorsed this subnetwork approach, and asked the Government and UNFPA to support its development during the next UNFPA country project cycle, 1997-2000.
The Workshop was organized by the Information, Education and Motivation Unit (IEM), Directorate of Family Planning, with assistance from UNFPA.
The ESCAP Population Division was assisted by the Dhaka office of the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs in the delivery of the Workshop modules.
ESCAP and UNFPA/CST help Viet Nam in population information development
Population information experts from ESCAP and the UNFPA Country Support Team for East and South-East Asia joined forces in late April and early May 1996 to assist the Government of Viet Nam in the area of population information development.
Mr. Fred Burian, Chief of the Population Information and Communication Section, ESCAP Population Division, and Ms. Carmelita Villanueva, CST Adviser on Population Information and Documentation, advised the Government and the UNFPA Office located at Hanoi on strategies for improving the quality of population documentation and information networking activities at the national, provincial and local levels.
During their mission, Mr. Burian and Ms. Villanueva conducted a national workshop of the Viet Nam Population Information Network, which is the focal point for that country in Asia-Pacific POPIN.
The Viet Nam POPIN Coordination Workshop was organized by the Centre for Population Studies and Information (CPSI) of the National Committee for Population and Family Planning (NCPFP) on 26 and 27 April 1996.
The Workshop brought together 35 information and communications specialists representing key population data- and information-providing organizations throughout the country.
It identified several target groups in need of improved access to population data and information services and products on a priority basis, and examined a range of strategies designed to meet the population data and information needs of clients in three areas: reproductive health and family planning, population and development, and advocacy for population programme implementation. The Workshop designed three information subnetworks that would respond precisely to the data and information needs of target clients in one of the three above-mentioned areas.
Objectives and activity plans were developed for these along with subnetwork coordinating mechanisms for an expanded national population information system.
That system would integrate the major components of UNFPA support for population information activities in Viet Nam under the umbrella of a national POPIN system.
The Government and UNFPA are currently considering the level of support that would be required for the development of this system during the period 1997-2000.
ESCAP and China POPIN to hold training workshop in October
The ESCAP secretariat in collaboration with the China Population Information and Research Centre (CPIRC) is organizing the Training Workshop on Selected Population Topics and Information Technology for Information Professionals to be held at Beijing from 7 to 11 October 1996.
Following the Workshop, there will be a meeting from 13 to 15 October of the Asia-Pacific POPIN Executive Committee, which will guide the Network after 1998.
Financial support for both activities will be provided by the Government of China and UNFPA.
The main objective of the Workshop is to enhance the knowledge and skills of information professionals working in the field of population so that they will be able to stay abreast of fast-changing technologies in the field of information and communications.
Fulfillment of the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development means that information professionals must be able to utilize new information technologies such as microcomputers, CD-ROM and telecommunication protocols in order to provide more effective information services.
Internet training workshop to be held at Bangkok in November
ESCAP will hold a training workshop at Bangkok from 18 to 22 November 1996 focusing on POPIN on the Internet for selected Asia-Pacific POPIN focal points currently using the "information superhighway".
Among the objectives of the workshop will be to assess the status of Internet service providers in members' home countries, determine efficient ways to link the various national POPIN sites having access to the World Wide Web with the global POPIN Web site and design "home pages" for display on the World Wide Web. For the latter purpose, participants will be trained in the use of hyper-text markup language (HTML), which is necessary to display information material on the World Wide Web.
World Population Day
Awareness creation was the purpose of World Population Day, 11 July, which was observed by more than 150 countries around the world.
The theme of this year's World Population Day was combating the spread of HIV/AIDS through reproductive health care and community and individual responsibility.
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), among the events were newspaper and magazine supplements; special publications; lectures; seminars; radio, television and film programmes; rallies and speeches by national and local leaders; exhibits; and sport events.
Many national television systems and local stations broadcast "Changing Places", a video film produced and distributed by UNFPA. The 19-minute film is based on the 1996 State of World Population Report and illustrates the effects that global urbanization is having on people as seen through the lives of women living in Bangkok, Mexico City and Vancouver, Canada.
In addition, UNFPA produced and distributed globally population posters, World Population Day brochures and Population Issues Briefing Kits.
World Population Day was first celebrated in 1987 when world population reached 5 billion. The United Nations authorized the event as a vehicle to build awareness of population issues and the role they play in development and the environment.
Dr. Nafis Sadik, UNFPA Executive Director, said that bringing world population questions to the attention of as large an audience as possible is critical both because of the global nature of the problem and the necessity to enlist both leaders and grassroots support for programmes aimed at slowing population growth.
Dr. Sadik also mentioned in her statement:
"AIDS is a personal and family tragedy . . . . It is also a threat to national development, taking women and men in their thirties and forties, their most productive years, when they are building and bringing up a family, and when they are poised to make their strongest contribution to their countries' future . . . . Every individual woman and man must take responsibility for their sexual health, and that of others with whom they come into contact. Men especially must know that they have responsibility to protect their wives and loved ones.
"Reproductive health programmes therefore have a vital part to play in AIDS prevention. The same pathways that carry family planning and sexual health messages can and should carry messages about individual responsibility for preventing HIV/AIDS.
"If we all act together, and act responsibly, we can slow the spread of AIDS, if not eliminate it altogether."
United Nations information technology lags for lack of strategy
"I want to state at the outset that the United Nations, due to various reasons, has globally fallen behind in information technology".
With that remark, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Conference and Support Services, Mr. Benon Sevan, opened the Economic and Social Council's discussion on 16 July concerning international cooperation in the field of informatics. The same session also considered population issues.
However, Mr. Sevan also said that thanks to the isolated initiatives of some highly competent staff, the Organization had made considerable progress in trying to limit the damage in the area of informatics. The lack of a global information technology strategy had resulted in dramatic budgetary reductions at precisely the time when new investments were needed.
To remedy the situation, the Secretariat was in the process of developing an information technology strategy, including proposed activities with related costs, which would be presented to the fifty-second session of the General Assembly. Member States would then decide on the Organization's future direction in that area, he added.
The long-term design would address not only Headquarters, but also the regional commissions, such as ESCAP, which currently had inadequate resources, he said.
"It will only be through an upgrade of the infrastructure at all duty stations that the Organization will be able to meet the rapidly growing requirements in information technology, and that Member States will be able to take full advantage of the facilities that information technology can provide".
The report of the Secretary-General on international cooperation in the field of informatics discussed the findings of an ad hoc open-ended working group on the need to harmonize and improve United Nations information systems for optimum utilization and accessibility by all States.
As previously mentioned, the group found that the problems of electronic access were related to the fact that there was no comprehensive policy for the Organization in that area, as well as to budgetary constraints. "As a result, new technologies that were being introduced by the computer industry were not adopted rapidly by the United Nations".
However, the Secretariat and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have taken steps to address the concerns of Member States. For example, responding to a recommendation of the working group, a focal point -- the Director of Information Technology within the Office of Conference and Support Services -- was appointed to deal with the provision of information in electronic format to Member States. UNDP has been the focal point in establishing connections to the Internet and to its e-mail system, the report stated.
Information dissemination is provided by United Nations Headquarters as well as specialized agencies over the Internet through a Gopher server and through a World Wide Web server, the report explained. The United Nations is actively expanding the amount of information available on its Web server. (The POPIN Web site address, or "URL", is http://www.undp.org./ popin/popin.htm/)
The Department of Public Information (DPI) has initiated an interdepartmental group to expand the Web service to include information prepared by all substantive departments, according to the report.
One of the first substantive departments to participate in placing information on the Web server was the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, which has used the Internet to disseminate information about economic and social issues, including population and sustainable development, the advancement of women, global climate issues and desertification. Further, DPI is currently coordinating an interdepartmental initiative to further improve the United Nations home page.
With the rapid development of the United Nations home page and the expansion of information both at Headquarters and abroad, the need for guidelines to standardize presentation and formats has become apparent, the report stated.
Accordingly, guidelines for the presentation of information on the Internet have been elaborated by the Dag Hammarskjold Library and widely circulated. Guidelines on electronic publishing will be issued shortly. Efforts are currently being made to address the issue of providing information in many languages.
The report noted that "this new technology will also require capital investments, as well as a major training effort to upgrade the skills of staff in its utilization", adding that those issues would be raised during consideration of the 1998-1999 proposed programme budget.
According to the report, it will be necessary to complete work on an information technology plan that better incorporates the needs of Member States for United Nations data in an easily accessible electronic format. The information technology plan, in turn, will need to be reflected in the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1998-1999, and the necessary resources will need to be allotted to it.
During the debate, the Permanent Representative of Pakistan, Mr. Ahmad Kamal, in his capacity as Chairman of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Informatics, said the Group had achieved much progress.
He stated that the most immediate issues which must be addressed were providing connectivity to all Member States; finding a uniform "user-friendly" e-mail system; continuing the Internet training programme; connecting the optical disk system to the Internet; and encouraging United Nations departments to post information on the World Wide Web server.
The Working Group had identified video-conferencing as one of the more promising avenues for cost reduction, he stated. "Travel and per diem expenditures could be dramatically reduced if multiple video-conferencing facilities were to be made available in different parts of the United Nations system".
There was also a need to explore the possibility of using the Internet as a tool for providing technical assistance.
One of the speakers on population issues, Ms. Cecilia B. Rebong, representing the Philippines, said attention should be given to problems encountered at the national level which hampered the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.
She welcomed the close collaboration among the members of the United Nations system in the follow-up to the Cairo Conference. Activities by the regional commissions in the follow-up to the Conference were also of great importance.
Introducing the report of the Commission on Population and Development (see April 1996 issue of this Bulletin), the Director of the Population Division of the Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, Mr. Joseph Chamie, said the Commission fully supported the need to protect the Division's long-term work programme, including both traditional demographic work and the development of innovative approaches to meeting new demands, following the outcomes of the Cairo Conference and other recent major United Nations conferences.
The report of the Commission on Population and Development on its twenty-ninth session (New York, 26 February-1 March) contains one draft resolution and one draft decision.
By the draft resolution, the Council would stress the need for an accelerated international response to the challenges of the Programme of Action adopted by ICPD relating to reproductive rights and reproductive health. The draft emphasizes the importance of information, education and communication as a strategy for follow-up to that Conference and urges the Population Division to highlight the efforts of Governments in that regard.
The Secretary-General would be requested to arrange a liaison between non-governmental organizations and the Commission, and to ensure full communications with them in order to facilitate the dissemination of information, according to the text.
Those organizations would be invited to participate on an exceptional basis at the Commission's next session. The Council would request that a revised version of the report on the activities of non-governmental organizations in the sector of reproductive rights and reproductive health be presented to the Commission's 1998 session.
Also by that text, the Council would request improved annual reporting on financial flows relating to the costed elements of the Programme of Action, including a clear account of levels and trends of funding by source.
It would encourage the widest possible dissemination of reports by the United Nations system on progress in implementing the Programme of Action, including, wherever possible, through electronic channels of communication.
In addition, the Council would request that evidence of further progress in achieving the goals of the Programme of Action be communicated to the Commission.
The draft decision would have the Council take note of the Commission's report and approve the provisional agenda for its next session.
The provisional agenda, as in previous years, would include a general debate on national experiences in population matters. The session would then focus on international migration, with special emphasis on the linkages between migration and development and on gender issues and the family. Discussions would be held in the context of follow-up to the recommendations of the Cairo Conference.
Information committee stresses traditional media and new technology
The current information and communications revolution is the driving force behind today's accelerated economic liberalization, globalization and interdependence, said the representative of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China at a meeting of the United Nations Committee on Information.
During the session, which was held at New York in May 1996, the same representative said: "It is this revolution, more than any other factor at the global level, that is transforming the world and the meaning of international relations between peoples and continents, bringing men and women of all cultures and ethnicities closer together, bringing down barriers and myths of the past, giving rise to a new and authentic universal sense of justice, equality and liberty".
The view was also expressed that, while expanding into the sphere of electronic publishing, the value of conventional media should not be lost sight of. Although the Committee focused mainly on the work of the Department of Public Information (DPI), it also addressed a wide range of information issues common to all offices and agencies within the United Nations system.
One of the developing country representatives emphasized that, because "hard copy" and radio and television remained the primary media in developing countries, "the traditional means of information dissemination should not be minimized until we are all able to cruise along the information superhighway".
It was urged that special attention be given to diminishing the information gap between developed and developing countries, while promoting the communications infrastructure and access to it.
Care should be taken that the developing countries are not left too far behind, otherwise there is a risk of perpetuating, in the communication fields, the enormous inequities which already exists between countries of the North and the South.
A representative for several developed countries observed that, in order for the United Nations to achieve its goals in a global information age, the tasks of disseminating information would become more and more central, and thus the new technologies of electronic communication should be turned to. This should be done despite the disparities between countries.
Priority should be given to the urgent needs of the developing countries, helping them to improve their infrastructure and narrow the information gap with the developed countries, said the representative of China.
Through free and practically unrestricted access to the Internet, the information superhighway, the aforementioned information revolution reached into homes and the workplace at every moment of every day. Neither the United Nations nor the Committee could escape from that complex and fascinating reality.
Competence and competitiveness in disseminating information and in sharing data and collaborative research at the least cost were essential for the future.
The difficulties now facing the United Nations should not make one forget the central role of information, said another developing country representative. Ways must be found to disseminate material which can be easily and instantly absorbed.
The representative of Indonesia said that the global dimension of information and communication had assumed paramount importance in addressing the challenges facing mankind. The age of information had transformed the world into a global village, affecting its politics, economies, social customs and traditions. Unfortunately, the gap between developed and developing countries continues to widen. A handful of States have a virtual monopoly on the gathering, analysis and dissemination of information. For too long, developing countries have been unable to gain access to advanced technology to promote their own development.
The serious imbalance in the flow and content of information has had a negative impact on the efforts of developing countries to accelerate their political, economic and social progress.
The representative of the Republic of Korea welcomed the inauguration of the United Nations Home Page on the World Wide Web of the Internet.
South Pacific Commission highlights information in annual report
Listed among the important activities conducted by the South Pacific Commission (SPC) during 1995 was the provision of "user-friendly and user-relevant information for a non-technical audience, translating sound demograhic analysis into readable language, drawing out key planning and policy-relevant information that can assist . . . member countries and territories in formulating national development plans and strategies".
In the SPC Demography/Population programme, which is aimed at promoting the incorporation of population as a key dimension in the formulation of development policies, plans and programmes, efforts were made to strengthen the participation of national staff in the production of national population profiles and establish close technical collaboration with the South Pacific Alliance for Family Health (SPAFH).
Of the three Fiji-based activities being implemented under the SPC Community Education Services, one is focused on population, i.e. the Population Communication Project.
The purpose of the Project is to improve the current status of population communication programmes and activities in three Micronesian societies: Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau. The Project, which is supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is also aimed at developing a comprehensive, integrated infrastructure for population information, education and communication activities in those territories.
Parliamentarians call for focus on population issues
The Pakistani Parliamentarians Group on Population and Development recently called for measures that would create awareness of population issues in both houses of Parliament and in provincial assemblies.
The advocacy measures would involve setting asisde four periods per year to discuss population issues.
(Source: AFPPD newsletter)