UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
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| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
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Population Policies and Programmes Debated at Cairo Meeting Cairo's impressive International Conference Centre was the site of the second in a series of six expert group meetings convened in preparation for the International Conference on Population and Development, 1994. The meeting, which took place from 12-16 April 1992, addressed the topic "Population Policies and Programmes." Close to fifty population scholars, policy makers and representatives of United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations met to compare and analyze their experiences in population policies and programmes and to consider an agenda for action for the next decade. Resource mobilization and the political commitments called for in the Amsterdam Declaration, adopted at the International Forum on Population in the Twenty-first Century (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1989), and subsequently endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly, were given special attention. In her opening remarks, Dr. Nafis Sadik, Conference Secretary-General, stated that the Egyptian population programme had, after years of policy and programme development, reached a level of development that had produced an observable impact on rates of population growth. Dr. Sadik emphasized the challenge that population growth posed to sustainable development and the environment. Delayed action to reduce rapid population growth, she said, could make a difference of up to four billion in the size of the world's population in the year 2050-- equal to the whole of world population in 1975. She called on the group to define policy alternatives and programmatic requirements to secure a sustainable future. Dr .Sadik also reviewed specific critical issues in various parts of the world: growth and distribution problems in Africa, Asia and Latin America; the growing urgency of international migration; and the emerging importance of balanced population growth and population ageing. Dr. Sadik emphasized the lessons learned from over two decades of experience in population policies and programmes, focusing on the need for political commitment, broad mobilization of individual and community support, involvement of women at all stages of programme planning and execution, and the need to provide a strong institutional framework for service delivery. She stressed the importance of involving the full range of governmental, non governmental and private organizations. Dr. Maher Mahran, Chairman of Egypt's National Population Council, welcomed the assembled experts and guests. The opening address was given by Dr. Mohamed Ragheb Dwidar, the Egyptian Minister of Health, who spoke on behalf of the Prime Minister. Dr. Dwidar stressed the importance of the national family planning programme in Egypt's overall development strategy. Notable achievements had been the decline in fertility and in infant and child mortality, and improvements in maternal and child health which had been fostered by the country's family planning programme. Mr. Shunichi Inoue, the Deputy SecretaryGeneral of the 1994 Conference and Director of the Population Division, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Development, stressed the progress which had been made in policy development over the past decade. Dr. Riad Tabbarah (Lebanon) was elected Chairman of the meeting. Other officers included: Ms. Charlotte Gardiner (Ghana) and Mr. Chris Allison (U.K.), Vice-Chairmen; Mr. Hussein Abdul Aziz Sayed (Egypt), Chairman, Recommendations Committee; Ms. Maria Helena Henriques-Mueller (Brazil), Rapporteur. The Recommendations Committee included Ms. Gabriella Vukovich (Hungary), Mr. Aprodicio Laquian (Philippines), Ms. Simeem Mahmud (Bangladesh), Mr. Raul Urzua (UNESCO) and Mr. Steven Sinding (U.S.A.). No single statement does justice to the wide range of concerns elaborated at the meeting. Close attention was paid to the responsiveness of population policy to local needs and to developing and maintaining adaptable implementation frameworks for programme activities. Policy considerations were addressed first. The United Nations Population Division presented a broad overview of the evolution of population policy since 1984. Experts then presented papers reviewing particular population policy issues and accomplishments in both developing and more developed regions of the world. Population programmes followed the discussion on policy. The first paper, presented by UNFPA, summarized the achievements and challenges of population programmes, and gave attention to the lessons learned from 23 years of experience in population activities. Specific country experiences were then reviewed, including a case study from Indonesia (which has one of the most established and successful national population programmes) and another from Rwanda (which has one of the newest, community-rooted population programmes). Another paper presented a succinct summary of the resource requirements and institutional and programme development needs for the coming decade. The final set of issues dealt with resource mobilization. The growing role of domestic resource generation and the challenge posed by future requirements had been noted in the UNFPA contribution and was the central topic of one of the presentations. The role and utility of cost-sharing and cost-recovery mechanisms in programme execution were also the subject of extended discussions. The many valuable contributions of non governmental organizations to policy and programme formulation, local community development, implementation of health and family planning programmes, and advocacy were reviewed and commended. All discussions stressed the need for broad-based action and also stressed the magnitude of commitments that would be required to attain programme goals. The experts also reviewed multilateral and bilateral population assistance. One of the interesting points made in the discussion concerned donor coordination problems. While frequently thought to be a cause for concern, it was pointed out that donor coordination problems occur only in a handful of countries, since assistance to many nations' population programmes comes from a single source or a small number of sources. Donor coordination problems are therefore present only in nations with many bilateral and multilateral donors of population assistance. The special problems of the least developed countries were also the subject of a separate paper. The group suggested that UNFPA continue to play a leading role in donor coordination, where relevant, and in providing assistance in formulating country population strategies. A final set of expert analyses addressed future directions for population policy and programme efforts. The discussion affirmed the importance of the political skills necessary to assure that priority be given to population programme activities, to integrating population concerns into development strategies, and to defining strategies for coordinating policy and programme activities. One of the key concerns of the entire meeting was an effort to identify emerging directions for action, which could raise and effectively use resources. On the positive side, it was noted that satisfying unmet needs for family planning services would achieve significant fertility reductions consistent with the Amsterdam Declaration goals. However, this fact does not diminish the magnitude of financial and political resources needed to attain that end. Participants adopted twenty-one recommendations which will be submitted to the Preparatory Committee of the 1994 Conference in August 1993. These covered a variety of issues which had been addressed and reviewed in the presentations. Among these were recommendations calling for: assessments of prior policy and programme actions; renewals of political and financial commitments; scrutiny of policy and programme institutions and their coordination; long-term strategies to most effectively use the inputs of all sources (governmental, non-governmental, local, regional and international); improving the quality of services; promoting the decentralized delivery of services; and emphasizing and further empowering women and recognizing their basic rights. Overall, the discussions and the recommendations indicated the importance of population policy and programme issues in the development process, the magnitude of the tasks being undertaken, and the need to exert every possible effort to generate the will, the capacity, and the resources to attain essential population and development goals.