Left : The President of Fiji, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. Centre :
The Maori Queen, H.E. Te Arikuini Dame Te Atairangikaahu.
Right : Adi Lady Mara, the President's wife, at the First Ladies
Conference, Nadi, Fiji
At the International Conference on Population and Development
in Cairo in 1994, a new agenda (called the Programme of Action) was accepted by over 180 nations. This new agenda, whic h includes items such as the empowerment of women, reproductive health and reproductive rights, elimination of unsafe abortion, abolition of forms of discrimination against the girl child, promotion of male responsibilities and participation in family pla nning, and the right of adolescents to reproductive health information and services, needs to be more widely known by all sectors of society, promoted among all groups, and supported by policy-makers and leaders.
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For that reason, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has put advocacy high on its own post-Cairo programme framework. This framework has three thematic areas, namely: reproductive health including family planning and sexual heal th; population and development strategies; and advocacy.
Leadership is a critical variable
in social development and socio-cultural change in Pacific communities. This issue of Southpac News focuses on some of the advocacy activities dir ected towards leaders across a wide spectrum - First Ladies, parliamentarians, government statisticians, media experts - to pass on the message of the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). In mobilizing leaders, men and wom en, across the Pacific sub-region in support of the Programme of Action of the ICPD, UNFPA hopes to remind decision-makers and legislators that nearly four years after the ICPD in 1994, much remains to be done to achieve the improved quality and sustainab ility of life that their people should expect.Experience shows
that countries, where the leadership is strongly committed to human resource development, gender equality and equity, and to meeting the reproductive health needs of the po pulation, including family planning, have been able to mobilize sustained commitment at all levels to make population programmes successful. There is, at the same time, a growing recognition that population policies and programmes, to be sustainable, nee d to involve the intended beneficiaries in their design and implementation.Population programmes
work best when they are applied from both directions: from the top-down, with appropriate high-level political, institutional and financial support; and from the bottom-up, with grassroots community involvement and participation.The ICPD also recognizes
that the successful implementation of the Programme of Action will largely depend on action at the country level (national and local), in efforts by governments and civil society working in partnership. International funding agencies and bilateral donors can only play a supportive role, even though in some cases the financial and technical assistance may seem quite substantial. The name of the game in development a ctivities is sustainability and ownership.
Meeting on Population and Development, Nadi, Fiji |
A society’s leaders
at all levels, from all sectors, are the legitimate and credible agents to promote and support issues and causes in the population and development agenda. They are important for g alvanizing broad-based social and political commitment.The global priorities
found in the ICPD Programme of Action (the formation of attitudes and the establishment of policies and programmes which promote choice, access to reproductive health services, gender equ ity and environmental stewardship) must receive adequate attention in our part of the world. ‘