UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
DISPATCHES -- NEWS FROM UNFPA, THE UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND
NUMBER 7, JUNE 1996
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Dear readers,
We have had to combine our issues for April, May, and June owing to
prolonged illness among our editorial staff. We apologize to those
of you who have missed us and thank those of you who continue to
send in contributions to DISPATCHES. With this issue, we return to
our regular publishing schedule; the next issue will be for
July/August 1996.
==========
DISPATCHES is a monthly bulletin dedicated to the activities of
the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). It is published in
English, French, and Spanish by the Information and External
Relations Division and is available free of charge from UNFPA
offices worldwide.
The designations employed and presentation of material in
DISPATCHES do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever
on the part of UNFPA concerning the legal status or authority of
any country, territory, city, or area or the determination of its
frontiers or boundaries. Views expressed are the authors' and
sources' own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or
policy of the Fund. All material is checked for accuracy as
received from source; all enquiries should be addressed to the
source/further information address provided at the end of each
item. Material may be freely reproduced; credit and copies of
reproduced material would be appreciated.
We invite colleagues from UNFPA and cooperating organizations to
submit articles about UNFPA-assisted programmes and projects,
accounts of lessons learned from past and ongoing work, and
anecdotes from their country or area of work. These should be
sent to:
DISPATCHES, c/o IERD, UNFPA, 220 East 42nd Street, 23rd floor,
New York, NY 10017, USA. Telephone: (212) 297-5022. Fax: (212)
557-6416. Internet: <aslam@unfpa.org>, <ohaire@unfpa.org>,
<travers@unfpa.org>.
==========
In this issue:
Lynda Chalker's Salas lecture
South-South follow-up
Youth essay contest
==========
Management: Trone takes up new duties
New York - Kerstin Trone has taken up her duties as UNFPA's Deputy
Executive Director (Programme).
Trone, a native of Sweden, joined UNFPA in 1975 as Evaluation
Officer. She served as Programme Officer and later as Deputy Chief
of what was then the Latin America Section between 1977 and 1981.
She was the chief of what was then the Evaluation Branch of the
Policy and Evaluation Division from 1981 until 1990, when she
became Director of the Latin America and the Caribbean Division.
She held that office until 1993, when she became Director of the
UNFPA Country Support Team for Southern Africa, based in Zimbabwe.
Prior to joining the Fund, she worked for SIDA, the OECD, and
the University of Goteburg in Sweden, where she earned her first
degree, in Statistics and Sociology. Her second degree, that of
M.A. in Health Education, was from New York University.
Trone took up her current assignment on 1 May, replacing Jyoti
Shankar Singh, who retired.
-Further information from: Information & External Relations
Division, UNFPA, 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, USA.
Fax: (212) 557-6416.
==========
Goodwill: Earnest ambassador
Tokyo - UNFPA's newest "Goodwill Ambassador" has had a busy first
few months.
Keiko Kishi, a renowned Japanese actress and essayist, joins
American actress Jane Fonda and media tycoon Ted Turner, the Fund's
other two goodwill ambassadors. Her one-year appointment, made by
Executive Director Nafis Sadik in March and announced in Tokyo the
following month, earns Kishi a symbolic fee of US$1.00. In return,
she will represent the Fund in her travels throughout the world
and, in addition, will film, write about, and speak out on
population issues.
And she has begun in earnest.
In April, Kishi traveled to Viet Nam to meet with government
officials and NGOs and to visit project sites to observe activities
and speak with health personnel and community members. She paid
visits on women who had renovated their homes and improved their
families' living standard with money earned from participating in
micro-enterprise projects, spoke with workers at a condom factory,
and observed discussions on sexuality and reproductive health in
schools.
Kishi was accompanied by Fund Deputy Executive Director
(Policy & Administration) Hirofumi Ando, Resource Development
Officer Kyoichi Nakamura, and journalists. Among them was a team
from NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, which plans to air in
June a documentary film based on Kishi's tour. A video of the trip
is to be shown at the 25 May Yokohama International Symposium on
Population and Women organized by UNFPA, Yokohama City and Yokohama
Women's Association for Communication and Networking in cooperation
with JOICFP, the Japanese Organization for International
Cooperation in Family Planning. Similar broadcasts and screenings
are planned in Viet Nam and anticipated elsewhere.
On her return to Tokyo, Kishi addressed a 15 April press
conference at the Japan Press Club, where she told journalists of
what she had seen and outlined her commitment to assisting women in
developing countries.
Kishi stressed the need for Japan to provide greater support
to population programmes, particularly in promoting reproductive
health including family planning, and initiatives to improve the
status of women.
One of Japan's most prominent film and stage actresses,
Kishi's acting career spanned more than 40 years. Born in 1932, she
achieved fame in 1953 as the star of the hit movie [Kimi no Nawa]
("What's your name?"). Since then, she has played major roles in
many Japanese films, including [Snow Country], based on Nobel Prize
winner Yasunari Kawabata's novel of the same name. Kishi is also an
accomplished writer and has won several literary awards including
the coveted Japan Essayist Club Award. At the 15 April press
conference, she told journalists that the most effective way for
her to work to promote women's empowerment is through her writing.
She also expects to be busy addressing a variety of conferences and
meetings.
-Sources: UNFPA press releases; [JOICFP News]. Further information
from: Information & External Relations Division, UNFPA, 220 East
42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, USA. Fax: (212) 557-6416.
==========
World Youth Forum: Essay contest
New York - UNFPA is organizing an essay writing contest for young
people in support of the UN World Youth Forum to be held in Vienna,
Austria in November. The contest's theme is "Promoting Responsible
Reproductive Health Behaviour: The Youth Perspective." Essayists
15-24 years old are encouraged to submit their essays on this theme
and to win a chance to participate in the Vienna Forum.
The Vienna Forum's main objective is to promote the
implementation of the UN World Programme of Action for Youth to the
year 2000 and Beyond, which was adopted by the General Assembly
last December. More than 300 participants from NGOs, UN agencies,
and other intergovernmental organizations are expected to attend
and to explore such issues as education, employment and leisure;
health and population; hunger and poverty; drug abuse and juvenile
delinquency; racism and xenophobia; and rights and participation.
The objectives of the essay contest are:
> to select and enable young participants in the Forum;
> to provide a venue for discussion and dissemination of key
messages on the theme of responsible sexual and reproductive
behaviour; and
> to give voice to young people and disseminate what they have
written.
The contest is being organized through UNFPA country offices
and the nine international youth and youth-serving NGOs that
organized the International Youth NGO Consultation for ICPD.
Although contestants are expected to come primarily from formal
school systems, organizers say they hope these NGOs will be able to
encourage participation among young people not currently enrolled
in school or college.
A call to participate is being prepared and will be issued
through country offices and these NGOs. They will call for essays
that do not exceed 1,000 words and are typewritten in one of the
six official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French,
Russian, and Spanish). Essays will be judged at country level and
up to five of the best ones per country will then be submitted for
international competition. These will have to be received at UNFPA
headquarters no later than 15 September. Winners will be announced
on 15 October. They will be entitled to a free round trip ticket
and accommodation and board to participate in the World Youth
Forum, scheduled for 25-29 November.
In addressing the contest's theme, according to contest
guidelines, contestants' essays may cover one or more of the
following topics: teenage pregnancy; sexuality education;
STDs/HIV/AIDS; gender equality; early marriage; use of mass and
traditional media; parental influence and family communication; the
role of friends and peers; and access to adolescent reproductive
health services.
The essays will be judged on the basis of clarity of message,
innovative ideas, creative expression, and the relevance or
applicability of the actions they recommend. Subsequently, they may
be published or otherwise used for information purposes by the
Fund, which will provide credit to the writers.
-Source: Education, Communication & Youth Branch. Further
information from: Delia R. Barcelona, Technical Officer, Education,
Communication & Youth Branch, Technical & Evaluation Division,
UNFPA, 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, USA. Tel.: (212)
297-5233. Fax: (212) 297-4915.
==========
South-South: Follow-up reported
Jakarta - Word has been received that African Islamic leaders have
begun to follow-up on their visit, late last year, to observe
Indonesia's family planning programme.
In December, representatives from the highest Islamic bodies
in Burkina Faso, Comoros, and Mali visited Indonesia to study the
contributions Islamic authorities here have made to the national
programme. The [imams] learned that their Indonesian colleagues
have been involved at all levels and from the beginning of the
programme.
The group visited Islamic NGOs in Jakarta, the capital, and
Semarang, the town in Central Java believed to boast the country's
first mosque, built in the fifteenth century. They visited
hospitals, clinics, [madrasahs] or Islamic day schools, and
[pesantren] or traditional Islamic boarding schools. At these
sites, they witnessed the full integration of family planning,
reproductive health, and family welfare messages in Islamic
teaching.
The three visiting delegations noted other possibilities for
collaboration between their countries and religious bodies in
Indonesia, outside the area of population: They said they were
impressed by the high level of Islamic women in all types of
development activities, though mainly in health and education. They
received assurances of Indonesian support in the form of
information, education, communication, and related materials.
On returning to their countries, the [imams] have begun
follow-up work. In Burkina Faso, for example, they have been
reporting to large gatherings on their experience in Indonesia. In
Comoros, they have conducted radio discussions and have established
contact with the heads of various family planning agencies and
organizations, with a view to planning joint activities. In Mali,
the [imams] have submitted to the UNFPA country office a plan for
further follow-up.
In its plan, the Malian delegation proposes organizing a
national cultural week to promote the convergence of opinions of
religious scholars on Islam and family welfare, and to disseminate
the resulting ideas within Mali and to its neighbours. The plan
also envisages the production of cassettes for broadcast on the
radio. These would seek to create awareness of those passages of
the Koran and sayings of the Prophet Mohammed in support of family
planning and the efforts to combat poverty. Finally, the proposal
includes the establishment of an Islamic NGO for these purposes.
-Source/further information from: Wilma H. Goppel, Project
Coordinator for South-South Cooperation, International Training
Program: Family Planning Program Management, BKKBN, Jl. Permata No.
1 Halim Perdanakusuma, Jakarta 13650, Indonesia. Fax: (62-21) 800-
9093.
==========
Special Feature:
Chalker: 'The issue is results'
Following are excerpts from "Population and Development: National
Responsibilities and Global Citizenship," this year's Rafael M.
Salas Memorial Lecture, delivered by Baroness Chalker of Wallasey,
Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Minister
for Overseas Development of the United Kingdom. She delivered the
lecture at the United Nations on 26 March.
Each nation and her people must take responsibility for their own
security, development, and governance. But sustained development
across the world requires a broader vision: a vision which
recognizes the crucial importance of an educated, healthy, and
responsive international community.
Vital interests are at stake, as the OECD's current 'Exercise
de Reflexion' has recognized. The member countries of the
Development Assistance Committee spend about US$60 billion annually
on official development assistance. There are two principal
motivations for their efforts. The first is fundamentally
humanitarian solidarity -- our response to the extreme poverty and
human suffering that still afflicts more than one billion people,
more than one-fifth of the world's population. People who live in
extreme poverty are, for the most part, illiterate. They lack
access to clean water and adequate health facilities; many do not
receive sufficient nourishment to live a productive life. The moral
imperative of support for development is self-evident. It would be
a scandal for the people of the OECD countries who consume 75 per
cent of the world's annual production to fail to help the very
poor.
The second reason for supporting development needs more
explanation. It is that development benefits not only the people
who live in poor countries, but also the citizens of the
industrialized donor countries. Increased prosperity in the
developing countries expands markets for the goods and services of
the industrialized countries. It reduces pressures for migration
and the accompanying social and environmental stresses. Increased
prosperity contributes to political stability that diminishes the
risks of war, terrorism, and international crime. None of these
debilitating ills remain isolated. They inevitably spill over into
the industrialized countries. So increasing prosperity expands the
community of interests and shared values, necessary to sustain
collaborative efforts to manage a host of global issues -- from
environmental protection to limiting population growth, nuclear
non-proliferation, control of illicit drugs, and combating epidemic
diseases. These issues know no boundaries in spreading their ills
across the world.
I have been active in politics for over 30 years. Constituency
work and electoral pressures have been my lifeblood for 22 years.
I know the enormous influence they have on individual politicians
as well as on political parties. We need to expand the constituency
working for development assistance. In other words, we need
supporters way beyond those already converted, including the
sceptical or the downright opposed.
Believing in effective development
Development has a good story to tell. Our world has seen three
decades of extraordinary transformation. Most of this has been
peaceful, despite the media's everlasting emphasis on the negative.
Stability and security for millions of people have been
improved by the ending of the cold war. Where conflicts have broken
out patient work is gradually producing moves towards peace. We
know it is true from our work in Bosnia, the Middle East, and many
African countries. Where there is conflict, the first instinct of
many humans is to resort to defence, but then to attack to defend.
Weaponry is far too readily available. Its only outcome is further
carnage and suffering. Finding ways to broker peace is difficult;
to keep the peace is even more so, especially in this era of
international terrorism. Britain is investing heavily -- and
successfully -- in promoting peace and reconciliation, and averting
outright conflict. We do this through diplomacy, training for
conflict resolution, trade, and our foreign assistance programmes.
There are big and encouraging changes in the way nations are
governed. There were 27 national elections in the last six months
of 1995. Forty are being held this year, way beyond those in the
US, Russia, Israel, Australia, Taiwan, Spain, and Italy which
receive most western media attention. We are in the midst of
growing democracy, in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and --
especially -- Africa. No less than 69 nations, many in the
developing world, have been encouraged to shift to a multi-party
system in the last 10 years. Of our 192 countries, 179 operate
under some kind of parliamentary system. To convert this transition
into genuine democracy and good government is a massive challenge
for newly elected legislators, their public service, and the people
they govern.
The quality of government has improved. World trade is being
liberalized. Governments accept the need to balance their budgets
and to reform their economic management. Continuous bail-outs from
donor nations are no longer available. Scores of countries are
combining democracy with a slimmer state sector and widespread
market reforms. Centrally planned socialism is over.
People's lives are better, too. Fewer infants die now than
ever before. Since 1950, life expectancy in developing countries
has increased by 20 years. In the least developed countries, the
percentage of couples practising contraception has increased from
10 per cent to 50 per cent since the 1960s. Millions more couples
now choose when to have their children. Abortion rates are falling.
Overall, this has all been done at very little cost. Consider
health care. Health improvements have been reported even in the 50
or so countries whose annual government spending on health care is
less than US$5 per person: In Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Zaire, for
example, child mortality has fallen significantly since 1960. In
Britain, the same US$5 would cover health care for two days at the
most -- and even less in the US.
The underlying theme is a commitment to enable people --
particularly women -- to shape their own destinies, rather than
having them shaped for them. I work in government because
government can and should empower people. It is for the state to
create opportunities for people to participate in their societies,
to participate as they wish, not as others wish. In my view, women
must be given first call on these new opportunities.
Global citizenship in action
One of the most dramatic and important events in the
empowerment of women was the 1994 Cairo conference on Population
and Development. It put reproductive health at the centre of human
development. It showed how individuals and societies can best
contribute to the fulfilment of this agenda.
Representatives of many governments negotiated the Cairo
Programme of Action. Negotiation was undertaken with care and
commitment by women as well as men, legislators as well as
officials, non-government groups, religious leaders, and business
people. We agreed that women and men must be able to choose when
and under what circumstances to have children. The state, we said,
should enable people to do this, not control, compel, deny, or
disempower them.
We recognized that people are seeking to make their own
choices about family size throughout the world. Fertility rates are
falling. Even more couples want to choose when they have children,
and decide how to do their best for them. Demands for family
planning services are rising, yet they are not properly met. If
they can be -- soon -- there is a real chance that the world
population may stabilize at less than 12 billion by the next
century. At Cairo, we said goodbye to the language of population
control, coerced abortion, and forced sterilization, and undertook
to act against these inhuman practices.
In the spirit of that conference, we agreed that more
resources should be made available, so that those who are poor can
also make choices about children, health care, and life styles;
choices which for too long have only been available to the rich.
Cairo was a solemn and robust beginning to a new era. We offered
our heads as well as our hands and hearts and agreed to build
partnerships to help all have the chance to make these choices.
Real progress in family planning has been achieved during the
last five years. Several donor countries have committed themselves
to providing more resources to basic education and health care,
particularly reproductive health care. The emphasis throughout is
on increasing opportunities for women. The British development
programme is no exception. More than 20 per cent of our bilateral
spending goes on the education and health sectors.
In 1991, Britain undertook to enable more people to have
children by choice, not chance, through improving access to quality
reproductive health care. We want the proportion of girls who
benefit from basic education to increase; this will make a key
contribution. Two years ago, we expected to make UKL100 million of
new commitments to improving reproductive health in developing
countries during 1994 and 1995. The eventual figure exceeded UKL180
million.
But more important than the amount spent is the impact of
population and reproductive health activities in many of the
countries where we are partners.
We are delighted with the progress. A decade ago, many thought
Kenya's population growth rate of over 4 per cent would remain into
the next century. This was not a surprising prediction given that
the total fertility rate in 1978 was 8.1. Since 1985, ODA
participated with other donors in helping the Kenyan government
increase access to services through NGOs and private sector groups.
In 1993, the government was able to report a fall in the fertility
rate to 5.5. The proportion of couples using contraceptives has
increased from 10 per cent to 27 per cent and is still rising. And
we know that family planning in itself saves lives. Other gains
were made, too. That year, 79 per cent of children were fully
vaccinated by the end of their second year. This represents an
amazing shift and it must be sustained. We need to continue to help
provide the supplies of essential items required to support
reproductive health -- not only in Kenya but also in the many other
African countries undergoing this transition.
ODA has partnered with the government of Pakistan in their
courageous population programmes since 1985. Ten years ago total
contraceptive prevalence was 9.1 per cent and the total fertility
rate, 6.5. Unlike other donors we have stayed involved throughout,
supporting government and non-governmental programmes, supplying
essential items. By 1993, contraceptive prevalence had risen to 19
per cent and total fertility had fallen to 5.8. The transition had
started. We have helped Pakistan to develop stronger social sector
programmes (which address education and gender issues, as well as
health). Earlier this month my ministerial colleague Jeremy Hanley
signed up a new ground-breaking partnership for me between Britain
and the private sector in Pakistan. This will help companies widen
and diversify their markets, and enable people to have a wider
choice of suppliers and service providers.
Our commitment to reproductive health in Central and Eastern
Europe and Central Asia has helped millions of women demand better
services and access them, and helped hundreds of thousands of women
to cease using abortion as a means of family planning. In Samara
oblast in Russia, for example, abortion rates have fallen by 20 per
cent in three years.
Dramatic change has also been reported in other Asian,
African, and Latin American countries. More and more women and men
are demanding, have access to, and use a range of reproductive
health services. The trend is for these to be offered without
coercion, so that use of family planning is, indeed, voluntary. We
still hear of reports of coercion and take these up wherever we
have concerns. Donors must work with out country partners to ensure
that the language of Cairo becomes a practical reality.
This transition would not be happening so fast but for events
like the Cairo conference. This brought several ingredients
together:
> Groups outside government -- including those representing
religions -- kept population in the public eye and ensured that it
has become an issue of human development, of enabling people to
have greater control over their own lives.
> Multilateral organizations like the World Bank and several
bilateral donor agencies agreed to cooperate, working in
partnership with national officials to find resources for
implementing the Cairo Programme of Action.
> The United Nations showed its potential as a forum within
which national governments and donors and groups outside government
can together address contentious issues and keep a watch on
implementation.
But despite intense effort and some real successes, the media
and our people are poorly informed about this progress, and
progress in other fields of development. This is not for want of
trying to keep them aware. Nor does it reflect a lack of genuine
interest among the people of Britain. But we need to bring more
immediacy, and more life to the debate on development. The issues
do matter -- to all of us. Our job is to stimulate that interest
across the community -- in business, in public life, and at grass
roots levels. Without it, progress may not be sustained through to
2000 and beyond. There is still a danger of the world backtracking
on the promises made at Cairo. But by thoughtful and sustained
advocacy, with proof of progress, we can do better, both in
mobilizing public support and in using the resources at our
disposal.
Learning lessons, delivering results
We must demonstrate how our development programme is working.
This is not a matter of how much is spent on health or education,
political or economic reform, or poverty projects. The issue is
results -- not money spent. Are we making the difference that our
parliamentarians, when agreeing the budget for overseas
development, expect? Is the difference being achieved in a way that
makes the best possible use of the skills and finance at our
disposal?
Let me highlight seven points:
> The stated intentions of Britain's development programmes are
now much more realistic. A new mission statement has been
developed. It is an important declaration of what we are about. In
the development field we have defined our purpose as improving the
quality of life of people in poorer countries by contributing to
sustainable development and reducing poverty and suffering. This
mission can be adapted for use at country level. We are
concentrating our resources on a smaller number of countries, and
sectors within those countries, without neglecting relationships
with traditional partners.
> We pay more attention to learning while doing. Good foreign
assistance programmes yield ideas and innovation. We harvest them
and use them when designing new projects and monitoring them. Our
Project Cycle Management Systems help us assess our effectiveness
as we work rather than after the event.
> We must know what works. We need to better document the
results of our development assistance and establish reasons for
success or failure. We must give particular emphasis to finding
effective means for conflict prevention and for building up
institutions in unstable situations.
> Ownership, by partnership with those we are helping, is
central. Our programmes are more likely to succeed when owned by
the people who will be affected and benefit rather than by
institutions. They are forged around partnerships between those who
are committed to the programmes' well-being. The partnerships
involve government, the public and private sector, and voluntary
organizations. They are monitored carefully by all parties: A
partnership that does not demonstrate progress will fail. It will
need to be replaced with something better.
> If changed procedures are necessary we must implement them. We
must not be frightened of change and hang on to the past because it
is there. Nowadays, we welcome private sector groups into our
partnerships; they can create opportunities for trade and business.
The old fashioned concept of foreign assistance as some form of
'hand out' makes no sense these days.
> Aid donors must all learn to work better together. Our critics
do not excuse us for turf battles, duplication, complicating each
others' efforts. Common approaches would help us reduce
misunderstanding and increase efficiency. This does not mean tying
each other to a central control system. It does mean a shared
purpose, accessible to others, and procedures to permit a variety
of different agencies and interests to work together. We are trying
to get this right in ODA. So should other development assistance
agencies.
> Lastly -- and I make no apology for repeating this -- we must
improve the communication of our results. We should tell everyone
about what we achieve, so that others can judge us and see just how
effective our programmes are. We must excite and involve many more
people in the vital and rewarding business of development.
The same challenges apply to the role of the United Nations in
development. If we are to strengthen the case for investing in UN
development agencies -- particularly when finance is scarce -- then
we must convince our parliamentarians and public that the UN is
credible and effective. This means continuing the process of reform
which is now well under way and bearing fruit. It also means that
you must sell the effectiveness of your development skills to the
wider public and especially to those who can allocate resources, or
may seek to deny them.
Progress in these areas is being made. The new Executive
Boards in UNDP and UNICEF are a great improvement on the previous
governance arrangements. Most UN agencies have, to varying degrees,
recognized that if they are to attract resources they must become
more effective, efficient, and relevant. I recognize that painful
decisions are being taken throughout the system. Downsizing is
taking place and must continue to do so. Mandates are being
reviewed. Systems and procedures are being overhauled.
This is all to the good. Further efficiencies may mean the
reduction of some functions or even the rationalization of some
agencies. We are taking exactly the same approach in our own
government reforms. Change is always difficult. It is sometimes
painful and causes alarm. But if a more effective and leaner UN
system enhances its own credibility and demonstrates to its
membership that it is worth having and investing in, the results
should be the attraction of more funding. That surely is in the
interests of all of us, donors and recipients alike.
All of us -- whether we are UN agencies, NGOs, multilateral
institutions, or bilateral donors -- have a crucial job to do. Even
though development itself is changing, that role and the changes we
can bring about will be as important in the next millennium as they
have been in the one we are about to leave. We have a convincing
and highly marketable story to tell. But we must do much more in
terms of its advocacy and public sensitizing if our work is to win
and keep the support it deserves.
Building new alliances, working closely with existing and new
partners, revitalizing ourselves and the United Nations system are
just some of the means at our disposal. There is now an important
opportunity to take these goals forward. Since the Halifax Summit,
governments at the highest levels have been taking a close and
positive interest in the role of the United Nations.
We should grasp this interest and build on it -- not to save
our own skins as development practitioners, but to spread the kind
of global citizenship which I have talked about. The unproductive
debates of the 1960s and 1970s are over. Instead, we must develop
a more constructive partnership for bringing about change and
improving the lives of all those who still do not share the
benefits of increasing wealth and prosperity. That is the goal we
must, above all else, strive to meet.
-Source: "Population and Development: National Responsibilities and
Global Citizenship," Rafael M. Salas Memorial Lecture, delivered by
Baroness Chalker on 26 March 1996. Further information from:
Information & External Relations Division, UNFPA, 220 East 42nd
Street, New York, NY 10017, USA. Fax: (212) 557-6416.
==========
Poster Contest: Hard decisions
New York - The judges of UNFPA's 1996 International Poster Contest
had to pick winners from among 272 entries from 66 countries, the
largest number of participants since 1992. The theme of this year's
contest, the fifth such competition held to promote awareness of
population and development issues, was "Where We Live Now." It was
chosen to coincide with Habitat II, the Second United Nations
Conference on Human Settlements, scheduled for June in Istanbul,
Turkey. The contest consisted of five age groups and was open to
participants aged 6 years and older. To qualify for international
competition, artists first had to win first, second, or third prize
in their age group in national contests.
The winners of the international competition are to be
officially announced and honoured this month at Habitat II. They
are: Borte Gorbuz of Turkey, Utan Phaoboonkerd of Thailand, and
Molly Gambhir of India in the 6-8-year-old category; Sukhbatyn
Munkhbaatar of Mongolia, Dianna Mastracci of Zimbabwe, and Ana
Itzel Del Valle Morales of Mexico among 9-12-year-olds; Kemas
Yulian Maulana of Indonesia, Kana Takahashi of Japan, and
Baasansurengiin Bolormaa of Mongolia among 13-15-year-olds; Modibo
Doumbia of Mali, Ouassila Bezzia of Algeria, and Harinrat Malithip
of Thailand among 16-18-year-olds; and Ivan Cabalceta Roman of
Costa Rica, Yogi Setiawan of Indonesia, and Denis Fuentes of the
Philippines among those older than 18.
-Source/further information from: Fumika Ouchi, Information &
External Relations Division, UNFPA 220 East 42nd Street, New York,
NY 10017, USA. Fax: (212) 557-6416. E-mail: <ouchi@unfpa.org>.
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DISPATCHES -- NEWS FROM UNFPA, THE UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND
NUMBER 6, MARCH 1996
ENDS.