Round-table on Partnership with Civil Society
in Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action

[Background Document] [Agenda] [Press Releases] [Related Documents]

Press Releases:

DAY 4 (closing)

• Dhaka Round Table Ends with Call on Civil Society to Engage ICPD Adversaries, Make Language Accessible

• Partnerships Can Provide Better Reproductive Health Care Round-table Speakers Report

DAY 3

• Religions Potential Allies for Social Change,
  Round Table on Partnership with Civil Society Told

DAY 2

• Round Table Considers Ways Civil Society Can Help Promote
  Reproductive Health and women's Rights

DAY 1

• Third ICPD+5 Round Table, on Partnership with Civil Society, starts in Bangladesh. UNFPA Executive Director Stresses Need to Broaden Participation and Overcome Mistrust among Partners

• Policy-Making too Important to leave to Governments alone, Dhaka Round Table Told.

DAY   0 (preview)

• Dhaka Round Table to Discuss Civil Society Involvement in Carrying out the ICPD Programme of Action

Convened by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and hosted by Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the 27-30 July round-table meeting was part of "ICPD+5", a series of international activities reviewing progress since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. The focus of this meeting was collaboration to promote the Cairo goals, involving a broad range of partners from "civil society" -- non-governmental organizations (NGOs); community institutions; religious leaders; private, business and professional associations; trade unions; and activist groups, among others.

Mirai Chatterjee, general secretary of India’s Self-Employed Women’s Association, offered lessons based on her group’s work mobilizing rural women. She said that women should be accepted as equal partners, rather than be seen as liabilities or merely recipients of charity, and that their significant contributions as workers must be recognized. Women’s right to control their work and health should also be acknowledged. She also said that health and family planning programmes need to be decentralized, and designed and run by local people.

The founder and Executive Director of Youth Development Foundation (YDF) of Ghana, Nelson G. Agyemang, talked about his organization’s grass-roots work on adolescent reproductive health and development in six of the country’s districts and in Cameroon. "Advocacy is both a tool and a goal of social mobilization," he said. The best advocates are those who have experience on a particular issue; are convinced; and take the initiative to do things. To improve their chances of success, advocates should research their audiences, know how to frame the issues, use information from credible, trusted sources, and present their case in a simple, clear and concise manner.

Moushira Al-Shafie, First Under-Secretary of Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population, described how the Government, international agencies and civil society groups had increased their collaboration in advocating for reproductive health, including an expansion of family planning services. One result was their successful advocacy against female genital mutilation, which ultimately led to the practice’s prohibition in Egypt. "Without the help of NGOs and other actors in civil society we would never have made this kind of progress, " she said.