10-15 May, 2007
Consultative Meeting of Experts on Capacity Development in Taicang, China

Taicang, China — “The Consultative Meeting of Experts on Capacity Development” was held during 10-15 May, 2007 at CTC, Taicang, China. Partners in Population and Development (PPD), with supports from UNFPA and China Training Center (CTC) organized this technical meeting, which was attended by 34 participants, from fifteen different countries who represented twenty different organizations.

The major objectives of the Consultative Meeting were:

1. To assess training and research needs in population, gender and reproductive health in Africa, Asia and the Arab region;

2. To map out the various training programs that are currently being implemented by Partner Institutions to help build analytical capacities of developing countries in the same areas;

3. To assess the training gaps in population, gender and reproductive health areas and to suggest modalities to address those gaps;

4. To identify research needs and propose a strategy to address them; and5. To assess capabilities of Partner Institutions in facilitating cooperation among developing countries themselves through South-South Cooperation.

As part of an integrated process of capacity development and needs assessment among its member countries, PPD commissioned five background papers: a Technical Report on Institutional capacity need assessment and four regional overview study done by four consultants. The regional papers focused on priority issues and strategies needed to meet the ICPD PoA and MDG goals for:

1. Anglophone Africa
2. Francophone Africa
3. South-East Asia, and
4. Arab countries.

The Technical paper focused on synthesizing the findings of an Inquiry Exercise, initiated by PPD and sponsored by UNFPA, which intended to assess the capabilities of Partner Institutions (PIs) of PPD member countries.

The Consultative Meeting was inaugurated by a welcome speech by Mr. Jianhua Cai, President of CTC, while Mr. Harry S. Jooseery, Executive Director of PPD and Mr. Rabbi Royan, Representative of UNFPA, delivered their addresses. Mr. Hu Hongtao, PPC, China of PPD and Deputy Director, NPFPC, on behalf of H.E. Dr. Zhao Baige, the honorable Vice-Minister of National population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC), China, addressed the participants with his opening speech.

Mr. Jianhua Cai, President of CTC, Mr. Harry S. Jooseery, Executive Director of PPD and Mr. Rabbi Royan, Representative of UNFPA, delivering speech in the opening session.

The Consultative Meeting was developed to set the stage for discussion on specific population and reproductive health concerns within the context of a broader policy framework, followed by technical sessions to assess the training and research needs of PPD member states. The Meeting also focused on mapping out the capabilities and existing potentials of 17 Partners Institutions (PIs) with a view to identify gaps in training and research in the context of attaining the ICPD and MDGs.

The meeting continued with six different working group exercises to work out feasible solutions to address training and research gaps in:

1) Population and poverty
2) Gender
3) Reproductive health
4) Research strategies
5) Training strategies, and
6) South-South cooperation.

The main objectives of plenary sessions were to discuss the recommendations and outputs of the working group sessions, and to elaborate the intuitional implications of the recommendations, followed by identifying a Way Forward to achieve the recommendations.

The closing session of the meeting affirmed a collective commitment at policy level from all stakeholders and participants. The closing session was addressed by Dr. Hao Linna, Director General of NPFPC, China and she conveyed the greetings of Vice Minister, H.E. Dr. Z. Baige to all participants. Moreover, Mr. Harry Jooseery, Executive Director of PPD and Mr. Jianhua Cai, President, CTC also delivered their closing speeches while, Mr. Jooseery characterized the motto of PPD, in short, as “Business with a difference.”

Participants of the Workshop

The Consultative Meeting turned into a success due to the deliberations during the four-days having identified the training and research gaps and by assessing the existing potentials of the Partner Institutions of PPD member countries. Besides, the Meeting was very fruitful in terms of determining what important role South-South cooperation can play in bridging those gaps through the mechanism of capacity development.

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