| 28-30
July, 2008
Consultative
Meeting on Networking among Partner
Institutions concludes in Dhaka
Dhaka, Bangladesh —
Partners in Population and Development
(PPD) organized the “Consultative
Meeting on Networking among Partner
Institutions” at Hotel Washington,
Dhaka, Bangladesh from 28 July - 30
July 2008, involving Heads of 16 Partner
Institutions (PIs) from Bangladesh,
China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya,
Morocco, Senegal, Thailand and Tunisia.
The
opening ceremony of the three day
long meeting was held at Hotel Washington
and was attended by, Mr. A.K.M. Zafar
Ullah Khan, Secretary, Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare, Government
of Bangladesh, Mr. Pornchai Suchitta,
Deputy Representative, UNFPA, Bangladesh,
Mr. Rabbi Royan, Senior Technical
Advisor, TSD, UNFPA, New York , distinguished
participants from partner countries
and representatives from PIs and the
media. Ms. Quamrun Nahar Khanam, PCC
and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare, Government of
Bangladesh delivered the opening address.
The Secretary , Mr. A.K.M. Zafar Ullah
Khan, Chief Guest of the program,
in his address said, ‘We would
like to reaffirm our commitment of
working together with PPD and its
partners in the future. We sincerely
look forward to strengthen our partnership
and expand our united efforts to achieve
tangible and sustainable development
in the field of reproductive health
services and rights, family planning
and population in developing countries.’
In
the panel from the left Mr. Pornchai
Suchitta, Deputy Representative, UNFPA,
Bangladesh, Mr. Harry Jooseer, Executive
Director, PPD, Mr. A.K.M. Zafar Ullah
Khan, Secretary, Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare, Government of
Bangladesh, Mr. Rabbi Royan, Senior
Technical Advisor, TSD, UNFPA, New
York and Ms. Quamrun Nahar Khanam,
PCC and Joint Secretary, Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare, Government
of Bangladesh
The
objective of the meeting was to learn
from experiences of Partner Institutions,
discuss on ways and means the integration
of Generic Modules, first discussed
at the Taichang meeting, could be
effectively integrated into curriculum
of PIs and also constitute a network
of PIs to enable better coordination
and monitoring of capacity building
programme among PIs. During the three-day
long meet, the status of the four
Generic Modules (GM), that had been
finalized at another Consultative
Meeting held in Dhaka, Bangladesh
on 18-19 June 2007, were discussed.
The status of the implementation and
institutionalization of these GMs
were reviewed. It was concurred that
most PIs have either already reviewed
the GMs or are in the process. With
the view to institutionalize the PPD
GMs in training and capacity development
programs of the PIs, it was concurred
that adaptation of the GM to the local
context, training of trainers, development
and exchange of content material among
PIs, exchange of trainers and collaborative
programs of joint research were key
areas that need attention and affirmative
action. It was also decided that GMs
on Population and Poverty, Historical
and Institutional Perspectives and
Gender Equity need further attention
and development.
With
regards to better networking, the
PIs were in accord of the idea of
committing to building a mechanism
for sharing and disseminating information
and experience. The meeting welcomed
the idea of establishing a web-based
network, through yahoo groups, blogs,
Microsoft Sharepoints and Skype, among
other technologies, to strengthen
PI networking by facilitating the
exchange of ideas, information, research
findings, training materials, curricula
and syllabi, staff profiles and capacities,
institutional resources, course announcements,
schedules, fellowships, etc. The regional
Working Groups also demonstrated their
commitment to synergize and strengthen
links between PPD sub-networks, with
one groups agreeing to design a joint
and collaborative courses and training
programs adapted versions of the GMs.
UNFPA’s
technical and financial support was
gratefully acknowledged by all. It
was observed that the meeting had
been successful and had yielded tangible
results with PIs demonstrating their
commitment to institutionalize the
GMs and strengthen PI network. The
participants also noted that most
recommendations made to reach the
meeting objects did not require international
funding and some could be implemented
immediately. UNFPA indicated that
some resources allotted for the project
could be released quite soon for the
implementation of the proposals and
recommendations presented at the meeting.
The
meeting ended with thanks to PPD,
UNFPA and all PIs for displaying a
unified camaraderie through their
commitment to fulfil the common objectives
of achieving International Conference
on Population and Development (ICPD)
goals and Millennium Development Goals.
[
] |
|
|
