UNFPA Governing Body Meets in New York

The first regular session for 2008 of the UNDP/UNFPA Board which took place at the United Nations in New York from 21 to 25 January was attended on behalf of PPD by Mr Harry Jooseery, Executive Director, Dr Jotham Musinguzi, Director, Africa Regional Office and Mr Jyoti Shankar Singh, Permanent Observer to the United Nations.

In a statement to the Executive Board, Mr Jooseery, outlined the results of the recent PPD Forum and Board meetings in Rabat, Morocco and listed the challenges facing PPD:

1. To meet RH unmet needs taking into account demand on one hand and on the other demand with resources. There is a pressing need not only to improve access to quality RH commodities and services, but also to set up and improve systems for their use and distribution. Neither the ICPD objectives nor the MDGs will be reached without accelerated progress towards RH Commodity Security, when individuals can choose, obtain, and use the RH supplies they want.

2. To advocate for greater support to RH which is still inadequate from decision makers, civil society, community groups and the private sector. Barriers to RH programme are both institutional and structural.

3. To integrate HIV/AIDS with RH programmes and eliminate the unhealthy competition between the two, which unfortunately has impeded upon improvement in quality of life in the developing countries.

4. To build more capacity to enable more effective sharing of experience and expertise. In 2007 PPD with assistance from UNFPA conducted an inquiry among 17 major Partner Training and Research Institutions in developing countries to assess their level of competence and effectiveness in addressing RH within the context of achieving ICPD and MDGs. There is a need to establish a coordinating mechanism among the Partner Institutions and also design specific training programme that would be in congruence with the objectives of ICPD and MDGs

5. To intensify efforts for resource mobilization and the attainment of sustainability. There is need to galvanize resources both internally and externally, and continue to press for more additional Official Development Assistance.

In her opening statement to the Board, Dr Thoraya Obaid mentioned the importance of South-South cooperation in implementing the Strategic Plan of UNFPA (2008-2011); and in her response to the statements made at the Board, indicated her strong support to PPD and the willingness of UNFPA to work closely with PPD.

Dr Obaid informed the Board that UNFPA received a record number of contributions in 2007 totalling more than $400 million. The number of contributing countries in 2007 was the culmination of a steady increase over the last few years, from 69 in 1999, to 172 in 2005, to last year’s new high of 181. The top ten donor countries in 2007 were the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, Japan, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Spain and Canada. In addition, every nation in sub-Saharan Africa pledged funds to UNFPA in 2007.

Co-financing income—funds earmarked to specific projects or programmes—also reached a new high: a total of US$244 million in 2007. This included contributions from donors, including the European Commission and the World Bank, in support of national population and housing censuses, UNFPA's thematic trust funds on reproductive health commodity security, maternal health, and the campaign to end fistula, as well as UNFPA’s humanitarian activities and HIV prevention efforts.

The Board approved the operating budget of UNFPA for 2008-2009.

Consultation with Donors:
PPD Strategic Business Plan Shared with
Donors in USA and Canada

In an attempt to identify the emerging needs and priorities of the member states to appropriately and effectively address the RH, Population and Development issues, PPD conducted a comprehensive Strategic Inquiry in the Member Countries in 2007. Based on the findings of the inquiry and in consultation with prominent experts and stakeholders, PPD developed a Strategic Business Plan for implementation during the period from 2008 to 2011. The Strategic Business Plan was reviewed and approved by PPD Governing Board in its twelfth annual meeting held on 22 November 2007 in Rabat, Morocco.

PPD Executive Director Mr. Harry Jooseery, accompanied by PPD Permanent Observer to the United Nations Mr. Jyoti Singh and PPD Africa Regional Office Director Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, visited USA and Canada to share the newly developed PPD Strategic Business Plan (2008-2011) with donors and enlist their support for its implementation.

The PPD Team visited United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), The David and Lucile Packard Foundation in the USA and Canadian Agency for International Development (CIDA) in Ottawa, Canada. Besides, the team also had a teleconference with officials of MacArthur Foundation based in Chicago, USA and had discussion with representative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The PPD Team presented the salient features of the Strategic Business Plan to the organizations and discussed avenues for mutual collaborations for its implementation. The team also presented and discussed a number of projects and programs developed in line with the Strategic Business Plan and requested supports of the donor agencies. The agencies appreciated the Plan and pledged their fullest support towards its implementation.

In Canada, the team discussed with CIDA on specific project proposal on Female Genital Mutilation.

South Africa hosts the Second Meeting of the Technical Committee on Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa, February 2008.

The Republic of South Africa hosted an African Union (AU) event – the Second Meeting of the Technical Committee on Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa. The meeting was held in Kopanong Conference Centre in Johannesburg on February 18 – 19, 2008. This was a follow-up meeting to the AU Ministers of Health meeting held in Abuja in January 2005 where the AU Ministers of Health adopted a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa which was developed in line with the recommendations of the AU Heads of State and Government during the July 2007 Summit in Accra, Ghana.

The main objective of the meeting was to consider the outline of Phase II of the Plan for the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa and prepare to report to the AU Health Ministers as was requested. Attendees to the meeting were: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. In addition to these countries, a number of organizations were also represented at the meeting and these included ECSA Health Community, Africa Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO), UNIDO, WHO and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). Others included ASPEN Pharmacare, Lexir Pty Limited and the Medical Research Council of South Africa. The Regional Director of Partners in Population and Development, Africa Regional Office (PPD ARO), Dr. Jotham Musinguzi and the Programme Officer, PPD ARO, Mr. Patrick Mugirwa attended the meeting.

During the meeting Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, Regional Director, PPD ARO, took a number of opportunities to make statements about the need for south-south collaboration on population and development issues within Africa. The role of PPD as an effective modality for South-South cooperation was appreciated.

During this meeting, a side meeting was held with South Africa’s Minister for Health, Dr. M. Tshabalala-Msimang. Dr. Musinguzi briefed the Minister on the work of PPD ARO. The Minister and Dr. Musinguzi discussed the need to re-invigorate RH, Population and Development in the SADC Region through a functional advocacy RH Network of member countries.

PPD and ICMH Bangladesh organized the International Fellowship Training Course on Reproductive Health and Safe Motherhood at ICMH Premises in Dhaka, Bangladesh
from 15 – 24 February 2008

Capacity building is viewed as fundamentally instrumental for efficient, result and impact oriented implementation of population and development programs in order to attain ICPD Goals and MDGs towards sustainable development of the developing countries. PPD attaches paramount importance in continued capacity building of professionals of member states engaged in implementation of population and development programs.

Participants of the International Fellowship Training Course

South-South Fellowship has been proved to be one of the most effective and cost-efficient modality for capacity building of the individuals and institutions of the member states. Since its inception in 1998, the South-South Fellowship program of PPD strengthened capacity of over 400 professionals and 30 institutions in the PPD member states. Different member country institutions are offering fellowship in their replicable expertise to the professionals of other member states. In this program the sharing, transfer and exchange of knowledge, experience, expertise and technology is reciprocal. Both the professionals of the host institution and the participants benefit from each other in the process of providing and receiving the training programs.

Partners in Population and Development (PPD) and Institute of Child and Mother Health of Bangladesh conducted a 10-day International Fellowship Training Course on Reproductive Health and Safe Motherhood from 15 – 24 February 2008 at ICMH Compound in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 12 international participants from China, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Tunisia, Thailand, Uganda and Zimbabwe

The sessions were conducted in three modules such as Reproductive Health, Safe Motherhood and Adolescents Sexual and RH by a pool of multinational resource persons constituted with the most senior faculties of ICMH and other national institutes as well as internationally acclaimed public health specialists based in the country.

Module 1 on Reproductive Health covered essential topics such as population growth trends and fertility transition at global, regional and national level and their policy impacts; reproductive health concepts, definition and components; strategies for mainstreaming of gender perspective in RH and FP programs; STD/RTI and HIV/AIDS prevalence trends, policy issues and implication of HIV/AIDS integration into RH program.

Module 2 on Safe Motherhood focused on a wide range of issues such as concept and content of safe motherhood initiatives; global and regional perspectives of safe motherhood with multi-country experience; country experience on safe motherhood program through community-based approaches; skilled birth attendant program in different countries; quality of care in safe motherhood services and access to safe delivery care; emergency obstetric care (EOC) concept, content and level; Management of unsafe abortion and complications; role of rural midwife, community and family for safe motherhood program; available tools for safe motherhood (mother-baby package, home-based maternal record system, risk assessment, maternal death audit etc); reflection on ANC service package; approach in qualitative and quantitative coverage; reflections on PNC and safe delivery services; challenges and opportunities in maternity care services; service delivery at community level;

Module 3 on Adolescents Sexual and RH covered topics such as global perceptions about adolescents Sexual and RH; adolescents’ sexual behaviour in view of STD and HIV/AIDS and reproductive health; sexual health education for adolescents through educational institutes, youth programs, parents, friends and other peer groups.

PPD Annual Planning Retreat workshop

PPD organized an Annual Planning Retreat workshop for the Secretariat from 26-28th February, 2008 at Riggs Inn, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The objective of the workshop was to share experiences and learn from the past activities, identify challenges and priority works and develop a Work Plan for 2008.

PPD Staff at the Annual Planning Retreat 2008

The retreat was attended by all the staffs of PPD Secretariat. Mr. Harry S. Jooseery, Executive Director of PPD opened the workshop. During the workshop PPD Strategic Business Plan, major strategic issues and the way forward for year 2008 was discussed in details. Officials responsible for PPD Programmes, IT and Communication, Finance and Administration made presentation on their units and discussed the accomplishments and limitations for 2007, needs, priorities and challenges for the coming years. Presentations were followed by lively debate among staff members and several important issues came up and decisions made. Staffs could easily communicate with each other and express what they felt. The proceedings were open to the staffs to discuss their views and thoughts on the organization. During the annual planning retreat, participants performed a SWOT analysis to assess the current strengths and weaknesses that exist in the organization. The three day workshop helped staffs to prioritize works, develop strategies and methods for PPD’s future directions. Staffs were able to learn from their past experience and developed the Action Plan for 2008.

Reproductive Health Advocacy Network for the SADC Region starts in earnest

The Chief Director, Population Department of the Ministry of Social Development of the Republic of South Africa hosted the Regional Director of PPD ARO Dr. Jotham Musinguzi in a preparatory meeting for the formation of an RH Advocacy Network for the SADC Region. The meeting took place at Southern Sun Hotel, Johannesburg on February 20, 2008. The meeting was attended by PPD ARO Programme Officer, Mr. Patrick Mugirwa. Other attendees were Ms. Christa Kruger, Ms. Olga Mabitsela, Jeny Djidja and Mr. Mpho Nenweli all from the Directorate of Population, Ministry of Social Development.

During the meeting, the Africa Regional Director took time to brief about PPD in general and PPD ARO in particular, underscoring the vision, mission and strategic objectives of PPD ARO. He informed the meeting about ARO’s support to another RH Advocacy Network in the East African Region based around the East African Community, called EARHN and EARHN’s plans to operationalise its Strategic Plan 2008 – 2012. At this stage, Dr. Musinguzi encouraged and invited South Africa to attend the EARHN meeting to learn more about the work of such networks.

Dr. Jotham Musinguzi (2nd right sharing the PPD ARO Strategic Plan, 2007 – 2011
with the South African Chief Director, Population Department of the Ministry of
Social Development, Mr. Jacques van Zuyden (centre, seated)

The Regional Director informed the meeting about ARO’s plans to support and facilitate two more networks affiliated to SADC and ECOWAS. The briefing was received well by the attendees. The following observations and recommendations were suggested as a way forward:

• That a briefing for the SADC Secretariat be undertaken. South Africa agreed to formally correspond with SADC Secretariat in addition to setting up a meeting.
• That the Regional Director secures an appointment to meet and brief the SA Minister for Health, Dr. M. Tshabalala-Msimang about PPD ARO and its work while she is in Kampala attending the Global Health Alliance meeting, slated for March 3 – 7, 2008.
• It was suggested that a meeting be set up with the Southern African UNFPA Representative to brief her about PPD ARO’s work and future plans in the SADC region.
• PPD ARO was invited to a technical meeting of SADC countries to take place in Pretoria, June 3, 2008. Formal invitations and programme were to be sent by South Africa.
• The Africa Regional Director of PPD ARO requested the South Africa team leader to nominate two people to attend the EARHN annual work plan meeting. PPD ARO agreed to fund and facilitates their participation.