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ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
Background
At the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, representatives of 179 governments gathered in Cairo and adopted the ICPD Programme of Action, which recognized reproductive health and the empowerment of women and gender equality as pillars of sustainable development. Twenty-five years later, in November 2019, the Nairobi Summit, also known as ICPD+25, was held in Nairobi, Kenya, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Cairo conference at the same time the international community was working towards meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It was a platform for the governments and other organizations to voluntarily announce unequivocal strategic and programmatic commitments – including the financial ones – to accelerate the progress towards achieving the unfinished ICPD Agenda. The Summit was also a success in unanimously adopting Three Transformative Goals demonstrating unshakable resolve for addressing maternal deaths, unmet family planning services, and gender-based violence. The 173 governments represented in the Nairobi Summit, including 27 PPD member states, made national commitments in the following five areas: universal access to sexual and reproductive health; financial resources to finish the ICPD Program of Action; demographic diversity to drive economic growth and achieve sustainable development; gender-based violence and the harmful practices of child, early and forced marriages including female genital mutilation; and right to sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian and fragile settings.
The Nairobi Summit Outcomes provided a global framework for the formulation of policies by the governments and development partners. It urged all stakeholders who have made concrete commitments to ensure the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the ICPD Program of Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and strongly encouraged to report periodically on the progress towards fulfilling these commitments through transparent means and/or in appropriate public fora. However, following the Nairobi Summit, the world faced severe challenges from the global COVID-19 pandemic and countries are still struggling to recover from its unanticipated negative social and economic impacts. The challenges have caused uncertainty towards achieving health related SDGs and Nairobi commitments by 2030.
ICPD30
As the world approaches the observance of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (PoA), also known as ICPD30, the United Nations is expected to lead the global observance of this anniversary at the 57th Session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) meeting at the UN Headquarters in April 2024. Leading up to ICPD30, there will be a series of national and regional consultations that are expected to galvanize a strengthened support to further the achievement of the ICPD PoA, despite emerging challenges that threaten to derail progress and sideline the centrality of sexual and reproductive health in development.
High-Level International Consultative Conference Leading up to ICPD30
This proposed consultative meeting on ICPD30 will enable high-level officials, subject experts, representatives from development partners and youth leaders to discuss and agree on the priority actions to be taken to finish the unfinished agenda of the ICPD PoA, and to assess the status of the 2019 Nairobi Commitments. Conducted as the 20th International Inter-Ministerial Conference on South-South Cooperation on Population and Development, this meeting will take on an SSC lens by looking at how SSC can accelerate the achievement of ICPD PoA. The duration of the conference will be two days (2 days). An outcome document will feed into the global consultations aiming to reaffirm the ICPD PoA objectives. On the margin of the conference will be the PPD’s board meeting.
Objectives:
To provide a high-level global forum for multidimensional dialogue, advocacy, peer review and shared commitment to:
- Celebrate the 30 years of progress in achieving ICPD PoA, while setting the stage to recommit and focus on the future;
- Depolarize the ICPD agenda on some key issues and aim to bring everyone together to reinvigorate our common drive for the goals;
- Shape the future agenda for ICPD; and,
- Strengthen South-South and triangular cooperation as an accelerator in the achievement of ICPD goals.
Host Government and Organizers
The Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe will host this significant international event. This is a reflection of the Government of Zimbabwe’s strong commitment to ICPD. The organizers of this event are the Partners in Population and Development (PPD), a ministerial-level inter-governmental body composed of 27 member-countries that represent more than 60% of the world’s population. This event is co-organized by UNFPA, the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health.
PARTICIPANTS
Participation will come from PPD’s twenty-seven (27) member-countries. Partners in Population and Development (PPD) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in consultation with the host government, will invite other countries that have strong commitments on SSC for ICPD PoA. Also, organizations such as the African Union, African Union Development Agency (AUDA_NEPAD), ICPD@25 HLC, SADC, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and UN Office for South South Cooperation etc will be invited.