Registration for the 10th APA Conference open now
February 8, 2010 at 3:40 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: APA, Asia, Conference, ICPD, MDGs, Pacific
The registration process for attending the 10th Asia Pacific Alliance (APA) Conference is now open. The Conference will take place on 17 and 18 of May 2010, at Millennium Hilton Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand.
While international leaders have committed to end poverty, many countries in the Asia and the Pacific are lagging far behind in work to achieve the MDGs. With only five years left to achieve the MDGs, time is fast running out. Advocacy to ensure decision-makers increase and maintain commitments to sexual and reproductive health remains critical. The 10th APA Conference will focus on action and bring together representatives from NGOs, youth organisations, governments and donor agencies active in Asia and the Pacific.
The form is designed to help organizers prepare a useful conference programme, and ensure there is space at the conference for participants to share skills and experiences in your advocacy work. If you wish to attend, please complete the registration form and return it by email to conference@asiapacificalliance.org. In order to arrange a room at the hotel and/or to apply for a funded place at the conference, you must return this form before 15 March 2010.
Global NGO Forum Demands Concrete Action On Cairo Commitments
September 7, 2009 at 2:01 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Berlin, Global Partners in Action, ICPD, ICPD+15, MDGs
BERLIN, September 4 — Activists for women’s health and rights today demanded “concrete, practical and fully‐funded actions” by governments to fulfill their 15 years of promises about investing in equality, human rights and social and economic development, especially for women and girls.
In a five‐point Berlin Call to Action ending the Global Partners in Action forum here, more than 400 delegates from 131 countries urged the international community to meet the 2015 deadline for achieving the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
“As urgent as the ICPD agenda was in 1994, it is even more so today,” said the declaration, which the non‐governmental organization (NGO) delegates hammered out in a late‐night session after three days of talks. “We demand that all governments fulfill the commitments made to their own people and the international community at Cairo in 1994.”
The ICPD created “a visionary global consensus” among 179 governments that overturned existing demographics‐based approaches to achieving sustainable development, reducing poverty and slowing population growth in favor of policies based on meeting the needs of individuals for human rightsand sexual and reproductive health care. Reaffirmed in many United Nations and international meetings ever since, including the 2000 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Cairo Consensus pledged investments that in too many cases have not been made.
“With five years left,” the Berlin Call to Action said, “we call on local, national and international decision‐makers to join with non‐governmental organizations to establish and implement concrete, practical and fully‐funded actions for ensuring sexual and reproductive health and rights.”
The NGOs pledged cooperation with policymakers and urged immediate national, government and international action to:
- Guarantee that sexual and reproductive rights, as human rights, are fully recognized and fulfilled, through legal reforms and new family policies;
- Invest in comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information, supplies and services as a priority in health systems strengthening, by increasing access for all (especially in emergency settings) to family planning and skilled maternal and newborn health care, and to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services, and by addressing unsafe abortion as a public health and human rights issue
- Ensure the sexual and reproductive rights of adolescents and young people, by removing barriers to their access to information and services and empowering them to make policies and informed decisions aout their own lives;
- Create and implement formal mechanisms for meaningful civil society participation in programs, policy and budget decisions, monitoring and evaluation, by protecting advocates as human rights defenders, involving young people, marginalized groups and NGOs in policy dialogue and guaranteeing them autonomy; and
- Ensure that donor contributions and national budgets and policies meet the needs of all people for sexual and reproductive healh and rights, especially during times of economic stress.
The NGOs also asked decision‐makers to adopt principles of equity and equality, inclusiveness and transparency, accountability and sustainability, and processes free from fundamentalist doctrines that restrict human rights.
“Human beings cannot live in dignity without the full implementation of the ICPD Program of Action,” the statement said. “It is a matter of human rights, democracy and equality for all.”
Theme of the Global Partners in Action: NGO Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Development was “Invest in Health, Rights and the Future.” It was co‐hosted by the Government of Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, with additional support from the MacArthur Foundation.
For additional information and the full text of the Berlin Call to Action, visit the Global NGO Forum website
EU surpasses US as Top Donor in Population Assistance
September 2, 2009 at 11:33 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: DSW, EPF, Euromapping, family planning, Funding, MDGs, reproductive health supplies
DSW and EPF remind European policy-makers of their commitments to Family Planning and Reproductive Health
Brussels, 1 September 2009. The collective efforts of the European Union (EU) have made it the single greatest donor of population assistance worldwide, as a joint study of the German Foundation for World Population (DSW) and the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) shows. According to the Euromapping 2009 report, in 2006 the EU spent nearly US$ 3 billion on population programmes and activities, increasing its aid by US$ 600 million. The US decreased its aid by nearly the same amount. To meet international commitments to provide universal access to reproductive health by 2015, donors must triple their financial support for population activities over the next four years.
At the Euromapping Press Conference, DSW Vice-Executive Director Karen Hoehn, welcomed this increasing trend in EU spending, but called on European governments to live up to their commitments to family planning and reproductive health made at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD): “The financial crisis will impact developing countries most severely; sustaining European support for ODA and population assistance is therefore imperative”. There are already worrying signs of dramatic cuts in official development assistance in 2009, noted Neil Datta, Secretary of EPF: “Given the leading position of the EU in the world, with 63% of the total ODA contributions, a failure to meet its targets will deliver a worrying message to the donor community in the run-up to 2015″.
At the same time, the Euromapping report finds that EU spending towards the health sector on the whole has decreased. “There is a direct link between maternal mortality rates and the lack of well-functioning health systems,” argued Susanne Weber-Mosdorf, Head of the EU office of the WHO, at the Euromapping press conference. “With this reduction, European donors save money at the very wrong end—and miss out on sustainable solutions”.
Despite the positive efforts of other international actors, the EU’s reduction marked a drop in global health spending, jeopardising international efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. With the Committee on Development of the European Parliament discussing the 2010 budget this week, MEP Ms. Sophie in’t Veld called on her colleagues to live up to the commitments made on reproductive health and population issues: “We have to step up our political and financial support for the fifth Millennium Development Goal on maternal health,” said Ms. in’t Veld. “Let’s not abandon those who are dying needlessly in childbirth every day, but show them our continuing support especially in times of crisis”.
More information, graphic material and the Euromapping study report in English, French and German are available online at:
http://www.euroresources.org/euromapping
APA to Make the Case for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Asia and the Pacific at NGO Forum in Berlin
August 24, 2009 at 10:07 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: APA, ARROW, Asia, MDG 5, MDGs, Pacific, satellite meeting, SRHR
NGO speakers will put the case for increased resources for sexual and reproductive health and rights in developing countries of Asia and the Pacific. Despite significant economic growth in many countries of the region, and moves by some donors to phase out, there is a still an urgent need to support sexual and reproductive health and rights in Asia and the Pacific. Much of the work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals – in particular MDG 5 – remains unfinished. The panel will look at innovative ways to engage donors, and present evidence of significant unmet need, high maternal mortality and poor access to reproductive health supplies in several Asia-Pacific countries.
The satellite meeting will be moderated by Dr Gill Greer, Director-General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, with speakers Sumie Ishii (Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning), Sivananthi Thanenthiran (ARROW), Atashendartini Habsjah (Women’s Health Foundation, Indonesia), Jo Spratt (Family Planning International, NZ) and Jane Singleton (Australian Reproductive Health Alliance).
The Satellite Meeting will be held on Tuesday 1 September 2009 from 2.00 to 3.30pm, as part of ‘Global Partners in Action: NGO Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Development’ in Berlin.
The meeting is co-hosted by Asia Pacific Alliance (APA) and The Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW)
For more info contact Rose Koenders at APA.
Advocacy Training on August 6 -7 2009 (Bali, Indonesia)
April 7, 2009 at 12:19 pm | Posted in Project RMA | Leave a commentTags: advocacy, AIDS, APA, Asia, bali, capacity building, Civil Society, DSW, FPI, HIV, ICAAP, IPPF, MDGs, Pacific, Project RMA, reproductive health supplies, RH Supplies, SRHR, supplies, training
SAVE THE DATE!
Advocacy Training on August 6 -7 2009 (Bali,
Indonesia)
“HIV Prevention, Reproductive Health Supplies,
and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
in the Asia and Pacific Regions”
This is to inform you about a two-day advocacy training to strengthen capacity of civil society on reproductive health (RH) supplies advocacy in the Asia and Pacific Regions, ahead of the International Congress on AIDS in the Asia and Pacific Regions 2009 (9th ICAAP, August 9-13 2009, Nusa Dua, Bali).
Jointly convened by the Asia Pacific Alliance (APA), its member organization Family Planning International (FPI) New Zealand and the German Foundation for World Population (DSW), this meeting aims to contribute to a supportive political and financial environment for access to RH supplies in the Asia and Pacific Regions by promoting and fostering NGO leadership and strengthening the advocacy capacity of its participants on the issue. The training will be held prior to ICAAP and aims to address the linkages between HIV prevention and SRHR programs and the major role RH supplies can play in this context.
The main objectives are:
- Increase understanding of the situation, needs and diversity of reproductive health supply challenges in the Asia and Pacific Regions;
- Improve understanding of the linkages between RH supplies and internationally agreed development goals, such as the MDGs, and the role of RH supplies in preventing HIV;
- Strengthen advocacy skills and develop key messages to be used during the 9th ICAAP on meeting the RH targets of the ICPD Programme of Action and the MDGs;
- Provide advocacy tools to strengthen the capacity of NGOs to advocate for increased support for RH supplies;
- Ensure RH supplies solutions are included in the closing summaries of the 9th ICAAP.
APA, FPI and DSW have been raising awareness on the importance of RH supplies through “Project Resource Mobilization and Awareness” (Project RMA). Project RMA is a partnership of the German Foundation for World Population (DSW), Population Action International (PAI) and International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and aims to create an environment conducive to political support and to secure increased financial resources for reproductive health supplies. With the support of Project RMA, APA and FPI strengthen the advocacy efforts for increased access to RH supplies at the regional level in the Asia and Pacific Regions.
Please send an email to Sabine Weber to receive an application questionnaire, and a criteria list including logistical information. (Deadline for Application: April 27th 2009).
DSW Intervenes with G8 Health Experts Group
April 7, 2009 at 8:47 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: AIDS, DSW, G8, GFATM, Global Fund, HIV, Malaria, MDGs, reproductive health supplies
German Foundation for World Population (DSW) joined 14 other civil society leaders invited to provide official recommendations to the G8 at their 2nd 2009 Health Experts Meeting in Venice, Italy on March 27th.
DSW urged the G8 to specify concrete actions and a timeline to implement its commitments in support of the health MDGs, especially MDG5. Ms. Hoehn, DSW’s Vice Executive Director, emphasized the need for G8 and partner country governments to have a fully funded budget line for provision of sexual and reproductive health (SRH ) information, services and supplies in developing countries; for health system strengthening initiatives to build efficient and sustainable supply chains for procurement and distribution of reproductive health (RH) supplies and to assure that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) produces accountable results for integration of RH with HIV/AIDS and malaria programming.
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