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 Page 8 of 17 |
Programme Priorities |
| Advocacy | |
Reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health Adolescent reproductive health Reducing maternal mortality Emergency assistance in refugee situations HIV/AIDS Population and development strategies Advocacy Women's empowerment and gender issues Strengthening programme effectiveness Decentralization National capacity-building Monitoring and evaluation Training Contraceptive requirements and logistics management needs Partnership with NGOs and civil society ICPD+5
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Advocacy is essential in galvanizing broad-based political commitment and mobilizing financial support for population and reproductive health activities. It is also indispensable in placing population concerns on development agendas. Since the ICPD, the focus of the Fund's work in advocacy has been on the global priorities that are central to the ICPD Programme of Action. These include, among others, influencing the formation of attitudes and behaviours and establishing policies and programmes that promote choice, access to reproductive health services, gender equity, and environmental stewardship and related patterns of consumption. Advocacy is key to mobilizing national, regional and international resources for promoting and achieving the goals of the ICPD Programme of Action. At the country level, in addition to funding advocacy activities in the context of national programme priorities, UNFPA has supported advocacy activities to enhance visibility and improve public perceptions of ICPD priorities. Advocacy efforts related to reproductive health and rights have aimed at promoting greater male involvement in reproductive health programmes and greater attention to the reproductive health needs of adolescents. They have also sought to influence changes in existing laws and regulations that perpetuate inequalities and inequities, especially those that are gender-based. Advocacy related to population and development strategies has supported, or sought to influence, government efforts to review and revise national policies to bring them in line with the ICPD Programme of Action. It has also solicited the support of policy makers and donors to provide the necessary resources to establish data banks and databases and to improve management information systems. Advocacy related to gender has focused on increasing girls' access to quality basic education and keeping them in school; eliminating discrimination, coercion and harmful practices against women and children; and promoting sociocultural research that gives insights into how best to influence changes in customs and traditions that perpetuate gender inequality in relation to reproductive and sexual health and rights. All UNFPA-supported advocacy programmes emphasize the need to develop partnerships with the media to design appropriate advocacy campaigns, approaches and materials in a variety of forms (public speeches, exhibits, symposia, contests, awards, lobbying, recruiting and working with goodwill ambassadors, study tours, meetings, training, public debates and so on) and to build capacity in this area. The media are important gatekeepers to policy makers and the public alike and thus must be educated, reached and persuaded to be a partner in population advocacy. Country-level implementation. Although advocacy activities account for a relatively small proportion of UNFPA programme resources, they often hold the key to whether a programme succeeds or not. Advocacy activities are usually highly focused and have specific objectives and target audiences. In Viet Nam, for example, the Government organized two two-day national advocacy seminars: one on "Women Empowerment in the Population and Development Programme", the other on "Adolescent Reproductive Health following the Cairo Conference". The purpose of the first was to publicize the empowerment of women and to encourage men to participate in reproductive health programmes; the purpose of the second was to create awareness of the reproductive health situation and needs of adolescents in light of the ICPD and the Beijing conference. The seminars targeted three groups: government and party leaders, to motivate them to formulate plans of action to address these issues; the media, to gain their support as informed advocates for these issues; and the public, to respond favourably to efforts in these areas. Mobilizing such political support and commitment to population issues is an element common to advocacy strategies in many countries. In Jordan, for example, such advocacy was instrumental in the development of the National Population Strategy and in subsequent efforts to update the strategy and expand its scope to accommodate ICPD themes. In Nepal, the IEC Unit of the National Planning Commission played a strong advocacy role in gaining parliamentarians' commitment to ICPD goals. And the countries in the Pacific subregion under-took a series of proactive advocacy activities designed to forge support at the highest levels of government for gender equity and equality and the advancement of women. Most countries take advantage of special events to create awareness of population issues. Cuba, for example, used the celebration of World Population Day to hold numerous work-shops, seminars, roundtables and other special gatherings to bring together experts, both public and non-governmental, to reflect on current population and related issues. Activities began some three weeks before the event with a Scientific Workshop on Population, Reproductive Health and the Environment, sponsored by Havana University's Centre for Demographic Studies. The main ceremony, on 11 July, took place at the Instituto Superior Pedagógico Enrique José Varona, a university-level teachers college in Havana, which was followed by a Workshop on Education and Population hosted by the Institute. The events received wide coverage in the press and on television and radio. Radio and television are powerful mediums for advocacy. In Albania, for example, a highly successful weekly 30-minute show on Radio Tirana has been providing young Albanians with accurate information on a range of reproductive health issues. The format of the show intersperses guest speakers, listener call-ins and roundtable discussions with news updates, music and entertainment in a way that is attractive to young people. In Papua New Guinea, a twice-weekly radio programme on gender, adolescent sexuality and related development issues, hosted by the YMCA, has been enthusiastically listened to by young people. The programme focuses on community involvement and includes panel discussions and phoneins. Gabon has had similar success with a very popular weekly 90-minute radio programme covering such topics as prenatal care, safe delivery/safe motherhood, breast feeding and infertility. Each week, a "news" section presents recent information on the work of United Nations organizations and important NGOs active in the field of reproductive health. In Malawi, a very successful video entitled "The Voices of Young Mothers" won a prestigious award for best television programme in Africa addressing a gender-related problem. The video depicts the plight of adolescent mothers in Malawi and the uncertain future they face. Some activities target the media itself. In South Africa, for example, the National Population Unit organized two seminars to brief members of the media on the rationale and approaches of the country's proposed population policy. The seminars emphasized that reporting on population issues should focus on the human dimension of such issues and not on statistics. Other advocacy activities target programme staff, such as a two-week advocacy workshop in Namibia. The aim of the workshop was to equip participants to carry out population advocacy in their work. Each participant developed an advocacy plan as well as a strategy to implement it. Four of the participants also attended a complementary subregional course on audience research, message design and materials development for population IEC. Most advocacy activities at the country level, of course, directly support various components of country programmes, often in the form of information and education activities. In India, for example, the Government is reorienting the national population programme in light of the ICPD, placing more emphasis on gender equity and equality and on adolescent sexuality. Two meetings, the first of their kinds, were held with all field-level population education coordinators to sensitize them to this shift and to promote intersectoral coordination and collaboration. These and other meetings guided the formulation of the new generation of population education programmes aimed at school children, adolescents, university students and out-of-school adults. In Ethiopia, UNFPA provided technical and financial assistance to develop a National IEC and Advocacy Strategy. The strategy seeks to link IEC to reproductive health services; reach target audiences directly; use the findings of sociocultural research to influence behavioural change; and ensure quality control and cost-effectiveness of activities. This is being complemented by an assessment of related training curricula, training materials, service guidelines and protocols. Global support. In order to provide practical guidance for country programme activities, UNFPA convened the first Expert Consultation on Operationalizing Advocacy in Support of Population and Development Programmes at the Country Level: Lessons Learned. The consultation was held 3-5 November at UNFPA headquarters and was attended by representatives from national and international NGOs and bilateral and United Nations agencies, as well as experts, trainers and CST advisers. Among the operational conclusions reached were that UNFPA had to build a culture of advocacy at the Fund; that its country programmes had to help build the capacity of new partners as advocates for the ICPD Programme of Action, in particular for reproductive health and rights and gender equity and empowerment; and that to do so, adequate and regular resources had to be allocated to advocacy activities. One of the highlights of the year was the publication of the State of World Population report on the theme of reproductive rights and reproductive health. The report was very well received and formed the basis of a special presentation to the Executive Board at its June session. The report was the focus for special activities at the country level in support of reproductive health and rights. World Population Day activities in over 100 countries were supported by a brochure, poster and video news release. The message from the Executive Director focused on adolescent reproductive health, and a special publication co-produced with IPPF was introduced at a joint press conference by the Executive Director and the Director-General of IPPF. A special advocacy campaign was launched in Europe, with the aim of building and mobilizing a constituency in support of the right to reproductive health for all, including the many women in developing countries who cannot yet exercise their rights. Two well-known personalities, the actress Linda Gray and the model Waris Dirie, agreed to serve as special ambassadors for the campaign. The campaign will also seek to sensitize the public to the need to eradicate harmful practices such as female genital mutilation, a practice Ms. Dirie passionately and eloquently speaks out against in her capacity as UNFPA Special Ambassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation. Keiko Kishi, Japanese goodwill ambassador, made two public appearances in Japan during the year and visited the Philippines to produce a video and a television programme with World Television, London. In addition, UNFPA produced a full programme of publications, posters, exhibits, and electronic materials in support of advocacy activities at all levels. A feature attracting growing attention is UNFPA's site on the World Wide Web, which was expanded and completely redesigned in 1997.
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| Foreword | Introduction | UNFPA in 1997 | Programme Priorities | |