| Africa
Reproductive health
Population and development strategies
Advocacy
...............................................
Arab States
Central and Eastern Europe
Asia and the Pacific
Latin America and the Caribbean
Interregional Programmes
|
Advocacy
UNFPA provided assistance to NGOs, parliamentarians, and women’s groups in the region
to undertake a variety of advocacy activities, in 1997, aiming at, inter alia, eradicating
harmful practices, including female genital mutilation (FGM); promoting reproductive
health and reproductive rights; removing discriminatory laws and practices against women;
and promoting adolescent reproductive health. For example, UNFPA has provided support to
Chad and Mauritania to develop family codes that take into account the revision of
existing laws that discriminate against women, and to Niger, to seek the support and
lessen the opposition of religious and traditional leaders to reproductive health
programmes. The Fund also organized a symposium on the elimination of juridical barriers
to sexual and reproductive health in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa. In Malawi, an
advocacy video, focusing on the plight of adolescent mothers, won a prestigious award for
the best television programme in Africa addressing a gender-related problem for the year
1996- 1997. Entitled "The Voices of Young Mothers", the video was produced by
UNFPA.
As part of its advocacy efforts, UNFPA funded the inaugural general conference of the
Forum of Africa and Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development (FPAAPD) which
brought together parliamentarians and population specialists from the two regions. The
conference took place in Cape Town, South Africa, in May 1997. Several countries have
begun to implement the recommendations that emerged from the forum, including the setting
up of parliamentarian groups on population and development. In Gabon and Uganda, to
increase awareness and mobilize political and financial commitment, UNFPA initiated and
supported a series of seminars for parliamentarians on such topics as reproductive health,
including the needs of adolescents; gender equity and equality; and poverty issues. The
inauguration of the Ugandan Parliamentarians Forum on Food Security, Population and
Development and of the Advocacy Coalition Team (ACT) is helping to increase awareness and
stimulate community involvement and participation in population programmes.
|
