  |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 Page 16 of
17 |
Programme Priorities |
| Partnerships with NGOs and civil society | |
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
|
A key element in strengthening programme implementation and delivery is making effective use of NGOs and other groups in civil society. Recognizing that NGOs have extensive out-reach, associations and networks, particularly at the grass-roots level, the Fund continued to expand and enhance its partnerships with NGOs in 1997. For example, in January, UNFPA and the Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) organized the African Youth Forum at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Attended by approximately 500 participants, including about 200 young people under the age of 25, the Forum drew up a comprehensive set of recommendations that are also relevant to other regions of the world and have wide applicability for programme design and implementation. In June, UNFPA and the Government of Denmark, with the cooperation of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, organized a landmark meeting on youth and reproductive health in countries in transition, bringing together representatives of NGOs and relevant government departments from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic States. One indication of the Fund's wide-ranging collaboration with NGOs is the fact that NGOs are implementing UNFPA-supported HIV/AIDS-prevention programmes in some 80 countries. The depth of such collaboration is also increasing, as is reflected in UNFPA country programmes as well as in the many examples cited elsewhere in this report. In Mongolia, as a means of increasing outreach, the Government now promotes cooperation with NGOs, particularly in reproductive health advocacy and IEC activities. A novel feature of the second cycle of UNFPA assistance to the country is the use of international NGOs to execute reproductive health projects. In the Russian Federation, UNFPA is supporting a programme to strengthen the capacity of a Russian NGO, the Women's Innovative Fund East-West (ZHIF), to promote women's human, political, economic and reproductive rights, as well as to develop a network to promote these rights. Similarly, in Egypt, strengthening NGO capabilities is an important component of the Fund's programme of assistance. In Turkey, UNFPA is supporting an NGO-led advocacy campaign on reproductive health targeting parliamentarians. Under the new partnerships created between the Government and NGOs, a network of five NGOs has begun providing community- based reproductive health services to complement services provided by government clinics. In Jordan, under the Fund's fourth cycle of assistance, national NGOs were successfully mobilized to raise awareness and inform and educate the public about population issues and their impact on the quality of life. The focus was on reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health, and gender issues. These activities targeted women, men and youth. The intensive IEC efforts of the NGOs have had a significant impact on carving out a key role and niche for these NGOs in supporting the national reproductive health programme. In Malawi, UNFPA intensified its efforts in 1997 to involve NGOs, the media and members of civil society in the implementation of population activities both in the context of the country programme and during such events as the celebrations of World Population Day, World AIDS Day, and the release of UNFPA's State of World Population report. The National Association of Business Women and Banja La Mtsogolo, two key local NGOs, are implementing projects under the Fund's new programme of assistance. In Guatemala, under the UNFPA-supported project on population education, NGOs and civil society groups have been actively involved in the policy process to design and approve curricula for elementary and high schools. Also, reproductive health services are being provided by women's NGOs, under a UNFPA-supported project.
|
| Foreword | Introduction | UNFPA in 1997 | Programme Priorities | |