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Programme Priorities |
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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 Since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), much
greater emphasis has been placed on the need to measure progress in achieving population
and health goals. The selection of indicators to serve as markers of performance in
population programmes, at both the national and global levels, has thus assumed a new
prominence. UNFPA developed such a set of indicators during a twelve-month period that culminated in a thematic workshop in February 1997. The process involved extensive consultations with members of the Fund's Country Support Teams (CSTs) and with representatives from the United Nations, including WHO, UNICEF and the Population Division; bilateral agencies; academic institutions and experts; and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The Fund produced a report on the results of those consultations, which was circulated widely to all country offices and concerned organizations. It is hoped that this set of indicators will contribute to the notable initiatives that have taken place to harmonize the demands for indicators among United Nations agencies and to develop standardized sets of indicators, including those of the Task Force on Basic Social Services for All (BSSA) and the Minimum National Social Data Set endorsed by the Statistical Commission of the United Nations. The main purpose is to present a manageable and practical set of qualitative and qualitative indicators that can be used to measure the progress, performance and impact of population programmes, including in the three core programme areas of UNFPA -- reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health; population and development strategies; and advocacy. Although separate lists are provided for each of these thematic areas, the aim is to present a single comprehensive list applicable to a country's entire population programme. The list of indicators is a work-in-progress. But its importance to the work of UNFPA cannot be overstated. It represents a significant first step in the establishment of an indicator frame-work that UNFPA can begin to promote in the field to help it gauge post-ICPD progress in its core programme areas. The list is also useful in developing subprogrammes in the Fund's three main programme areas and monitoring their effectiveness. Some indicators may be difficult to compile for a variety of reasons, most notably the need for bold efforts in almost every country to develop a truly national integrated data system. In some measure, however, it is hoped that the set of indicators will help increase awareness of existing shortcomings in these areas and promote dialogue between those gathering information and those using it.
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| Foreword | Introduction | UNFPA in 1997 | Programme Priorities | |