In 1994, the world came together to create a consensus on what had previously been a deeply divisive issue: the relationship between population growth and other areas of development.

ICPD at 15 Events
8 December 2009 - 10 December 2009 Bogota, Colombia Technical Meeting on "The Impact of Sexual and Reproductive Health Education in Developing Adolescents' Health", organized by UNFPA
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ICPD at 15 Briefing Note

At the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, industrialized and developing countries alike forged an inspiring and farsighted plan — sometimes called the Cairo Consensus — that integrated a wide range of population, development and human rights issues into a blueprint for 20 years of action.

This year (2009) marks the 15th anniversary of the ICPD and reminds us of the five years remaining to fulfill the commitments made at Cairo. UNFPA, the lead agency in implementing the ICPD Programme of Action, is taking this opportunity to celebrate what has been accomplished. It is also using this benchmark to acknowledge gaps and challenges, to consolidate lessons learned over the last 15 years, and to come up with practical recommendations for accelerating progress.

A Plan for People

The Cairo Consensus placed individual human beings at the very heart of the development process. It argued that if needs for family planning and reproductive health care are met, along with other basic health and education services, then population stabilization will occur naturally, not as a matter of coercion or control.  And it made commitments for meeting those needs, so that individuals would have genuine choices about the spacing, timing and number of their children. The plan also acknowledged the central role of women and young people in the development process.

The programme was also firmly grounded in the affirmation of the human rights of all people and the need to empower women, whose rights have so often been denied, and to involve men. Cairo was one of the first international forums to acknowledge the fundamental role of women in development processes and to clarify the concept of reproductive rights.

The programme also emphasized the centrality of reproductive health — which it defined as 'complete physical, mental and social well-being' in all areas related to the reproductive systems and processes. The often-overlooked importance of this was recognized by the addition, in 2005, of universal access to reproductive health as one of the MDG targets.

ICPD: Strategic underpinning for the Millennium Development Goals

The Cairo Consensus is fully aligned with and provided much of the groundwork for the Millennium Development Goals. While the two sets of commitments are mutually reinforcing, the Cairo Consensus set forth a broad and comprehensive vision of development and its requirements that included many elements not covered in the eight MDGs.

For instance, the Programme of Action agreed to at Cairo addressed the complex interrelationships between population, economic growth and sustainable development, as well as population distribution, climate change, urbanization, migration, data collection and analysis.

Advancing the ICPD through partnerships

Although UNFPA has taken the lead in implementing the Cairo Consensus, its scope and depth requires the participation of a broad coalition of actors, from grass-roots non-governmental organizations to governments, research institutions, regional associations, parliamentarians and international agencies. UNFPA has orchestrated many efforts in advancing the Cairo Consensus, but its aim now is to further broaden the ownership of the agenda and strengthen partnerships that can push it forward.

Toward this end, various aspects of the ICPD will be addressed at already-scheduled forums and events throughout 2009. The following is a partial list of events where progress in implementing the Cairo Consensus will be discussed. The list will be updated, and relevant documentation added, as more information becomes available. Throughout the year, stocktaking of progress and challenges will also be taking place, primarily at the regional and national levels.

Key Documents

• Monitoring the contribution of the ICPD to the MDGs
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• Report of the Secretary-General on The Flow of Financial Resources for the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.