"We started work on a population policy in 1993," recalls Edgar Robleto, Director of the Planning Division in the Ministry for Social Action, "but the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development provided the impetus."

At first Robleto and his colleagues at the Ministry tried a consensus approach. "This strategy collapsed completely. Civil society was simply too polarized to be able to reach a consensus on anything remotely resembling a population policy," notes Robleto. "The Church took a very negative view of the entire process."

The Ministry then decided to thrash out the issues within the government first, and later to present a package to the public. With UNFPA assistance, Robleto formed a parliamentary committee to delineate a population policy that the government could enact. UNFPA’s Country Support Team for Latin America, based in Santiago, Chile, provided technical support and advice.

All departments of government were brought into the process, the Foreign Ministry, the Office of Statistics and the Ministry of Natural Resources along with health and education. For some, it was the first time they had been involved in population. The first full proposal was approved by the President in 1994 and then presented to the public for comment.

"More than 3,000 people from all walks of life participated in the review," says Robleto. "Nothing like it had ever been attempted before." Many of the respondents were young adults, aged 18-22 years, a group not previously known for participating in civic affairs. The response of the public was incorporated into a second round of proposals.

Eventually, four main policy initiatives were agreed on: 1) the Ministries of Health and Education would cooperate to introduce a national family life and sex education programme into the school system; 2) a number of projects intended to alter adolescent sexual behaviour were launched, including the Matagalpa project supported by UNFPA; 3) the government agreed to reorient public investment so that internal migration and population growth, now concentrated along the Pacific coast, could be redirected to less populated areas; and 4) these proposals would all be incorporated into a new package of legislation that would firmly weave population policies and programmes into the social fabric of the country.

In 1996, the proposed initiatives were supported by a wide public constituency, including a broad coalition of NGOs and community action groups, that strongly recommended incorporating the initiatives into an official government policy. "The ultimate testimony to our success was when two NGOs, on opposite ends of the issue, endorsed the proposed law," observes Robleto. If the legislation is successful, a new Population Commission will be the lead agency to oversee and implement population policies. It will be composed of five ministers of state, five representatives of NGOs, the President and Vice President and members of the Parliament’s Population Committee.

For Edgar Robleto, often referred to as "the godfather of Nicaragua’s national population policy," the victory was emphasized by a quiet shift in responsibility for the policy from the executive branch of government to the Parliament. "This means that no matter what government is in power, we will always have a national population policy and a process for implementing it. Needless to say, we would not have reached this objective without UNFPA’s continued assistance."

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