BACKGROUND
More than a decade after the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo and eight years in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); many public, civil societies and private development organizations have already accumulated a wealth of experience in managing the implementation of reproductive health (RH) interventions to achieve results and create impact in target communities. Scaling up or replicating what really works at the community level will accelerate the attainment of the MDGs by the year 2015.
Reproductive health management (RHM) deals with maximizing the potentials of individuals, groups, and institutions working in the reproductive health sector in designing, implementing and sustaining specific initiatives aimed at addressing relevant community aspirations and needs while contributing to the attainment of the MDGs. It has six functional areas: (1) Governance, policy, ethics and standards; (2) Organization and human resource development and management; (3) Knowledge management; (4) Service delivery and operations management; (5) Resource mobilization, partnership and alliance building; and (6) Social entrepreneurship and enterprise development, institutionalization, and sustainability. In addition RHM deals with 10 elements or concerns of reproductive health as defined by the ICPD.
Comprehending the need to properly manage reproductive health initiatives, the Asia Pacific RH and Development Center (APRHDC) of the Philippines NGO Support Program, Inc. (PHANSuP) organized the first ICRHM on 2006, in Manila supported by European Commission, David and Lucille Packard Foundation, United Nations Population Fund and the Australian Agency for International Development. The conference theme was "Creating the Impact in Communities: are we ready for the future?" The conference was attended by 625 participants from 11 countries of many international donors and communities. The conference was very successful in sharing lesson learned of reproductive health management across the communities, organization, and countries.
In the second ICRHM, participants will share their current expertise and experiences in managing the reproductive health program to achieve the better results and impact. The conference will give special emphasis on discussing the management of family planning program and also highlighting critical issues of reproductive health programs, such as access, quality, leadership, community participation, and youth empowerment.
Family planning is critical to economic development and poverty reduction. It has demonstrated its effect on reducing the maternal deaths and suffering, reversing HIV/AID epidemic, improving gender equality and promoting the youth empowerment. A better access to safe and affordable contraceptive methods will accelerate the achievement of MDGs. Therefore contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) now has become an indicator of MDGs.
However, post ICPD 1994, International as well as national commitment towards family planning programs has been dwindling. There is a large funding gap between what is needed and currently being mobilized for the family planning. In fact, donor assistance for family planning as percentage of all population assistance has decreased considerably since in Cairo, from 55 per cent in 1995 to around 16 per cent in 2007. Decentralization in many developing countries is also causing the family planning programs less priority by the local government.
OBJECTIVE
ICRHM aims to provide an opportunity for participants to develop a common agenda and build a consensus on ways to best pursue it, to share learning across individuals and organizations, to build skills, and to renew commitments to continue their work. Towards this end, ICRHM2008 will:
- highlight current and emergent practices in managing reproductive health in relation to other development concerns;
- identify gaps, gains, lessons, insights, challenges and opportunities in pursuing multiple priorities in the area of reproductive health and development; and
- reach a consensus on future actions to advance reproductive health management in accelerating the achievement of MDGs
THEME
| ICRHM2008 focuses on how best to manage specific reproductive health initiatives with special emphasis on family planning in the light of equally pressing concerns that affect the living conditions of people particularly in developing countries. Thus the conference will adopt the theme "Convergence: working together for results and impact". |
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