“The
Consultative Meeting of Experts on Capacity
Development” was held during 10-15 May,
2007 at CTC, Taicang, China. Partners in Population
and Development (PPD), with supports from UNFPA
and China Training Center (CTC) organized this
technical meeting, which was attended by 34
participants, from fifteen different countries
who represented twenty different organizations.
The
major objectives of the Consultative Meeting
were:
1.
To assess training and research needs in population,
gender and reproductive health in Africa,
Asia and the Arab region;
2.
To map out the various training programs that
are currently being implemented by Partner
Institutions to help build analytical capacities
of developing countries in the same areas;
3.
To assess the training gaps in population,
gender and reproductive health areas and to
suggest modalities to address those gaps;
4.
To identify research needs and propose a strategy
to address them; and5.
To assess capabilities of Partner Institutions
in facilitating cooperation among developing
countries themselves through South-South Cooperation.
As part of an integrated process of capacity
development and needs assessment among its member
countries, PPD commissioned five background
papers: a Technical Report on Institutional
capacity need assessment and four regional overview
study done by four consultants. The regional
papers focused on priority issues and strategies
needed to meet the ICPD PoA and MDG goals for:
1.
Anglophone Africa
2. Francophone Africa
3. South-East Asia, and
4. Arab countries.
The
Technical paper focused on synthesizing the
findings of an Inquiry Exercise, initiated by
PPD and sponsored by UNFPA, which intended to
assess the capabilities of Partner Institutions
(PIs) of PPD member countries.
The
Consultative Meeting was inaugurated by a welcome
speech by Mr. Jianhua Cai, President of CTC,
while Mr. Harry S. Jooseery, Executive Director
of PPD and Mr. Rabbi Royan, Representative of
UNFPA, delivered their addresses. Mr. Hu Hongtao,
PPC, China of PPD and Deputy Director, NPFPC,
on behalf of H.E. Dr. Zhao Baige, the honorable
Vice-Minister of National population and Family
Planning Commission (NPFPC), China, addressed
the participants with his opening speech.
Mr.
Jianhua Cai, President of CTC, Mr. Harry S.
Jooseery, Executive Director of PPD and Mr.
Rabbi Royan, Representative of UNFPA, delivering
speech in the opening session.
The
Consultative Meeting was developed to set the
stage for discussion on specific population
and reproductive health concerns within the
context of a broader policy framework, followed
by technical sessions to assess the training
and research needs of PPD member states. The
Meeting also focused on mapping out the capabilities
and existing potentials of 17 Partners Institutions
(PIs) with a view to identify gaps in training
and research in the context of attaining the
ICPD and MDGs.
The
meeting continued with six different working
group exercises to work out feasible solutions
to address training and research gaps in:
1)
Population and poverty
2) Gender
3) Reproductive health
4) Research strategies
5) Training strategies, and
6) South-South cooperation.
The
main objectives of plenary sessions were to
discuss the recommendations and outputs of the
working group sessions, and to elaborate the
intuitional implications of the recommendations,
followed by identifying a Way Forward to achieve
the recommendations.
The
closing session of the meeting affirmed a collective
commitment at policy level from all stakeholders
and participants. The closing session was addressed
by Dr. Hao Linna, Director General of NPFPC,
China and she conveyed the greetings of Vice
Minister, H.E. Dr. Z. Baige to all participants.
Moreover, Mr. Harry Jooseery, Executive Director
of PPD and Mr. Jianhua Cai, President, CTC also
delivered their closing speeches while, Mr.
Jooseery characterized the motto of PPD, in
short, as “Business with a difference.”
Participants of the Workshop
The
Consultative Meeting turned into a success due
to the deliberations during the four-days having
identified the training and research gaps and
by assessing the existing potentials of the
Partner Institutions of PPD member countries.
Besides, the Meeting was very fruitful in terms
of determining what important role South-South
cooperation can play in bridging those gaps
through the mechanism of capacity development.
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