PPD/UNFPA Meeting in New York

Partners in Population and Development (PPD) Executive Director Mr. Harry S. Jooseery had meetings with UNFPA Executive Director and Directors of UNFPA Geographical Divisions for Asia, Africa, Arab States and Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean regions from 1-3 April 2007. In these meetings, the PPD Executive Director (ED) was accompanied by Mr. Jyoti Singh, PPD Permanent Observer to the United Nations and Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, Director of PPD Africa Office. The discussion of the meetings covered the ongoing and planned collaborations between UNFPA and PPD. The organizations agreed to initiate further collaboration in a number of areas, particularly in capacity strengthening of the training institutions in PPD Member States, some of which are as follows:

• Compilation of thematic courses, modules, teaching and training materials for use in Training Institutions in PPD Member States
• A program on Placement of Experts at selected Training Institutions to help organize training programs with newly developed modules
• Training of Trainers (TOT) of the Training Institutions in PPD Member States
• A Fellowship provision at country levels for training of policy makers, programme mangers and Sectoral planners utilizing the new modules.

UNFPA is currently in the process of developing its capacity building strategy for the coming four years in which both the sides will have common grounds for extended collaboration.

UN Commission on Population and Development, 9-13 April 2007

The 40th Session of the UN Commission on Population and Development, which took place at the United Nations, New York, from 9 to 13 April 2007, had as its main theme the Changing Age Structures of Populations and Their Implications for Development. In the Session, special attention was given to the issues related to the aging population as well as, to the problems being faced by the adolescents and young people in many developing countries.

In her statement at the opening session, Dr Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA pointed out that the amount of support given to the family planning sector had currently declined to 9 percent from 55 percent in 1994 and gave emphasis on greater support towards reproductive health services, including family planning. Her concern was that otherwise the objective of providing universal reproductive health services by 2015 would not be met.

Mr Jiang Fan, Vice Minister of the National Population and Family Commission of China, in his statement, stressed the need “to advance South-South cooperation” and “to reinforce policy dialogues and experience sharing.” “We call for greater support and assistance to the PPD, an intergovernmental organization of developing countries for population and development, so that PPD may play a better role in this concern.”

In a similar vein, Dr Sugiri Syarief, Chairman, National Family Planning Coordination Board (BKKBN) of Indonesia, called on the international community and donors “to strengthen the South-South cooperation through PPD. As the members of PPD represent more than half of the world’s population, sustaining population policies and programmes in Member States of PPD will have greater impact on the global population dynamic and the group’s development programmes.”

PPD was represented at the Session by Mr Jyoti Shankar Singh, Partners’ Permanent Observer to the United Nations.

The New Bangladesh Board Member reaffirmed the commitment of Bangladesh Government to PPD

The ED of PPD Mr. Harry S. Jooseery, along with Manager, Administration and Finance Mr. James Biswas, met H.E. Major General(Rtd) Dr. ASM Matiur Rahman, Honorable Adviser, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on the 18th April 2007. The purpose of the meeting was to –

• Brief about the PPD and its activities,
• Invite the Honorable Advisor in the next Board Meeting in November in Pakistan.

The ED, at the outset, thanked the Honorable Adviser for his time despite of his very tight schedule and shared about the organization, its inception and role of Government of Bangladesh (GoB)I in its formation. He also thanked the ministry for their role in earning the UN Observer status. As the same, ED expressed his gratitude to the Government for hosting PPD Secretariat at Dhaka and proving substantial office support. He briefed the Adviser about present and upcoming activities with the past involvement in the country. He apprised the Adviser that by virtue of his position he is an Honorable Board member of the Organization and invited him to participate in the next Board Meeting in scheduled in Pakistan in November 2007. Some pending issues were raised which required the support of the Honorable Adviser.

Mr. Harry S. Jooseery, the Executive Director of PPD briefing
the Honourable Advisor H.E. Major General Dr. ASM Matiur Rahman (Rtd) about PPD.

The Adviser was very happy to know all about PPD and its activities and agreed in principle that he will participate in the PPD Board meeting in Pakistan.. After listening to the pending issues the Adviser immediately ordered to solve those in presence of the Partner Country Coordinator (PCC) of Bangladesh, Mr. Syed Mustafizur Rahman who will take initiative to expedite resolving issues. Health Advisor was very committed and promised to extend Bangladesh Government’s support to PPD and wanted to be informed on PPD activities in Bangladesh with request of activities to be coordinated with his ministry. He expressed his interest to include PPD in the Ministry information distribution list and also to invite PPD in all of the events that MoHFW and their partner organizations’ events related to health, HIV and AIDS and population and development. About the issue of allotment of land for PPD Secretariat for its own Building, he has agreed to expedite the process in shortest possible time. He expressed his extreme happiness over the commitment of PPD in RH and ICPD Program of Actions and MDGs and agreed to offer any assistance needed for smooth functioning of the PPD secretariat.

Executive Director represented PPD in the Reproductive Health Supply Coalition (RHSC) Meeting in London from 25 to 27 April 2007

The Executive Director Mr. Harry S. Jooseery attended the Annual Meeting of the Reproductive Health Supply Coalition (RHSC) on 27 and 28 April 2007 in London. PPD is a founding member of the Coalition. The Coalition works for ensuring reproductive health commodity supply and security in the developing countries.

The Executive Director also attended the meeting of the RMA Working Group of the Coalition. PPD is also a member of this Group. The Executive Director made a presentation on PPD’s past, ongoing and planned activities in relation to the Reproductive Health Commodity Supply and Security in the RMA Working Group meeting which was well appreciated.