Third Meeting of the Working Group for the Follow-up to the Dakar/Ngor Declaration and the ICPD-PA

Dakar, Senegal
18 December 2002

Statement By
Josue Dione,
Director, Sustainable Development Division (SDD),
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to address this important meeting and to welcome you, on behalf of the Executive Secretary, to the Third Meeting of the Working Group for the Follow-up to the Dakar/Ngor Declaration (DND) and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPDPA). Also, permit me to extend my thanks to the Director of IDEP for having accepted to host our meeting and for the excellent facilities provided to us.

This meeting was made possible by the generous contribution of funds by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) to whom on behalf of ECA and you distinguished participants I wish to express our thanks and gratitude.

You will recall that, the Dakar/Ngor Declaration invited the ECA to establish a Follow-up Committee of member States in co-operation with OAU, ADB and UNFPA, to be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the recommendations and assist member States during the implementation process. Accordingly, the 19th meeting of the ECA Conference of Ministers endorsed, in 1993, the establishment and terms of reference of the Follow-up Committee.

The Follow-up Committee, as you are all aware, is an open-ended body of member States with a Bureau, comprising Senegal, Rwanda, Egypt, Kenya and Namibia.

At its inaugural meeting, held in Addis Ababa in 1994, the Follow-up Committee endorsed the establishment of your Working group and decided that it will comprise, as its main members, organizations and institutions of the preparatory Committee of the Third African Population Conference i.e. ECA, OAU, ADB, UNFPA, IDEP, IFORD, RIPS, CERPOD and UAPS.

At this juncture, it is deemed appropriate to recall the functions of your Working group. As indicated in its terms of reference, the attention of the Working group should focus on three essential tasks, namely,

  • Assist the Follow-up Committee in its activities;

  • Provide technical support in the implementation of the DND/ICPD;

  • Play an advisory role in the review of the programme of work of the Follow-up Committee and the proposals for the new orientations for the programme of work..

The Working Group held its First meeting in May 1998 and its Second meeting in June 2000. In this respect, it is indeed gratifying to note the exemplary co-operation that the Working group has built between ECA, the African Union (AU), the African Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), the UNFPA Country Support Teams based in Addis Ababa, Harare and Dakar, and the regional institutes on population and development including IFORD, RIPS, IDEP and CERPOD. In the spirit of partnership, these organizations together have encouraged brainstorming to evaluate progress, share experiences and identify facilitating and constraining factors in the implementation of the Declaration and Programme of Action. These efforts deserve our fullest commendation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you all know, the year 2004 will mark the 10th anniversary of the (ICPD. From now on, all partners in the implementation of the ICPD-PA including programme countries, the United Nations system, representatives of the civil society, NGOs and the private sector will undertake a range of activities for a comprehensive review and appraisal of the implementation of the ICPD.

Indeed, the Regional Commissions of the United Nations have planned to review progress towards ICPD+10. In the case of the ECA, many activities, designed to contribute to the preparation of Africa's input into the ICPD+10, have already been implemented while others are planned.

Accomplished activities include:

    1. The organisation, last January, of the 4th meeting of the Follow up Committee on DND/ICPD to, among others, discuss the population perspective of NEPAD and make proposals for ICPD+10 in Africa;

    2. The preparation of country specific reports, assessing "policies and interventions in reproductive health and reproductive rights, with special reference to HIV/AIDS", presented and discussed at the 4th meeting of the Follow up Committee.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

From lessons learned during the ICPD+5, ECA would like to give more visibility to the event, and therefore decentralize the review of ICPD+10 at national and sub-regional levels. It is in this context that the Third Meeting of the Working Group is being convened and extended to ECA/Subregional offices and UNFPA/CSTs. It is indeed deemed quite timely. To this end, the meeting will discuss, therefore, the ICPD+10 assessment in Africa and in particular:

    1. Suggest orientations for the scope and content of a questionnaire for assessing achievements and constraints African countries face in implementing the DND/ICPD.

    2. Propose themes for country-specific evaluation reports on the implementation of selected programmes areas.

    3. Define the role and contribution of sub-regional institutions and the civil society. Each institution represented here has its own vision on what needs to be done to accelerate the implementation process. This meeting will therefore discuss and agree on the role and inputs of our respective institution in the preparation of Africa's contribution to ICPD+10.

    4. Consider a tentative schedule of events for Africa's ICPD+10 including the convening of sub-regional and regional review meetings.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to conclude by thanking all of you for the efforts you have made to be present at this meeting. I have no doubt that this meeting will enable us come up with a comprehensive regional evaluation report highlighting the main achievements and constraints in the implementation process and formulating recommendations on the way forward.

I wish you every success and it is my honour to declare the Third Meeting of the Working Group open.