The ICPD adopted a twenty-year Programme of Action with a broad mandate on issues of interrelationship between population, sustained economic growth and sustainable development, and advances in the education, economic status and empowerment of women. The DND and the ICPD-PoA have since guided the implementation of health, population, environment and related development policies in Africa.
The implementation of the recommendations of the PoA is the sovereign right of each country, consistent with national laws and development priorities. However, recognizing that, Governments are not expected to meet the gaols and objectives single-handedly, the ICPD calls for partnership at all levels. The significance of the ICPD will depend on the willingness of Governments, local communities, the NGOs, and the international community to turn its recommendations into actions. In this vein, the ICPD PoA identified the following five functions to the Conference follow-up:
• Building strong political support at all levels for population and development.
• Resource mobilization.
• Coordination and mutual accountability of efforts to implement the Programme of Action.
• Problem solving and sharing of experience within and between countries.
• Monitoring and reporting of progress in the implementation of the PoA.
At the sub regional and regional levels, the ICPD PoA calls on the regional commissions, and organizations of the UN system functioning at the regional level to play an active role in the implementation of the Programme of Action. In Africa, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is mandated by the General Assembly of the United Nations to follow up the implementation of the Dakar-Ngor Declaration and Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. In collaboration with the UNFPA, and close consultation with African Governments, the African Union Commission (AUC), African Population Commission (APC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), the ECA has implemented this mandate, by carrying out ICPD reviews at five-year intervals in 1999 and 2004.