Transcript STATE OF WORLD POPULATION 2001 Theme: Population and

3rd Annual Research Conference on
Population, Reproductive Health and
Economic Development
What Policy Makers Need to Know about
Population.
Presentation by Dr. Jotham Musinguzi
Regional Director, PPD Africa Regional Office
Dublin, Ireland
January 17, 2009
1
Experiences in policy engagement at country and
regional levels
• Charting a Path for Population within the Ministry of
Finance: Opportunities and Challenges at country
level (Uganda)
• Partners in Population and Development Africa
Regional Office’s (PPD ARO’s) work:
– Challenges and Opportunities at Africa regional
level
2
Prioritizing issues in national budgets
at country level
What were some of the challenges ?
• Is this issue a priority? If yes, why is it not
funded? Remember the saying that “unfounded
priority seizes to be a priority”
• Is the item in current budget or not?
• Does it require cuts in other ministry budgets
(most likely MoH and MoE, usually not MoD)?
3
Prioritizing issues in national budgets at
country level – Challenges (cont’d)
• Does it need a supplementary budget?
• Supplementary budgets need Parliamentary
approval
• Inclusion in the budget may have tax
implications!
• “Anyway, election year is coming, will the
Cabinet approve to increase tax with
elections around the corner?”
4
Other challenges of engaging
policy makers
• Policy makers:
– Different backgrounds (e.g. education,
profession, experiences and capacities).
– Different levels of appreciation of (sometimes)
complex issues
– Frequent or high turnover (half/shelf life)
– Environment of scarce resources with
competing needs
– “Visionary” vis-a-vis “non- visionary” leaders
or short-term interests vis-a-vis long-term
5
Data-related challenges
Concerns with population-related data:
• Quality
• Reliability
• Packaging
• Presentation
6
Data-related challenges
(cont’d)
• Who is presenting the data?
• Credibility (?? Need for partnerships)
• Mind your language (language sensitivity
e.g. SRHR, abortion, etc)
7
Data-related challenges (cont’d)
Presentation of Data
• Is the meaning clear? Compared to what?
– Examples:
• MMR of Uganda is high at 505 per 100,000 live
births
• Uganda’s high pop. growth rate of 3.4 % per annum
• Uganda’s high fertility rate of 6.7
• Linkages of FP/RH with Poverty
– Have we made a compelling case?
– Is the causality relationship clear to everyone?
8
Data-related challenges (cont’d)
Is the data relevant to the local situation?
For example, does the data
– Does it address a topical issue?
– Is it striking?
– Does it address a large proportion of the
population?
– Have great impact (at relatively low cost)?
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Uganda’s Population Trends,
2000 – 2025
Total
Pop.
(,000)
TFR
Pop.
Gr.
Pop Gr Pop
(15 –64) 15– 64
(,000)
Dep.
Rate
Pop.
Density
Pop
5– 19
(,000)
2000
23,487 7.10
3.30%
3.16%
11,164
110
100
9,504
2005
27,623 6.78
3.62%
3.67%
13,044
112
117
11,167
2010
32,996 6.37
3.58%
3.88%
15,621
111
140
13,467
2015
39,335 5.93
3.46%
4.06%
18,894
108
167
16,167
2020
46,634 5.43
3.31%
4.00%
23,051
102
198
19,115
2025
54,883 4.87
3.11%
3.86%
28,051
96
233
22,143
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WHAT IS THE
MESSAGE ?
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Just remember that data
which is well packaged
and presented can be
very compelling and lead
to a new policy or policy
change/review
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Opportunities to use policy-related data
Hold leaders and policy makers accountable on their commitments:
• Existence of national/regional/global policy frameworks already
agreed upon eg.
– National Roadmaps/strategies to reduce MMR & IMR at country
level
– Maputo Plan of Action (Africa’s strategy on universal access to
SRH services)
– Abuja Declaration (on devoting at least 15% of national budget to
Health)
– Paris Declaration (and more recently Accra call for Action) on Aid
Effectiveness
– MDGs (with 8 priority goals)
• Existence of agreed upon financing mechanisms and frameworks e.g.
PRSPs, SWAps, Budget Support, IHP, Monterey, etc
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Opportunities (cont’d)
Possible entry points:
• Re-packaging of data/information e.g. Policy briefs
• Remember politicians like to be informed and look smart!
• What is the policy maker focused on currently? Is it Universal
Primary Education, Poverty Eradication, Gender, HIV/AIDS, etc
• Policy makers feel ‘good’ when they make a difference in
peoples’ lives
• Does it give political mileage? As policy makers, what is in there
for them? E.g. Does it attract votes?
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Opportunities (cont’d)
• Policy dialogue
• Advocacy and
• Building strategic partnerships and
networks with other key players e.g
Parliamentarians, multilateral and bilateral
Agencies (esp. WB, UNDP, WHO,
UNFPA, etc), CSOs, FBOs and the Media.
15
PPD ARO’s Vision for Africa
A continent that meets its
Reproductive Health needs, promotes
the Population and Development
agenda and thereby addresses
poverty, through South-South
Cooperation.
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PPD Africa Regional Office
•
Enhancing Political Leadership for SRH and Population
– Parliamentarians, e.g. Social Services Committees of Parliaments (Health,
HIV/AIDS, Gender, Population, and Education).
– Ministers (Health, Gender, Population, Social Welfare, Planning, Finance &
Economic Development) and their senior advisors.
– Senior Government Officials.
• Networks & building Strategic Partnerships
– Networking with sub-regional and regional reproductive health
networks within the regional economic communities (RECs) of the
African Union.
– Strategic partnerships with NGOs and CSOs in the region including
policy-related research institutions.
– Bilateral and multilateral agencies e.g. UNFPA, WHO, UNDP, WB, etc.
– The Media.
• Sharing and Exchange of experiences and good practices.
– Utilization of south to south cooperation as an effective modality in 17
addressing SRHR.
Thank You.
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