2011 Dakar High-Level Meeting (HLM): "Realizing the Demographic Dividend for the Health and Wealth of Nations"
Partners in Population and Development Africa Regional Office (PPD ARO), in partnership with USAID, The World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UKAID, Pledge Guarantee for Health, the United Nations Foundation, UNFPA, the Ministerial Leadership Initiative and Advance Family Planning jointly organized a one-day high-level meeting on 30 November on the topic of “Realizing the Demographic Dividend for the Health and Wealth of Nations.”
This meeting was held as a closed session of the Second International Family Planning Conference held from 30 November 30 to 2 December 2020 in Dakar, Senegal at Le Meridien Hotel.
The Dakar HLM brought together approximately 200 participants including ministers of finance, health, economic planning, members of parliament and experts from within sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular emphasis on inclusion of those from Francophone Africa.
The meeting objectives included:
• South-South knowledge transfer in sub-Saharan Africa;
• Shared vision for and commitment to addressing health and development challenges in the region and at the country level; and
• Development of avenues for gaining broader and longer-term support for country initiatives and national government commitments.
• Post-conference, we expect to see national initiatives and policy directions reflecting new commitment to universal access to reproductive health in consideration of how the demographic dividend can be achieved in sub-Saharan African countries
In addition to the opening ceremony, the sessions of the meeting included: Advancing Economic & Social Development with the Demographic Dividend, Realizing Health & Wealth: Investing in Adolescents & Youth, and Maximizing the Demographic Dividend Now & in the Future.
The first international conference on family planning in November 2009 in Kampala, Uganda, focused new attention on the critical role of family planning in reducing maternal mortality, improving gender equity and increasing socioeconomic development. Following on the high-level meeting on maternal health in Addis in October 26, 2009, the conference reinforced for policymakers that family planning was an essential component of health and development policy. Since the Kampala conference, the African Union turned its attention to maternal health through the Campaign to Accelerate Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA) and renewal of the landmark 2006 Maputo Plan of Action.
During the same period, many countries implemented innovative policy and programmatic strategies to address high levels of unmet need for contraception and maternal mortality and morbidity. Countries such as Ethiopia, Rwanda and Malawi have led the way in increasing access to family planning services and supplies, contraceptive prevalence rates and support for women’s choice of method. Other countries, such as Sierra Leone and Uganda, have implemented new policies to provide health care free-of-charge to women and children and increase access to contraceptive injectables via community health workers. As in many other areas of technological advances, sub-Saharan Africa has begun to take a “leap-frog” approach; innovating and adapting with limited resources to provide for the health of its people.
The Dakar Family Planning Conference provides a focal point for capitalizing on these advances and demonstrating their return on investment. A high percentage of African families continue to have mothers wanting to space or limit future births but unable to avail themselves of contraception. While political leadership is critical to driving national support for investment in family planning, government officials within relevant ministries and parliament are essential to establishing the enabling political environment.
The Dakar HLM provided a platform for discussion of the economic and development implications of prioritizing family planning within health expenditures and poverty reduction plans and performance-based financing. The emphasis was on national leadership and sustainability of program and policy innovation.
Harnessing the voices of the South, the evidence base under formation, and the experiential wisdom of global policy leaders, this meeting sought to foster African development of additional actions needed to attain universal access to family planning in Africa. One day of focused discourse may not launch a contraceptive revolution in Africa, but it act as a tipping point that can be enjoined by the efforts of others to accelerate commitment and resource mobilization.
A number of key documents from the meeting are available online by clicking on the links below.
The full meeting report will be posted shortly.
Agenda in English: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/Ministerial2011/agenda-e.pdf
Agenda in French: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/Ministerial2011/agenda-f.pdf
Pictures from the meeting: https://picasaweb.google.com/PPDAfricaRegionalOffice/ICFP2011HL
Presentation by Hon. Bambang Brodjonagoro, Director, Fiscal Board, Ministry of Finance, Indonesia: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/Ministerial2011/brod.pdf
Presentation by Dr. Adedoyin Soyibo, Professor of Economics, University of Ibadan & Co-Lead on Africa Region for the National Transfer Accounts Project: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/Ministerial2011/soyibo.pdf
Presentation by Hon. Cornelius T. Mwalwanda, Deputy Minister of Finance, Malawi
Slides: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/Ministerial2011/mwal.pdf
Text for presentation: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/Ministerial2011/mwal2.pdf
Presentation by Mr. Aron Betru, Pledge Guarantee for Health, United Nations Foundation: http://ppdafrica.org/docs/Ministerial2011/betru.pdf
The World Bank's "The Demographic Challenge" video screened during the meeting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HdyVr4AWN