Nairobi summit on ICPD25 will be all inclusive

When global leaders and the world converge in Nairobi for the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 on November 12-14, 2019, it will be a watershed moment.

Co-convened by the governments of Kenya and Denmark and UNFPA, the summit is a build-up on the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which was held in Cairo, Egypt, a quarter of a century ago.

It is important to note that the landmark Cairo ICPD, in 1994 was a mark in the sand of humanity. For the first time, world leaders defined development in bold human terms. Significantly, they recognised the need for an inclusive humanity and the need to re-evaluate emerging issues and dynamics in population. Conversely, rights for women and girls were defined as critical ingredients in the pursuit of sustainable development.

The result of this consciousness was the ICPD Programme of Action, a blueprint signed on by the 179 governments at the Cairo ICPD. The Programme of Action sought to empower women and girls in all spheres of their lives, including in sexual and reproductive health, as a pathway to sustainable development.

While a lot has been achieved in implementing the ICPD Programme of Action, the world still has a long way to go; calling for celebration and reflection. The Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 seeks to mobilise the political will and financial commitments urgently needed to fully achieve the goals agreed upon in 1994.

As over 5,000 delegates gather in Nairobi, weighty and critical issues will be on the table. What can be done to save the lives of the 830 women who will lose their lives today from preventable causes during pregnancy or childbirth? How will we protect the 33,000 girls who will be forced into early marriage today? What will we do to protect the 11,000 girls who may be subjected to female genital mutilation in the next 24 hours? How will we make family planning accessible to the 232 million women who want to prevent pregnancy but do not have access to contraception?

Building on the spirit of Cairo and alive to the demographic diversity that defines the global population today, the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 will be an inclusive forum, with diverse voices guaranteed a seat at the table.

The summit will adopt an integrated approach, covering five themes and highlighting the imperative for gender equality, youth leadership, political and community leadership, innovation and data, and partnerships in accelerating progress in five thematic areas namely; universal access to sexual and reproductive health as part of universal health coverage; financing to finish the ICPD Programme of Action and to sustain the gains made; drawing on demographic diversity to drive economic growth and achieve sustainable development; ending gender-based violence and harmful practices and upholding the right to sexual and reproductive healthcare even in humanitarian and fragile contexts.

A departure from the template of the gatherings of world leaders; the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 has been structured to ensure that all voices are heard. Not only will there be heads of state and governments, ministers and parliamentarians. There will also be grassroots and civil society organisations, young people, business leaders, faith-based organisations, indigenous peoples, international financial institutions, people with disabilities and others interested in the pursuit of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 will not just be about talk. It will re-energise the global community and serve as a springboard for governments and other organisations to announce voluntary, global commitments – including financial ones – that will accelerate progress towards the achievement of the clear and measurable goals set out in the ICPD Programme of Action.

These include zero preventable maternal deaths, zero unmet need for modern contraceptives, zero gender-based violence, child marriage and female genital mutilation, as well as pronouncements on new partnerships and tangible commitments to invest in these broad areas.

Heightening the global pressure to achieve the goals set out in the Cairo Programme of Action, is the fact that the world has also committed to realising another set of developmental targets by the year 2030: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The ICPD Programme of Action is a critical subset of the SDGs. There can be no SDGs without the ICPD Programme of Action.

To illustrate this parallel, while the SDG3 envisages “healthy lives for all,” the realisation of this ideal is dependent, to a material extent, on women having the power to prevent sexually transmitted infections such as HIV and ensuring that pregnancy is safe for mothers and their babies.

Director general, National Council for Population and Development (NCPD); co-chair, The International Programmes Committee on ICPD25; NCPD hosts the secretariat for the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25