A media advocacy workshop to this effect is currently taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Since 1994, when 179 countries during the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) articulated a bold new vision about the relationships between population, development and individual well-being, it is time to evaluate ICPD beyond 2014. Within this backdrop, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Offices in South Africa and Senegal have organised a media advocacy workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa on ICPD Beyond 2014. This is to examine the media’s role in the 20-year Programme of Action (PoA) that built on the success of the population, maternal health and family planning so as to deliver human rights-based development.
Since September 1, 2013 in Johannesburg, some 50 media professional from Southern, East, Central, West and North Africa are being sensitised on what ICPD is all about and how they can help realise the agenda of ICPD. The ICPD Programme of Action, sometimes referred to as the Cairo Consensus, is remarkable in its recognition that reproductive health and rights, as well as women's empowerment and gender equality, are cornerstones of population and development programmes. UNFPA experts say there has been a global survey and reviews of all programmes carried out under the umbrella of the ICPD.
In preparation of the final review of ICPD Beyond 2014 which is expected to take place next month, the organisers say the role of the media in shaping the ICPD agenda cannot be overemphasised as the mass media plays an important advocacy role in advancing the Programme of Action as well as in delivering the objectives of ICPD, by implementing activities on the ground.
The Technical Adviser on Population and Development in the UNFPA Regional Office in South Africa, Fidelis Zama Chi, said the media has to present information in a manner that can be understood without using so many technical jargons. As example, he narrowed on the use of the term maternal mortality by media professionals. “Talk to women about their mates who die and not about maternal mortality,” Fidelis Chi told media professionals.
For three days, media professionals will be briefed on understanding the ICPD agenda, how they can mobilise and advocate approaches for ICPD agenda, challenges and opportunities of media agenda setting for ICPD as well as the action plan on promoting ICPD beyond 2015 agenda.
