From 2-4, September, 2009, the director of Institute for Reproductive and Family Health, Dr Nguyen Thi Hoai Duc participated the NGOs Forum in Berlin, Germany. The Forum was held after 15 years of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo; not only to take stock of what has been achieved so far but also, particularly, to take a joint look ahead and even now to be thinking beyond 2014 and 2015. The NGO forum Global Partners in Action: NGO Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Development aims to strengthen NGOs working in partnership to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights for sustainable development in an uncertain and interdependent world. The Government of Germany and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) are the co-hosts of this Forum.

Leaders of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from more than 130 countries have come together in Berlin to demand that the international community reinforce and strengthen their commitment to the vision of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and Programme of Action (PoA), and in particular, sexual and reproductive health and rights.

There were 400 participants at Global Partners in Action representing NGOs working in different fields of health and development from many countries, regions and networks. Youth participation is also a priority and a commitment has been made to have at least 25 percent of participants under the age of 30.

These are meeting objectives:

1.       Exchange information, identify opportunities and challenges and share lessons learned/ best practices.

2.       Advance a common messaging and strategic platform to promote cohesion in communication and advocacy around Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in an interdependent world

3.       Draft and adopt a forward-looking NGO action plan, with the support and endorsement of the NGO community

4.       Agree to and distribute a Call to Action as a contribution to appropriate events and channels including the International Parliamentarians' Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI-ICPD), to the UN General Assembly, and to the media.

And these following actions have to be taken immediately from the meeting:

           1.       Guarantee that sexual and reproductive rights, as human rights, are fully recognized and fullfilled

       2.   Invest in comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information, supplies and services as a priority in health system strengthening

           3.      Ensure the sexual and reproductive rights of adolescents and young people

           4.      Create and implement formal mechanisms for meaningful civil society participation in programs, policy and budget decisions, monitoring and evaluation

       5.    Ensure that national governments and donors allocate sufficient resources and budgets that meet the needs of all people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights

Regional and national discussions leading up to the Forum took place where possible. The objective is to promote discussion among NGOs on key questions related to the assessment of ongoing progress and needs, successful approaches, remaining barriers, ways forward and additional needs relating to the ICPD agenda. These discussions aspire to ensure broad participation and to inform the Forum and any subse-quent follow-up efforts on how to implement the ICPD Programme of Action.

In the second day of the meeting, 20 workshops included under 5 tracks were held related to Gender, Human rights, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Right (SRHR), other global health issuses and Partnership to explore how the ICPD Programme of Action (PoA) is essential to address other urgent global issues and longer-term development challenges

 Designed to be a working meeting, Global Partners in Action (GPA) aims to build on the successes of NGOs in implementing the PoA, their creativity and tenacity in meeting the needs of their communities, and their vision for achieving the PoA now and beyond 2015. Its emphasis is on strategizing from the diverse experiences of NGO leaders, especially younger leaders; developing a new and powerful base of support for the ICPD PoA, and situating our collective efforts to secure Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) as central to broader population and development goals.

To inform the Forum deliberations, other policy-setting opportunities, and future collaboration, this synthesis draws on two sources: the nearly 2,000 applications from local, national and international NGO representatives and regional consultations undertaken by members of the NGO Forum Steering Group and others in the summer of 2009. The synthesis focuses on five main areas:

1.       Best practices in implementation

2.       Global health issues and partnerships

3.       Gender and human rights

4.       Development strategies

5.       Population, climate change and other contextual issues 

It also lays out issues that are specific to young people and regions and gathers practical advice for working together more effectively.

Beside the NGO forum “Global Partners in Action” in Berlin, other NGO events are also taking place in 2009,  including the 5th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights (APCRSHR) to be health in Beijing, China from 17-20 October, 2009, as well as other regional and sub-regional meetings

For more informations about the Global Partners in Action: NGO Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Development, go to website www.globalngoforum.org or www.globalngoforum.de.