Dakar Call for Action: Director urges MDAs to develop programmes
NAN-H-4
Programmes
By Cecilia Ologunagba
Abuja, March 22, 2017 (NAN) Dr Faniran Sanjo, Assistant Director, International Co-operation Department, Federal Ministry of Budget and National Budget, has called on Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to develop relevant programmes and projects in line with the Dakar Call for Action.
The Dakar Call for Action is a resolution made by Partners in Population and Development (PPD) on South-South at the 2016 International Inter-Ministerial Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Senegal.
Sanjo made the call in a sideline interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at a two-day meeting of the National Task Force Committee, and PPD on South-South Cooperation in Abuja.
Sanjo, who spoke on the “Outcome of 2016 International Inter-Ministerial Conference and Board Meeting of the PPD including Dakar Call for Action’’, urged the PPD to domesticate the Action.
He said that the Action was aim at translating the commitments made into concrete actions to strengthen inclusive national resilience and enhanced quality of human life in the global south.
“Despite daunting challenges, PPD has been able to demonstrate the South-South Cooperation has the best potential to accomplish the unfinished development agenda.
“So, MDAs that constitute task force for the implementation of the annual inter-ministerial meeting of PPD member countries are expected to study the Dakar outcome.
“They should also develop relevant programmes and projects around the outcome of the meeting.
“What is relevant to the National Population Commission on Dakar Call for Action will not be relevant to the Ministry of Health and what is relevant to the ministry will be different from what will be relevant to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
“For example, the NBS is key to data monitoring and evaluation; the bureau will develop an action plan around those that affect them from the Dakar call for Action,’’ he said.
The director said that members of PPD recognised the importance of sharing knowledge as critical pillar of South-South cooperation to enhance countries capacity toward comprehensive achievement of 2030 sustainable development agenda.
Sanjo said that the ICPD called on national governments to accord greater importance to advancing populations’ dynamics and mainstreaming them into national development plans.
“It recognised that population dynamic are central to all development action.
“It urged governments to capture the subtle and complex interdependence of population dynamic vis-a-vis health, education and access to social amenities, in their planning endeavours,’’ he said.
He further said that the meeting identified old age cohorts in the population pyramid and integrate these emerging trends in the population and development plans.
The official said the PPD were advised to scale up analysis and utilisation of disaggregated data related to urbanisation and migration in the national planning process as they influence the infrastructure sector.
Sanjo said that they should scale up analysis and utilisation of disaggregated data in agriculture sector as well basic services in health sector including paid and unpaid caregivers.
“These outcomes are bound to guide the course of national development,’’ he said.
According to him, the PPD is an intergovernmental organisation of countries from the global south.
He said that PPD accounted for 60 per cent of the world’s population has emerged as the main platform fostering consensus for the South-South Cooperation toward the Sustainable Development Goals.
NAN also reports that the meeting is being attended by more than 49 MDAs and CSOs involved in in the reproductive health, family planning, population and development as well as humanitarian services.
They include the host Ministry of Budget and National Planning; Ministries of Finance, Education, Health, FCT and Women Affairs, NAN and National Population Commission, among others.
The meeting was supported by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). (NAN)
CIA/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola