EXPERT SEMINAR SUPPORTS EXPANDED USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES IN ADVOCACY FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS
Press Release
POP/693
EXPERT SEMINAR SUPPORTS EXPANDED USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES IN ADVOCACY FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS
19981208 ANKARA, Turkey, 4 December (UNFPA) -- Telephone and computer networks and related technologies can be valuable tools for promoting reproductive health concerns, an expert seminar here concluded today.The four-day meeting assessed the opportunities and potential benefits, as well as constraints and pitfalls in using new technologies to advocate for the goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Participants discussed a wide range of development experiences -- from Internet websites to telephone hotlines -- that may be applied in the field of population and reproductive health.
The seminar on "ICPD Advocacy in the Global Information and Knowledge Management Age" was organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Turkish Ministry of Health.
At the opening session on 1 December, UNFPA Deputy Executive Director Hirofumi Ando said that information and communication technologies (ICTs) "can be used to help empower communities, couples and individuals to make informed decisions" and to "improve reproductive health services for all". He cited a Caribbean experiment using satellite communications to connect local schools, children's hospitals and primary health care facilities. "Information technologies should not be the master of communication", he added, and stressed the importance of "ethical issues, such as privacy, accuracy, intellectual property rights, ownership and the needs of those people who are often neglected".
Dr. H. Ibrahim Ozsoy, Turkey's Minister of Health, noted that ICTs could build "public knowledge, understanding and commitment at all levels" to ICPD goals, and help "bridge geographical, social and economic gaps in access to information around the world".
There were some 40 participants and 20 observers present, including specialists in various aspects of communications and development; staff from UNFPA and other United Nations agencies; and representatives from several Turkish government ministries, universities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
They presented experiences in panel sessions on: opportunities for using ICTs for ICPD advocacy; dissemination of research results through ICTs; community connectivity; mounting global advocacy campaigns; synergy between the Internet and other media; adolescents' needs; gender, access and decision making; meeting needs of service providers and users; donor inputs and inter-agency coordination; and the use of ICTs by UNFPA's national offices.
Case studies illustrating the enormous potential of ICTs included:
-- telephone hotlines in the Philippines and Turkey counselling women and adolescents on sexual health issues;
-- an Ecuador-based service using the Internet to provide news to community radio stations;
-- a website linking Turkish NGOs in a network against gender-based violence;
-- distance learning programmes in South America on population and reproductive health;
-- a cellular phone network serving rural communities in Bangladesh;
-- the use of Internet in connection with family life and education for young people in Senegal;
-- the development of websites at UNFPA's headquarters and its office in Morocco;
-- Turkey's use of computer systems to better manage its health system;
-- Internet discussion groups on women's rights and violence against women;
-- a demographic database supporting decentralization of authority in Honduras, which helped the city of San Pedro Sula to organize disaster relief after Hurricane Mitch.
Modern communications systems can be especially useful in advocacy, participants noted. There were discussions of how ICTs can be used to inform journalists and policy makers about development issues, to share examples of successful programmes, and to influence people's behaviour in relation to reproductive health.
There were also notes of caution. The need to overcome gaps in access to telecommunications was a recurrent theme. One speaker noted that "most Africans alive today will never make a phone call". Several cautioned that
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the rapid expansion of ICTs would further marginalize disadvantaged groups unless social and gender inequality were addressed.
Several speakers mentioned the dominance of telecommunications by multinational giants and state monopolies, and the high cost of access in many countries. While many stressed that the spread of ICTs could foster democratization, there were also warnings about their potential for censorship and surveillance. "The Internet is likely to be much less democratic than we assume", concluded one panellist.
Cost-effectiveness and funding were also major concerns. For example, efforts to establish multi-purpose community telecentres in Africa have had mixed results, participants heard. Projects need to build in plans for achieving financial sustainability, and build partnerships with the private sector and NGOs.
Those planning the use of ICTs must be realistic about their limitations. "Development agencies tend to see new technologies as `magic bullets'. We need to adapt tools to countries' specific needs", one expert argued.
Among the many recommendations were calls for policy changes to make ICTs more accessible; for more attention to training needs, especially those of NGOs; for better tools to search the wealth of population-related data on the worldwide web; for transparency in project formulation; and for better monitoring and evaluation of projects and greater exchange of experiences. The importance of supporting women's empowerment and the need for local input and control of projects were repeatedly emphasized.
The Turkey seminar was held in the context of ICPD+5, a review of progress in implementing the recommendations of the 1994 Cairo conference. The review will culminate in a special session of the United Nations General Assembly from 30 June to 2 July 1999.
Organizers plan to issue a report on the meeting's lessons, with a view towards expanding the use of ICTs in UNFPA's own programmes and in other efforts to implement the ICPD Programme of Action. A summary of this report will be presented to the ICPD+5 review forum in The Hague from 8 to 12 February next year, UNFPA's Technical and Policy Division Director Mohammad Nizamuddin told the final session. The report will also be posted on the website created for the seminar , where abstracts of the papers presented can also be found.
For further information, contact William A. Ryan at telephone: (212) 297-5279; fax: (212) 557-6416; e-mail: ryanw@unfpa.org.
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