African Nations convene high-level UN Panel to drive ICPD Agenda

The Governments of Ghana, Cameroon, Gambia, Uganda, South Africa and Lesotho along with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) will convene a high-level panel to take stock of the continent's achievements.

Scheduled for Monday alongside the 57th Session of the UN Commission on Population and Development (CPD), the ministerial panel titled "ICPD@30 and Beyond - Across Africa: Achievements, Challenges and Opportunities for Accelerated Actions to 2030 for the Unfinished Business" promises to grab global attention.

The panel will also identify strategies to overcome remaining obstacles as the 2030 target date for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) rapidly approaches.

The 75-minute debate aims to provide a vital platform to showcase the notable strides made by nations across geographic regions of Africa in key ICPD priority areas.

These priority areas include reducing maternal mortality, increasing access to family planning services, ending gender-based violence, promoting girls' education, empowering women, and youth, improving data for development, and upholding sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The panel will also engage in a candid dialogue on the impediments hindering faster progress on this transformative agenda, which includes inequalities, rapid urbanization, fragility and conflicts, harmful social norms, climate change impacts and other emerging challenges.

Discussions will focus on identifying context-specific factors and cross-border dynamics influencing ICPD implementation across the continent.

The ministers and senior officials will spotlight proven policies, financing strategies, legal and institutional reforms, community engagement approaches and other catalytic measures that enabled achievements in their countries despite hurdles.

Officials will also explore new multi-stakeholder partnerships, sustainable financing models, rights-based policy reforms, innovative technologies and grassroots solutions required to accelerate implementation across the ICPD's interlinked pillars in the lead-up to 2030.

The event will draw around 100 guests including government delegations, UN officials, civil society groups, private sector representatives, academics, media professionals and other key stakeholders.