On 18th March, Ryoichi Suzuki, Deputy Executive Director, JOICFP, delivered a lecture to 17 Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs), such as nurses, public health nurse and midwives, scheduled to be dispatched to Africa, Latin America and Asia in July 2005 under a JICA program.

Suzuki told the assembled JOCVs that reproductive health (RH) needs around the world were similar, despite different political, social and cultural systems. The RH situation for adolescents and youth was alarming, he said, with a need for more RH education, including for married young people, on HIV/AIDS, STIs and unwanted pregnancy. He asked the JOCVs to first conduct a situation analysis in order to implement the most appropriate strategies, considering universal access to RH services.

Suzuki went on to explain that the volunteers would only have two years to make a difference, and that they would be important since they would be the closest people to the community. Community-operated meant that JOCVs would need to motivate their local successors to take over on their departure.

To this end, Suzuki emphasized ownership as key, and that community mobilization for health programs must include, planning, monitoring, evaluation, and amendment if necessary, through a 'plan, do, see' approach. He warned the volunteers not to try to do everything themselves, but to work together with community members as followers.

Suzuki illustrated his points by highlighting best practices from projects in Bangladesh, showing how to conduct community-operated RH programs (CORHPs)