From 25th to 28th April, the Asia Pacific Alliance - Advancing the ICPD Agenda (APA), held its 7th annual meeting, in Bangkok, under the theme of "Sexual and Reproductive Health, HIV and the MDGs: Issues for Health and Development." Nearly 60 representatives from NGOs in seven Pacific Rim countries; Canada, the USA, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Korea and Japan, attended.

APA is perhaps unique in that its membership, in addition to containing government donor agencies and NGOs concerned with reproductive health, also includes NGOs working for women, the environment and development.

The meeting was an opportunity for members to share information on their activities, and reaffirm their intention for further action on advocacy towards advancing the ICPD Platform of Action and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The participants discussed topics, including ways to link SRH and the MDGs, and how HIV/AIDS, security, human rights, gender and relief for the Asian tsunami could be connected with the MDGs. In addition, country reports were presented and the work plan for 2005 - 2006 finalized.

Dr. Kim Hak Su, Executive Secretary, UNESCAP, stressed the relevance of the meeting to the four billion people of the Asia Pacific region, including the 700 million young people, especially as the center of the AIDS pandemic is shifting to the region.

JOICFP's contribution

During the meeting, Sumie Ishii, Executive Director, JOICFP, told the participants that APA was able to act as a bridge between the established donor nations in North America and Europe, and emerging ones in Asia. She said that policies and strategies developed by established donors and other agencies ran the risk of overlooking the needs of the 'silent majority' such as people in Asia.

Ishii gave an example with the phrase 'reproductive health and rights', which, more than ten years after it was coined, still has not found favor among the media and public in Japan due to difficulties in translation.

Asia, she said, was now establishing itself in international cooperation advocacy and needed to develop its own messages with the support of established partners to, for example, successfully advocate for the MDGs, which to date have little recognition in the region.

Ishii explained that Japan was in a unique position to facilitate training for Asian countries from established donors as it had the experience, including that of official development aid (ODA).

With the recent formation of the Thai International Cooperation Agency, all seven countries now have ODA implementing agencies as APA members. This situation has provided a good opportunity for established donor governments to work with the new donors and to lay the groundwork for greater international development efforts in the region.

The meeting participants agreed that future activities would emphasize the MDGs and how SRH could be added through, for example, the establishment of verifiable indicators.