JOICFP's Work-plan for 2006 Approved

On 28th March, the JOICFP Board of Directors, and Counselors met, discussed, and unanimously approved the work-plan and budget for fiscal year 2006 (1st April 2006 - 31st March 2007). The work-plan will focus on "Saving Mothers Lives" to promote three mid-term objectives

1. Safe motherhood
2. Integration of RH, FP and the prevention of HIV/AIDS
3. Mainstreaming of RH and FP

The board approved country and regional projects in FY2006, such as those concerning:

• Adolescent reproductive health (ARH) and behavior change communication (BCC) toward male involvement;
• Domestic recycling campaigns such as bicycles through MCCOBA, and the randoseru campaign;
• Human resource development activities, for example, NGO capacity building, including ARH and BCC, etc.

Project countries are Myanmar, Indonesia, Mongolia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and Afghanistan in Asia, Mexico and Nicaragua in Latin America, and Tanzania, Zambia and Ghana in Africa.

Young girls in Nicaragua receive RH education

Mothers and children in Vietnam

A mother and her newborn infant in China

Official development assistance (ODA) has been reduced year-by-year by the Japanese government since 1997, and the 2006 contribution to UNFPA and IPPF has been reduced by 11% compared with the previous year. JOICFP holds one of the key roles in advocacy for an increase in the total amount of ODA to keep Japan as a leading country on the international stage.

Three task forces for 2006

In addition, the board approved the setting up of three task forces to deal with the priority issues of:

• Save Mothers from HIV/AIDS Campaign and its fund raising
• White Ribbon Campaign to promote safe motherhood. Special events are planned to deliver messages on "Saving Mothers Lives" at the time of Mothers Day in May. http://joicfp.or.jp/eng/donation/w_ribbon.shtml
• BCC capacity building for JOICFP staff to develop each BCC strategy through their own experience of project implementation.