From Accra to ICPD beyond 2014: Recommendations from African CSOs and young people [Provisional]

Recognizing that the full implementation of Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the key actions for its further implementation are integrally linked to national, regional and global  efforts to achieve the internationally  agreed development goals including the Millennium Development Goals, the African Youth Charter, the Maputo Plan of Action, the Fifth African Development Forum, the Abuja Call for Accelerated Action, and the Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases;

Noting that ICPD PoA (15.3.) identifies non-governmental organizations as important voices of the people, and that their associations and networks provide an effective and efficient means of focusing better local and national initiatives and addressing pressing population, environmental, migration, economic and social development concerns;

Reaffirming our commitment to the Africa Youth Charter as it presents a blueprint for youth development in Africa and serves as an important tool in holding our governments accountable to issues concerning us;  
Acknowledging that whilst progress has been made at various levels since the Cairo Programme of Action in 1994, young people continue to remain marginalized from mainstream society through inequalities in income, wealth and power, unemployment and underemployment, infected and affected by HIV/AIDS , living in situations of poverty and hunger, experiencing illiteracy and poor quality educational systems, restricted access to health services and to information, exposure to violence including gender-based violence, engaging in armed conflicts and experiencing various forms of discrimination;

Endorsing the Maputo Plan of Action position that addressing the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents and youth as a key SRH component include the provision of comprehensive sexuality education for young people in and out of school as well as strengthening advocacy for and the implementation of policies that support the provision of sexual reproductive health and rights services;

Recalling ICPD PoA (7.43) which asserts that programmes for adolescents have proven most effective when their full involvement is secured in identifying their reproductive and sexual health needs and in designing programmes that respond to those needs;

Recalling also Article 16 of Africa Youth Charter that commits State parties to secure the full involvement of youth in identifying their reproductive and health needs and designing programs that respond to these needs with special attention to vulnerable and disadvantaged youth;

We young people and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Africa, acknowledging the efforts of our governments towards the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (PoA); 

Taking note of the critical role youth, civil society and other partners have and continue to play towards meeting the objectives set out in the PoA, at the African Region CSO consultation held from the 5th to 6th March 2012 in Accra, Ghana resolve to: 

• Create awareness and enhance capacity of civil society and young people about the ICPD Beyond 2014 review process. Develop CSOs and young people position papers on the questionnaire for collecting country level data for the Country Implementation Profiles and other issues to be considered in the review and share the final statement/position with Government; 
• Engage with governments, development partners, especially UNFPA Country Offices, and other stakeholders to ensure that the processes leading to the Country Implementation Profiles and completion of the Global Questionnaire  are reflective of the broader perspectives of all stakeholders including young people;
• Ensure that young people through their networks and agencies are a distinct stakeholder group from which data and evidence will be collected; 
• Take necessary steps to ensure that the issues of vulnerable and marginalized populations are captured in the entire review process.

We call on our governments to:

• Ensure that young people and civil society are effectively involved in the national processes for the Country Implementation Profile and Global Questionnaire as a cluster stakeholder group to be consulted during data collection stage, and to be meaningfully involved in the national consultation and validation meetings;
• Ensure the meaningful participation of young people and civil society in the regional population conference and included as members of government delegations. We further recommend that at least thirty (30) percent of national delegations consist of young people.

Commit to formally acknowledge the outcomes of deliberations by Civil Society Organizations including young people which occur prior to the Regional Population Conference to be held in 2013 and the 47th Commission on Population and Development in 2014. 

We call on UNFPA and development partners to:

• Ensure the capacity enhancement of young people and civil society to effectively engage with governments and participate in the ICPD Beyond 2014 processes  at country, regional level and global level; 
• Map national and regional level CSOs and young people to involve in the process;
• Ensure that the draft questionnaire is shared in a timely manner with members of civil society, especially the focal persons who participated in the Accra Consultation so that they take the lead in country level validation processes, by engaging their respective networks;
• Convene in conjunction with recognized young people’s networks and civil society organizations, pre-conferences at the Regional Population Conference (CSO & Youth) in 2013 which will feed into the main outcomes of the regional conference in 2013. The CSO conference should also include significant numbers of young people;
• Work with young people and civil society towards ensuring their effective representation on country delegations to the regional population conferences as well as at the 47th CPD in 2014.

Towards the Indonesia Youth Meeting, we call on UNFPA and partners to ensure that:

• Representatives to the steering committee as well as participants should be drawn from regional, sub regional blocs and national youth blocs/networks; 
• Being a youth conference, national delegations should constitute at least 70 percent of young people to this meeting;
• Content shall be drawn from the different regional, sub regional and national level consultative processes and position statements; 
• There should be further online consultations to enrich the content and avoid conflicting and diversionary positions at the Indonesian meeting.

To guide and implement these recommendations: 

• A regional youth and CSO steering committee will be established composed of main networks which participated in the Accra Consultations.