What we do

What We Do

The PPD ARO has deep commitment to improving the reproductive health and rights in collaborating and partner countries, in strategic partnership with NGOs and other civil society organizations. The Africa Regional Office links African member countries who each have a strong commitment to the partnership’s vision- a continent that meets its reproductive health needs, promotes the population and development agenda and thereby address poverty, through South-South cooperation.

In 2006, the Board of Partners in Population and Development demonstrated its commitment to intensify its activities in Africa by establishing a regional presence. This response recognized the particularly strong needs for both human and financial resources to help the people of Africa get out of the current poverty trap. The Africa Regional Office opened in February 2007 in Kampala, Uganda with the mandate to coordinate a renewed and concerted effort to realize the Vision of “a continent that meets its reproductive health needs, promotes the population and development agenda and thereby addresses poverty, through south-south cooperation.”

Mission: PPD Africa, as part of the global South-South inter-governmental alliance, provides a platform for the promotion of and resource mobilization for Reproductive Health, Population and Development in Africa through four strategies:

• Policy and funding advocacy;
• Accountability for SRHR commitments
• Networking and strategic Southern partnerships and;
• South-South best practice transfer.

Why We Do It

The impetus for the PPD Africa Regional Office came from a growing understanding throughout the African Union that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) cannot be met without a renewed focus on family planning, population and the reproductive health of women.

The people of Africa, especially its women, children and youth, continue to suffer in abject poverty and dehumanizing conditions, foremost among which is an unparalleled burden of disease. At the same time, they face the special perils of the twenty-first century: urbanization of unprecedented speed, especially the growth of horrendous urban slums; and, of course, the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Amongst the most severe impediments to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is the dual burden of Africa’s exceedingly high birth rate and the very poor reproductive health (RH) conditions of so many of the continent’s people, especially the women. It is very clearly understood today that achievement of nearly all the MDGs depends upon success in achieving the principal goal of the landmark Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt in 1994: universal access to reproductive health services. Unless people, especially women, are able to achieve full control over their own reproduction and to achieve a good state of reproductive health, it will be nearly impossible to meet such MDGs as reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, achieving universal primary school enrolment, ending hunger, improving the environment, rolling back the AIDS pandemic, or, indeed, significantly reducing the proportion of people living in extreme poverty. All these goals depend upon slower rates of population growth and healthier, more productive women.

African leaders have recognized the great need for improved reproductive health and rights on the continent. In Gabarone in 2005, African Heads of State adopted the Continental Policy Framework for the Promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Africa at the annual meeting, showcasing their commitment. This framework was based on an action plan prepared by technical experts of the Africa Union, assisted by the UNFPA, WHO and IPPF and adopted by African Ministers of Health in Maputo in September 2006. South-South cooperation has been highlighted as one of the key routes for the attainment of the objectives of the Framework and the Plan of Action.

Partners in Population and Development (PPD) is a Southern-led, Southern-run inter-governmental organization with deep commitment to improving the reproductive health and rights in collaborating and partner countries, in strategic partnership with NGOs and other civil society organizations.

PPD established the Africa Regional Office (ARO) in Kampala, Uganda in early 2007 to intensify its South-South activities in Africa. The mandate of the Africa Regional Office is to coordinate a renewed and concerted effort to realize the Vision of “a continent that meets its reproductive health needs, promotes the population and development agenda and thereby addresses poverty, through south-south cooperation.”

To fulfil its vision and mission, PPD undertakes policy dialogue to ensure that reproductive health rises on the development agenda both nationally and internationally, and to carry out advocacy for increased reproductive health commodities and supplies. PPD will also promote the concept of South-South cooperation. PPD ARO will ensure accountability for SRHR commitments by working with partners to ensure PPD member countries report progress publicly against Maputo, publicizes any gaps against Abuja spending targets at regional, economic, and PPD meetings, and works with ministries and NGOs to advocate for family planning line items in country budgets. The PPD ARO focuses on networking and building strategic partnerships in the region by increasing the number of countries in Africa involved in south-south cooperation and strengthening their capacity. PPD shares experiences and good practices of governments and civil society within the region by documenting and disseminating good practices as well as mobilizing new and increasing the efficiency of existing human and financial resources in the region. But above all, the PPD ARO is committed to making a difference in the lives of Africans through the promotion and delivery of effective RH programs and policies throughout the continent.

Read the full strategic plan here:

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