Indonesia’s FP2020 Country Committee came together for its 12th meeting in Jakarta on Thursday, 8 October.
Dr. Surya Chandra Surapaty, Head of the National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN), chaired his second meeting since joining the agency earlier this year. He was joined by his co-chairs UNFPA Indonesia Representative Mr. Jose Ferraris and Ms. Zohra Balsara, the Health Office Deputy Director for USAID, who each presented an opening address.
“It is our goal to revitalize Indonesia’s family planning efforts,” explained Dr. Surapaty during his opening address, adding that he had spent the last few months learning about the various issues with FP2020.
“Indonesia’s current family planning programme is entering a new phase and there are many challenges and opportunities. I do hope that this country committee can become the best forum to create a platform to discuss and share ideas on family planning.”
With more than 3,000 people from 108 countries set to arrive in Bali in November for the 4th International Conference on Family Planning, the event was one of the two main items on the meeting’s agenda. Ms Siti Fatonah from BKKBN provided an update on the conference, which runs from 9-12 November. Johns Hopkins University, PKBI, WPF-Rutgers, USAID and UNFPA, who are all supporting parts of the ICFP, also provided their updates on the activities they are supporting. The various sub-comittees – scientific, faith-based, youth and media – also shared updates.
“The conference will be a crucial platform to elevate family planning and women’s and girls’ health within the new global development agenda and to ensure that access to voluntary contraceptive information and services remain a priority for policymakers, donors and the private sector,” Mr. Ferraris explained to the room of participants, which included representatives from the Ministry of Health and Bappenas.
“We must use this pivotal moment to redouble our efforts as a global community to seek practical, sustainable solutions to the most difficult problems, and to ensure we are making enough of an investment to deliver on our promises for millions of women and girls,” Dr. Surapaty added during his opening speech.
The meeting also provided an opportunity for Ms. Ambar Rahayu, Principal Secretary of BKKBN, to provide an overview of Indonesia’s FP2020 Country Committee progress, ahead of her trip to Washington D.C., where she is due to present these findings.
Ms. Ambar gave a comprehensive summary of the progress including challenges such as financial barriers to demand and difficulties connecting with hard-to-reach populations. She also presented some highlights including the positive collaboration through the South-South Cooperation programme on the strategic partnerships between the government and Muslim religious leaders on family planning.
Indonesia’s FP2020 Country Committee is made up of representatives from government ministries, development agencies, non-governmental agencies, civil-society organizations and academics.
The next meeting will be hosted by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization.
