Welcome Speech of the UNFPA Representative
International Training on Comprehensive, Rights-based FP & FP Bridging Leadership Training for Bantul District Officials Yogyakarta, 3 October 2016

Ladies and Gentlemen

Asalam Alakum
Good Afternoon, Selamat Siang

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to say a few words on behalf of UNFPA.

On World Contraception Day 27 th September this year, Dr. Babatunde’s stated

“Access to modern contraception saves and transforms women’s lives. It transforms their families and communities, too. Family planning is one of the best investments countries can make for women’s empowerment, gender equality and economic prosperity.”

Family Planning is recognised as critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals...Family planning’s contribution goes beyond just reducing maternal mortality and morbidity as well as neonatal, infant and child mortality. Through reducing fertility, family planning helps to reduce costs related to health care, education, water and sanitation and social services. It also contributes to protecting scarce natural resources and the adverse impacts of climate change, and is critical for achieving the demographic dividend in countries with high fertility.

The London Summit in 2012 pledged to accelerate progress towards expanding access to family planning for 120 million women and girls in the world’s poorest countries by the year 2020. Both Indonesia and Bangladesh made commitments to FP2020 in 2012 to, among other targets, decreae unmet need, increase contraceptive prevalence and increase the long acting percentage in method mix. Afghanistan also recently pledged commitment to FP2020. To date Timor Leste has not formally pledged but appears committed to achieving national FP targets. 

Unmet need of family planning continues to be a problem among women and girls who want to have control over the size and timing of their families, especially in those women in the lowest wealth quintile, poorest educated and teenaged girls.

One of the major gaps in access to family planning services is the lack of skilled providers who can offer a range of quality services, including long-acting and permanent methods of contraception.

This is one of the reasons why in 2014 UNFPA Indonesia initiated a collaboration with Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and BKKBN to establish a Centre of Excellence at the Faculty of Medicine UGM to host the International Training on Comprehensive, Rights-Based Family Planning.

Let me digress a little to provide the history of the programme. In early 2014, UNFPA Indonesia commissioned an assessment of several Universities and Provincial BKKBN to possibly host SSTC on Comprehensive, Rights-based FP. UNFPA assigned Dr. Saramma Mathai to assess four universities in Surabaya, Denpasar (Bali), Yogyakarta, and Jakarta. UGM was selected as the host of the training. An MoU between UGM and BKKBN, witnessed by UNFPA Indonesia, was signed in October 2014. The MoU states:
a. UGM is responsible to provide the training facilities, and trainers;
b. BKKBN is providing technical and financial support, as well as clients used for the training;
c. UNFPA is providing technical assistance, training materials (models), and promotion of the training.

In late 2014 and early 2015, a steering committee and a technical working group, comprising UGM, BKKBN, and UNFPA were set up and the training curriculum and materials were developed. The curriculum and materials were approved by the Steering Committee in 2015. In the mid-2015, UNFPA Indonesia also procured training models and equipment and promoted the training to other UNFPA country offices in Asia. The first training programme was organized in October 2015 with 6 participants from Afghanistan, Myanmar and Timor Leste. This is the second training. I know of no other international hands-on, clinical training in family planning in Asia.

During this 18 day training, participants will be exposed to all aspects of family planning methods – understanding the methods, how do the methods work, who can use the methods, how to use, insert, or perform the methods, and how to minimize the side effects and complications, in addition to the counselling for each contraceptive method. These methods are taught from a rights based perspective. During the training, the participants will also discuss the family planning programme policies, services and its monitoring and evaluation and be introduced to some aspects of family planning.
 

I wish you participants a successful training that will equip you to provide quality, rights- based family planning services for the women and couples in your respective countries.

I would like to extend our gratitude to the Faculty of Medicine, UGM, Dr. Sardjito Hospital, BKKBN, Ministry of State Secretariat, and USAID for their valuable contribution, who have made this training possible in 2016.

Now I would also like to say a few words about the Bridging Leadership Training Programme.

Decentralization of family planning programme in Indonesia was started in early 2000. Sincethen, family planning achievements have stagnated. The total fertility rate remains the same at around 2.6 from 2002 to 2012, and the contraceptive prevalence for all methods among married women remains at around 60%. Analyses have indicated that the stagnation is among other reasons, due to decentralization, in which commitment of local governments varies.

The district government plays a critical role in the successful implementation of the family planning programme and has to well manage it. District leaders should not only understand the technical concepts but also fully engage in its promotion and interpersonal communications pertaining to it. The district leaders should be able to analyse problems and develop creativity in problem solving. The interpersonal skills needed to be a leader include being able to mobilize the community, build partnerships, develop and maintain networks, understand the capabilities of staff, and facilitate teamwork and conflict resolution.

Bridging leadership is a mechanism for sharing the leadership among leaders, partners and people for sharing the ownership of the family planning programme.

Philippines started decentralization of the family planning programme in the early 1990s, a decade earlier than Indonesia. They developed a bridging leadership programme. Indonesia will learn from their bridging leadership in the family planning programme for family planning programme managers. 

For the history, in 2012, an MoU was signed and implemented between Philippines and Indonesia, and a first training for Muslim Religious Leaders and Local Government Units from Autonomous Regions of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was organized in Indonesia in October 2012, involving the Population Commission, BKKBN and UNFPA. The training was followed with internship for ARMM’s family planning and health workers in Indonesia. Indonesia through UNFPA support also sent Muslim Religious Leaders to facilitate ARMM’s advocacy workshop. The Philippines implements pilot projects in five municipalities in the ARMM to apply the lessons learned from Indonesia especially on the roles of MRLs in family planning. Based on the 2014 Bi-National Steering Committee meeting, two areas of collaboration were added i.e. the decentralization of family planning, and youth Muslim leaders. In 2015, Indonesia sent a delegation to learn about the family planning decentralization system in the Philippines. As a follow-up, Indonesia will apply the Bridging Leadership programming in FP under the decentralized system in one or two districts commencing 2016.

This bridging leadership training is the first step to implementing the bridging leadership in the family planning programme in Bantul District. Leadership transformation must be implemented and follow-up interventions will be required after this training at Bantul District. The commitment of Bantul District and all relevant parties is crucial for the success of the leadership transformation.

On behalf of UNFPA, I would like to convey our sincere thanks to the Population Commission, to the Zoelig Family Foundation, to UNFPA of the Philippines, BKKBN, and the Government of Bantul for their commitment to organizing the bridging leadership training- workshop. Terima kasih.

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