Regional Conference: Population, Health, and Environment
Integrated Development for East Africa
The regional conference will explore concrete ways to address development priorities—such as poverty reduction, improved health, and natural resource management—through an integrated population-health-environment approach.
November 14-16, 2007
United Nations Conference Centre | Addis Ababa , Ethiopia
Participate in lively discussions, skills-building workshops, a field visit, and networking opportunities!
Conference Description
Conference Themes and Call for Abstracts
Conference Outputs
Venue and Logistics
Pre-Conference Workshops
Post-Conference Field Visit
Conference Registration
Conference Description
Join field practitioners, policymakers, researchers, the media, community leaders, and advocates from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and other countries around the world for presentations and discussions on population, health, and environment initiatives, and to explore strategies and opportunities for advancing population-health-environment integration in East Africa.
The population-health-environment (PHE) approach to development recognizes the interconnectedness between people and their environment, and supports multisectoral collaboration and coordination. As its name suggests, the PHE approach places particular emphasis on the population, health, and environment sectors. However, the underlying philosophy is fundamentally one of integration – it can accommodate other sectors and be successfully applied to achieve a range of development goals, from poverty reduction to food security to gender equity.
The PHE approach to development has been applied at all levels—from the community to the national level, involving field operations to policy reform—in many regions of the world. What is common among the different projects and programs is recognition of the impacts of the health of the environment on people, and vice versa.
Questions to be addressed during the conference include:
- How can an integrated approach like PHE help East African countries meet their Millennium Development Goals?
- What lessons do PHE programs from around the world have for East Africa?
- How can the widely recognized need for cross-sectoral collaboration be better operationalized in East Africa?
- What kind of research on PHE integration is needed to advance local, national, and regional efforts?
- Are there ongoing single-sector projects where an integrated PHE program may improve results?
- Where are the opportunities to scale up current field-level PHE efforts?
- How can stakeholders ensure that issues involving the integration of population, health, and environment are placed on the policy agenda?
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Conference Themes and Call for Abstracts
Plenary and parallel sessions will address the following themes:
- Integrated approaches to wildlife and forest conservation.
- Biodiversity and human health.
- The role of gender in population, health, and environment programs.
- Livelihood alternatives and microfinance in population, health, and environment programs.
- Water and sanitation.
- HIV/AIDS and its impact on the environment.
- PHE and Security (food security, conflicts over resources, vulnerability to natural disasters)
If you are interested in presenting a poster to share the experiences of your integrated project or the results of your integrated research, please send a short description (no more than 350 words) including the project’s objective/research questions, location, partnering organizations or communities, and key thematic areas (such as gender, water, agriculture, HIV/AIDS, wildlife conservation) by August 15 to Melissa Thaxton at mthaxton@prb.org. Funding for East African residents may be available for invited participants. Cost-sharing of travel and local expenses is encouraged.
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Conference Outputs
1. Release of country-level PHE assessments for Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.
The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) is coordinating a comparative study of the state of population, health, and environment (PHE) integration and cross-sectoral collaboration in five countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Teams from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda will assess the state of PHE integration in their respective countries, including: identifying relevant stakeholders; assessing the policy environment for cross-sectoral collaboration; highlighting the most salient population, health, and environment issues; and describing the current state of integration among projects, programs, and policies. The assessments will offer recommendations for improving planning, coordination, and implementation of integrated development projects, programs, and policies.
Together, the individual country assessments will comprise a comparative study that documents population-health-environment issues, programs, and policies in East Africa.
As of June 2007, country-level PHE assessments have been completed for Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Assessment teams for Rwanda and Uganda will be formed to undertake similar studies in those countries in 2008.
2. Launch of a regional network of PHE experts, journalists, decisionmakers, and advocates.
The network will serve as a communication mechanism for members to advance ideas, share information, and provide support for cross-sectoral collaboration and population, health, and environment integration in East Africa.
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Conference Venue and Logistics
United Nations Conference Centre
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, considered to be the political capital of Africa, is the home of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). More than 95 embassies from all over the world have their missions there. This makes the capital of Ethiopia a city where one finds the highest concentration of embassies in the world after Washington, DC, New York, and London. Furthermore, Ethiopia’s national airline carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, serves 22 other cities in Africa, making Addis the most accessible city on the continent.
The United Nations Conference Centre ( UNCC) is one of the most modern and sophisticated conference centers in the world offering state-of-the-art facilities. For more information on the UNCC and its services and facilities, go to www.uneca.org/uncc.
A limited number of hotel rooms have been reserved for conference participants at the following hotels:
Hilton Hotel
Menelik II Avenue , Addis Ababa , Ethiopia
Tel: 251-(0)11-5170000, (0)115518400
Fax: 251-(0)11-5510064, (0)115151718
E-mail: hilton.addis@ethionet.et,SALES_ADDIS@HILTON.COM
Axum Hotel
Haile Gebreselassie Avenue , Addis Ababa , Ethiopia
P.O. Box 40318 Addis Ababa , Ethiopia
Tel: 251-(0)11- 661 39 16
Fax: 251-(0)11- 661 42 65
E-mail: axum.d@ethionet.et
Hotel De Leopol
P.O. Box 12586 Addis Ababa , Ethiopia
Tel: 251-(0)11-5507777, 251-911-67 78 73
Fax: 251-(0)11-5531466
E-mail: hoteldeleopol@ethionet.et
Transportation from these hotels to the UN Conference Centre will be provided daily. For hotel rates and assistance booking a room, please contact Michela Marazzani, Conference Logistics Coordinator, at michelamarazzani@yahoo.com.
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Pre-Conference Workshops
In conjunction with the regional conference, the Population Reference Bureau will conduct two 2-day simultaneous workshops prior to the conference.
1. Coalition-Building for Population, Health, and Environment in East Africa
Working with development planners, NGO representatives, researchers, and other key stakeholders from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, PRB will conduct a 2-day workshop on coalition building, which will serve as a foundation for the launch of an East Africa PHE Network.
2. Journalist Seminar: Population, Health, and Environment in East Africa
A journalist seminar will be conducted to increase the knowledge, skills, and interest in reporting on population-health-environment issues among journalists in influential news outlets and to increase the quantity and quality of news coverage of key PHE issues in East Africa. As part of the seminar program, journalists will participate in a field visit to a PHE project site, and will attend the Regional PHE Conference to provide media coverage of the event. (more)
For more information about the coalition-building workshop, please contact Melissa Thaxton at mthaxton@prb.org. For more information about the journalist seminar, please contact Erin Sines at esines@prb.org.
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Post-Conference Field Visit
On Saturday, November 17, an optional field visit will be offered to interested conference participants. The field visit will provide participants with the opportunity to explore issues of integration such as forest management, environmental education, and health service delivery at the community level. Registration for the field visit (indicate interest on the conference registration form) will be required and spaces will be filled on a first come-first served basis. More information about the field visit will be available soon.
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Conference Registration
Registration is now open. Please note that due to tight security at the UN Conference Center, only registered participants will be allowed access to the building . Therefore, we MUST receive your registration form by October 15, 2007.
Key Contacts:
For information regarding the conference agenda and pre-conference workshops, please contact:
Melissa Thaxton
Policy Analyst
Population, Health and Environment Program
Population Reference Bureau
1875 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 520
Washington, DC 20009
202-939-5436
mthaxton@prb.org
For information regarding conference logistics—including hotel bookings, transportation, and visa requirements, please contact:
Michela Marazzani
Conference Logistics Coordinator
michelamarazzani@yahoo.com
Tel: 251-(0)11- 662 70 74/75
251- (0)911- 22 16 37
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Organizers: Population Reference Bureau, World Wildlife Fund-US, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Sponsors: United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Packard Foundation-Ethiopia. Additional sponsors welcome.