We, citizens and friends of Tanzania representing different stakeholder groups of family planning, including representatives of the Government of Tanzania, development partners, Members of Parliament, civil societies and non-governmental organizations, and private sector corporations convened in Dar es Salaam on October 9- 11th, 2013 at the National Family Planning Conference and re-affirmed our individual commitment in our respective roles to act towards strengthening the family planning movement, and intensifying current efforts to accelerate the implementation of the National Family Planning Costed Implementation Program (2010-2015) at all levels, to achieve universal access to voluntary quality family planning in Tanzania; and contribute to attainment of the country’s FP2020 commitments.
Recognizing that:
i.
family
planning is requisite for enabling the country to achieve its Vision 2025 goal
- to achieve a high-quality livelihood for the people and develop a strong and
competitive economy;
ii.
family
planning is an important and cost-effective way to prevent HIV-positive births,
and by extension, the number of children needing HIV treatment, care and
support, and an effective strategy to prevent HIV transmission for improving
access to and use of voluntary contraception;
iii.
about
half (50%) of our country’s population is under the age of 15, and that 23
percent of women aged 15-19 years have begun childbearing with little or no
access to contraceptives;
iv.
young
people need special attention, both in increasing their access to information,
education, and friendly services to empower them to choose and
use contraceptive methods effectively;
v.
increased
use of family planning has great potential to contribute to the country’s One
Plan target of reducing maternal mortality from 454 to 193 per 100,000 live
births by 2015; and
vi.
the
country’s
development is not keeping pace with the rapid population growth at 2.9% per
year;existing laws and regulations that may impede choice and increased access
to family planning services.
Acknowledging that:
i.
considerable
progress has been made to advance family planning since the launch of the
National Family Planning Costed Implementation Program (NFPCIP) in 2010,
including lessening of stock-outs at various levels and funding availability
for commodities;
ii.
the
Government of Tanzania (GoT) is committed to prioritize, facilitate and support
in an integrated manner the provision of quality family planning and
reproductive and child health services to men, women, adolescents, and children
in the country;
iii.
a
specific FP target, has been included in Medium Term Expenditure Framework
(MTEF); and targets for total fertility and population growth rate reduction in
the 2nd National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA II);
We take note of the various Africa
Regional frameworks and global conventions, agreements and initiatives such as:
i.
the
Abuja Declaration (2001), Maputo Protocol, the Maputo Plan of Action on the
Operationalization of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (2006);
ii.
the
International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of
Action 1994—to provide universal access to
family planning, and sexual and reproductive health services and rights;
deliver gender equality, empowerment of women and equal access to education for
girls; address the individual, social and economic impact of urbanization and
migration; and support sustainable development and environmental issues
associated with population changes;
iii.
the
UN Secretary General’s initiative, Every Woman Every Child in 2010 aimed at
improving women’s and children’s health around the world;
iv.
the
FP2020 initiative to reduce unmet need for family planning;
v.
the
MDGs forging global partnership to reduce extreme poverty by 2015;
vi.
the
various African resolutions and frameworks made through ECSA and SADC; and
vii.
the
UN Human Rights Council Resolution recognizing maternal mortality and morbidity
as a human rights concern, 17 June 2009.
Concerned that:
i)
increasing
unmet need for family planning from 21.8% in 2004-2005 to 25% in 2010, and the
rapid population growth of 2.7% annually exhibited over the years and in the
2012 Census Report with a noted 10 million population increase from 2002 to the
current 45million overwhelms country development efforts;
ii)
the momentum to reposition and
reinvigorate family planning in Tanzania has been slow with an annual CPR rate of growth of 1.1% (2004-2010) against 5.2% required to attain
the national CPR target of 60% by 2015;
iii)
existing disparities especially in
geographical areas with low family planning activities/investment, and among
groups including adolescents and young people impact negatively on universal
access to family planning information, services and supplies;
iv)
sociocultural factors such as harmful
traditional practices (FGM, early marriage); misconceptions around continued
education of pregnant girls; violence against women and girls; misconceptions
around contraception methods, use and access; and inadequate communication
within communities continue to pose barriers to uptake of family planning
services;
We
jointly commit to achieve universal access to quality family planning in
Tanzania by 2020 and beyond, and pledge to intensify and accelerate efforts at
national, regional, district and community levels to implement strategic
interventions in the NFPCIP by:
§ Reducing disparities and inequities, ensuring that
information, services and supplies reach every Tanzanian of reproductive age in
need of family planning services in particular young people and others who are
disadvantaged in their access.
§ Optimizing the performance of the health system focusing on
efficiency of logistics and distribution of family planning commodities,
institutions, and maximizing productivity and capacity of health care workers.
§ Demonstrating country ownership and accountability by working in
partnership to ensure national and district-level resources support the
priorities of women, young people, and communities to plan for healthy and
productive families.
As representatives of the Tanzania Central
Government, we commit to:
1.
Exercise our responsibility of enhanced leadership
and governance to ensure the NFPCIP receives high operational priority for
resources (financial, human, and technical) and achieves optimum managerial
support;
2.
Amplify resource mobilization efforts for
family planning from internal and external sources to sustain efforts in
reducing the unmet need for family planning and attaining the 60% CPR target by
2015, and ensuring contraceptive security at all levels.
3.
Strengthen accountability in family
planning program implementation through monitoring and evaluating progress and
results;
4.
Effectively coordinate family planning
interventions, and partnerships as well as encourage the participation of civil
societies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
5.
Facilitate and prioritize the integration
of family planning in development plans at
national
and district levels, and strive for timely disbursement of all allocations
requested for family planning programs.
6.
Strengthen data management and
documentation of evidence to improve policy and planning for family planning
7.
Ensure availability of revised policy
guidelines, standards at all levels.
As Members of Parliament, we commit to:
- Represent and engage community leadership in responding to public demand for family planning services and in ensuring relevant government institutions are accountable to provision of voluntary family planning services,
- Champion family planning at all forums—in parliament, at constituency and community level, and at all events—to enhance leadership and public understanding of the health and socio-economic benefits of family planning.
- Promote government accountability and efficiency in delivering family planning services, monitor progress at community level, and influence resource allocation to meet family planning needs.
As Regional and District Government
Authorities, we commit to:
1.
Prioritize
family planning activities in Comprehensive Council Health Plans and budgets, and
demonstrate their relevance to other health and development sectors, and
monitor progress;
2.
Implement
modalities to address barriers to access in collaboration with key stakeholders
including the private sector.
3.
Progressively
increase the level of council resources allocated for family planning
activities by setting a specific percentage increase in the annual budget to
match resource requirements in order to meet set targets for contraceptive
prevalence by 2015
4.
Take
concrete and deliberate efforts with other stakeholders to strengthen outreach
and community based services to reach underserved populations, including young
people, poor women and those with disabilities in remote settings; ensure
utilization of data for effective planning and accountability.
As representatives of Development
Partners, we commit to:
1.
Facilitate
the provision of targeted, relevant and coordinated technical knowledge and support
that is responsive to Tanzania’s needs and that contributes to attaining
universal access to voluntary family planning information, services and
supplies.
2.
In
a timely manner, fulfill financial resource commitments made at the July 2012
London Summit and in respective bilateral agreements towards enhancing
commodity security, adequate and timely delivery of family planning services.
As Representatives of Civil
Societies and Non-Governmental Organizations, we commit to:
1.
Work
in partnership with government and development partners to implement coordinated
and targeted family planning programs, and advocacy initiatives that uphold
human rights, the right to quality information and services, and an enabling
policy and resource environment.
2.
Compliment
national family planning efforts and promote community-based strategies to
ensure citizens participation in family planning programs through information, priority
setting, education and gender empowerment campaigns.
3.
Monitor
progress from the grassroots and up to feed into policy processes and actions
through Parliament and government, and hold leaders accountable to family
planning unmet needs.
4.
Jointly
collaborate to implement coordinated, results-based efforts in line with the
NFPCIP while ensuring the effective and efficient utilization of resources to
achieve maximum results;
5.
Advocate
for enhanced government accountability to the Tanzanian citizens for their
development policies, strategies and performance, with a specific focus on
family planning goals and commitments.
6.
Lead
advocacy efforts to ensure an enabling policy, regulatory, managerial and operational
environment and address customary, legislative and religious barriers to access
quality family planning services
7.
Work
in partnership with the government and other stakeholders to strengthen health
systems to ensure health availability, sustainability, access and use of
quality services and supplies.
As Representatives of Private Sector Corporations,
we commit to:
1.
Build
strong partnerships among the corporate companies and between them and the
public sector to sustain continuous support to national efforts to ensure sufficient
supply of family planning commodities and services especially in hard-to-reach
groups and geographical areas.
2.
Work
towards ensuring that an effective funding mechanism (like Basket Funding
system) is in place to periodically support and sustain initiatives aimed at
strengthening access to family planning information, services and supplies with
a view to improving health of mothers and children in Tanzania.
3.
Promote
innovations and entrepreneurship in order to enhance strategies and
technologies that address young people’s sexual and reproductive health
knowledge and service needs.
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