VANCOUVER, 4-6 June 2019 - 52 parliamentarians from 42 countries participated in the Parliamentarians’ Forum at the 5th Women Deliver Conference this week in Vancouver.
Alongside the Women Deliver plenaries and side-events, the three-day Parliamentarians’ Forum included targeted thematic sessions with interventions from key selected leaders delivering for women and girls followed by open discussions.
The Forum aimed to enable a productive and structured dialogue on the successes, challenges and obstacles in advancing women’s and girl’s health and rights and delivering solutions for their advancement on a global scale.
The agenda also included a session with the WD2019 Advocacy Academy and on the final day, the creation of the Global Parliamentary Alliance for Health, Rights and Development.
Members of parliaments will play a central role in advancing the SDGs, improving the lives of women and girls in their home countries and abroad. The Parliamentarians’ Forum is thus an excellent opportunity for young and motivated parliamentarians to meet with well-known champion MPs in advancing SRHR at regional, national and global level.
The gathered parliamentarians were addressed by the following speakers throughout the week:
- Ian Askew, Director, Department of Reproductive Health and Research (WHO)
- Dr Alvaro Bermejo, Director General, International Planned Parenthood Federation
- Chris Elias, President of Global Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Arthur Erken, Director, UNFPA, Division of Communications and Strategic Partnerships
- Françoise Girard, President, International Women's Health Coalition
- Sarah E Hendriks, Director, Gender Equality at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Katja Iversen President/CEO, Women Deliver
- Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, UNFPA
- Beth Schlachter, Executive Director, FP2020
- Anupama Tantri, Executive Director, Global Vaccines Policy Development, Merck & Co., Inc.
The Parliamentarians’ Forum was organised by The European Forum of Parliamentarians for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF) and The African Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (FPA) in partnership with: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and World Health Organization (WHO).