1. No category

“Empowering women and girls to lead self-determined, healthy and productive lives”
April 16th and 17th 2015, Berlin, Germany
Aim of the conference
Recognising that parliamentarians play a key role in advancing the international development agenda,
particularly in mobilising the necessary support and holding government leaders accountable for their
commitments, the German All Party Parliamentarians Group on Population and Development, in
collaboration with DSW (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung) and the European Parliamentary Forum
on Population and Development (EPF), has decided to convene a meeting of international
parliamentarians in Berlin prior to the G7 Summit. The conference follows the tradition of
parliamentary conferences in conjunction with the respective G8 presidencies and will take place at
the same time as the G7 Sherpa meeting in Berlin, so that conference outcomes can inform the further
preparation of the G7 Summit.
The conference aims at creating support among parliamentarians and encouraging them to pressure
for increased G7 commitment to international development cooperation and global health, in particular
to issues where progress to date has been disappointing, namely in the area of gender equality,
women’s empowerment, and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Objectives

To bring together parliamentarians from G7, G20 and Southern and emerging countries to
discuss and strategize emerging issues, challenges, best practices, lessons learned and
policy recommendations;

To enhance parliamentarians’ influence and commitment to global development and health
issues, in particular the importance of functioning health systems, modern family planning, and
sexual and reproductive health and rights to women and girls’ economic and social
empowerment;

To reinforce parliamentarians’ ability to persuade governments to complete the unfinished
business of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 3 (promotion of gender equality & women’s
empowerment), 4 (child mortality reduction) and 5 (maternal health improvement) and to
implement the recommendations of the International Conference on Population and
Page 1
Development Beyond 2014 Review Report and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
on Women’s empowerment in G7 development policies and the post-2015 process.
Thematic focus
As German Chancellor Merkel has chosen the economic empowerment of women as one of the key
topics for the G7 Summit, the conference will draw attention to the fact that the sexual and
reproductive health and rights of women and girls are key prerequisites for their empowerment, as
they enable women and girls to lead self-determined, healthy and productive lives. Without the rights,
information, capacities, tools, commodities and support needed to decide over their bodies, health,
and the number and timing of their children, women and girls are often unable to complete their
education, build a career, fulfil their dreams and contribute actively to their communities. Access to
voluntary family planning marks a cornerstone in their right to self-determination. An estimated 222
million women in developing countries would like to either stop or delay childbearing, but do not have
access to modern means of contraception, thus severely limiting their ability to chart their own and
their family’s destiny.
Given that today’s world has the largest youth generation in history, a special focus of the conference
will be on adolescent girls (10-19 years). Today, there are about 600 million adolescent girls in the
world, comprising about 8.5 % of the world population. Adolescent girls are especially vulnerable they are often subjected to various forms of discrimination and violence, and without equal
opportunities to enjoy the same freedoms as boys. For many girls, adolescence marks an accelerating
trajectory into inequality.
Research shows that positive investments during adolescence can help offset this trend and tend to
yield positive outcomes for the rest of girls’ lives – with macro-level social, economic, demographic
multiplier benefits. Moreover, investments in women and girls not only benefit the women and girls
themselves, but also their children, families, communities and the economy.
Empowering women and girls and enabling them to realize their sexual and reproductive health and
rights is thus not only an ethical and human rights imperative, but also crucial to all other aspects of
health and well-being, and for achieving gender equality, education, economic and sustainable
development objectives.
The conference will bring attention to these issues and their inter-linkages; present and discuss
relevant data, best practices, and lessons learned; and allow parliamentarians to discuss and
determine effective ways forward. It will focus on presenting interventions that have proven to be
successful in addressing challenges and in empowering women and girls, with inputs and case-studies
from a variety of speakers and countries. During thematic sessions participants will be able to deepen
their understanding and exchange experiences with regards to population dynamics, women’s
empowerment, ensuring access to modern family planning services, improving maternal health,
guaranteeing women and girls’ bodily integrity and sexual and reproductive rights, and involving boys
and men in the promotion of gender equality, among others.
Time to act
Germany holds the presidency of the G7 and will convene the G7 Summit at Schloss Elmau on June
th
th
7 and 8 2015. The 2015 G7 Summit presents a chance to put global development, women’s
empowerment and health high on the agenda, and advocate for a strengthening of G7 commitment to
sexual and reproductive health and rights issues and gender equality. Given that the G8’s Muskoka
Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health expires in 2015, parliamentarians have a unique
Page 2
opportunity to encourage G7 leaders to complete the “unfinished business” of the MDGs 3, 4 and 5
and maintain their leadership in the area of women’s empowerment, sexual and reproductive health
and rights and to highlight the needs of women and girls in this area.
Moreover, 2015 is a crucial year for international development – it is the endpoint by which to
accomplish the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the moment to renew international
commitment for a post-2015 development agenda and a new set of sustainable development goals. In
July, the Third International Conference on Financing for Development will take place in Ethiopia and
in September, the Post-2015 Development Agenda is to be adopted at a UN Summit in New York.
th
Moreover, 2015 marks the 20 anniversary of the adoption of the Platform for Action of the 1995 UN
Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. 2015 thus provides an unparalleled opportunity for
parliamentarians to weigh in the discussions and to advocate for strong, continued commitment to
achieve a world of prosperity, equity, freedom, dignity and peace.
Expected outcomes

Parliamentarians deepen their knowledge about global development, health, gender equality
and women’s empowerment, particularly with regards to sexual and reproductive health and
rights;

Parliamentarians intensify their efforts to advocate for health system strengthening and sexual
and reproductive health and rights, family planning, the economic and social empowerment of
women and girls, and the implementation of the recommendations of the International
Conference on Population and Development Beyond 2014 Review and the Beijing Declaration
and Platform of Action in their own countries;

Parliamentarians generate commitment from G7 leader and their respective governments, and
ensure that their promises are kept at key moments in 2015 at the national, European and
international levels;

Parliamentarians forge links with their counterparts from other countries.
Expected output
The conference is expected to produce a forward-looking Parliamentarians’ Appeal:

Appealing to G7 heads of states and governments as well as other countries to strengthen
their commitment in the area of global development, health and empowerment of women and
girls and to ensure that sexual and reproductive health and rights, family planning and the
needs women and girls are included in the post-2015 development agenda and relevant

policies.
Committing parliamentarians to promote and monitor the implementation of commitments
made by G7 leaders and other governments.
The final Parliamentarians’ Appeal will be presented to the German G7 Sherpa and is expected to
feed into the deliberations and documentation of the G7 Summit in June 2015.
Organisers
Page 3
The German All Party Parliamentarians Group on Population and Development, in collaboration with
DSW and EPF.
Dates and venue
th
th
The conference will take place in the German capital, Berlin, on April 16 and 17 2015. The
conference location will be the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Conference programme
The conference will last two days. Its programme will include plenary sessions with key note
addresses, presentations and panel discussions, as well as different thematic working groups. It is
planned to have several German and international parliamentarians host the different sessions of the
conference. Summing-up sessions will ensure that key lessons and suggested ways forward are
recorded and inform the final Parliamentarians’ Appeal, which will be handed over to the G7 Sherpa at
the end of the conference. Simultaneous translation into German, English and French will be offered
(other languages to be determined).
Participants
The conference aims at inviting ca 140 participants of whom roughly 70 will be parliamentarians and
70 observers, panellists and speakers. Participants will include approximately:

20 parliamentarians from G7 countries;

50 parliamentarians from G20, European and developing countries;

20 panellists and key note speakers;

50 observers, including representatives from the European Commission, the African Union,
international organisations (such as the United Nations Population Fund, other UN agencies,
the World Bank) and selected non-governmental organisations.
Cost of participation
For parliamentarians and other invited guests, the conference organisers can, at request, cover the
cost of travel and other necessary expenses. Observers are asked to pay for their own travel and
accommodation costs.
Conference website
http://she-matters.org/
Page 4
For additional information please contact:
DSW (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung)
Ms. Frauke Wiprich
Head of German Advocacy
Tel: (+49) 30 2400069-20
Email: [email protected]
Ms. Anja Papenfuss
Advocacy Officer
Tel: (+49) 30 2400069-24
Email: [email protected]
Alexanderstraße 1
10178 Berlin, Germany
Fax: (+49) 30 2400069-22
www.dsw.org
EPF (European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development)
Mr. Neil Datta
Secretary
23 Rue Montoyer
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: (+32) 25008652
Fax: (+32) 25116762
Email: [email protected]
www.epfweb.org
In cooperation with
Page 5