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PRIORITYMEASURE3
“Build and strengthen national and subnational public institutionswith responsibility for population and development issues, and ensure that they
function inan integral and sustainablemannerwith theactive participation of non-governmental stakeholders.”
Possible lines of action
1. Explore the models of other countries that have a functioning institutional structure for population and development, evaluate their
principal challenges, and select the model most appropriate for the country; 2. Adopt an institutional structure for population and
development, including the designation of a public institution to provide technical support and coordinate actions on the issue;
3. Guarantee the sustainability of the population and development institutional structure, in financial and political terms, and identify the
main challenges; 4. Promote the design and implementation of policies and programmes based on a prior assessment of the existing
mechanisms for coordination among different sectors to ensure that population and development issues are handled in an integrated
manner; 5. Strengthen the institutions working in different sectors (such as pensions, health, education, gender and planning) on
population and development issues, including training and updating of their working teams, and facilitate the long-term retention of
specialized human resources; 6. Establish formal channels for civil society participation, facilitate and encourage participation by the
poorest andmost marginal groups, and create a process for interactive debate and feedback to ensure that all stakeholders recognize that
their contribution is meaningful; 7. Establish budgets for the civil society participation mechanism; 8. Promote the development of an
public institutional structure onpopulation anddevelopmentmatters at the subnational level.
Targets
1. An institutional structure defined to ensure the integrated treatment of population and development issues; 2. A public institution
designated and operating as coordinator of population and development actions; 3. Formal mechanisms defined and operating to allow
active participation by nongovernmental stakeholders.
Tentative indicators
1. Existence of a focal point on population and development issues prior to the Third Meeting of Presiding Officers of the Regional
Meeting of the RCPD; 2. Existence of a public institution responsible for coordinating population and development issues, acting as the
country’s counterpart to the RCPD before the third meeting; 3. Existence of a mechanism for broad participation, including
nongovernmental stakeholders.
Related instruments,
forums andmechanisms
1. Existingnational frameworks for population and development.
2. National frameworks created for follow-up andmonitoring of the SDGs.
Comments
The Consensus calls for establishing an integrated and sustainable institutional structure responsible for population and development
matters, the central task of which is to ensure full integration of population dynamics into the planning of sustainable development,
sectoral policies, and public programmes and policies in general (PM 4). The integration of population dynamics into sustainable
development planning is a central focus of population and development activities. Consequently, it must involve different institutions of
government responsible for such areas as health, education, pensions, gender and planning. This broad range of public agencies involved
in population and development matters underscores the need for a coordination body within government (PM 3) to ensure the
comprehensive treatment of population anddevelopment issues.
