Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development

Where does the IAPG’s financing come from?

The IAPG receives funding from various sources including United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The Japanese government, via the Japan Trust Fund for Parliamentary Activities and UNFPA, has financed many of our activities, including this website. The IAPG also works in alliance with international NGOs, such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Population Action International (PAI), which have provided funding to numerous IAPG activities.

Since its founding, the IAPG has received funding from different sources, including the Saavedra Fajardo Foundation, the Academy for Educational Development under the Central America HIV/AIDS Prevention Program (PASCA), the Spanish International Cooperation Agency, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region.

What is the IAPG’s structure?

The IAPG operates through a Regional Secretariat that implements activities in two main program areas:
 Support and Technical Capacity Building
 Dialogue and Parliamentary Leadership

The IAPG Board of Directors manages the organization’s affairs and is governed by its Bylaws. It is comprised of seven parliamentarian members who represent each of the sub-regions in the Americas: Southern Cone (two positions), Andean region (one), North America (two), Central America (one) and the Caribbean (one).

The IAPG Council is made up of representatives from each country in the Americas that has a national parliamentary group on population and development. The Council chooses the members of the Board of Directors

What issues does the IAPG address?

The IAPG focuses on the following Priority Issues:
 Adolescents and Youth
 Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
 Gender Based Violence
 HIV/AIDS
 Trafficking in persons, especially women and girls
 Poverty and Reproductive Health
 Discrimination
 Migration
 Reproductive Health in Crises and Armed Conflict
 Incorporating a Gender Perspective in Public Policies

Where do we work?

The IAPG’s mandate is to work in the Americas, which includes Canada, the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. The IAPG has prioritized work in Latin America and the Caribbean because this region faces the most pressing challenges in terms of population and development.

What is a regional parliamentary group?

Regional parliamentary groups working on the issues of population and development include:
 The Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD)
 The Forum of African and Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development (FAAPPD)
 The European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF)

What is the International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI)?

The Third International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI) was held in Bangkok on November 21 and 22, 2006. Two previous IPCI conferences were held in 2002 and 2004, in Ottawa and Strasbourg respectively. The objective of these conferences is to focus attention on two areas that are essential to successfully implementing the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action, which was created in 1994: 1) to create an enabling policy environment, and 2) to urge developed and developing countries alike to mobilize sufficient resources for the ICPD Programme of Action. In Bangkok, the conference reviewed advances since the 1994 conference in Cairo and agreed on a common strategy to reach the ICPD goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

The conference was organized by the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and AFPPD hosted the conference and represented the other regional parliamentarian groups on population and development, including the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (IAPG), the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) and the Forum of African and Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development (FAAPPD), as well as the global parliamentarian organization Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA).

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What does the phrase population and development with a “rights perspective” mean?

At the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994, the international community recognized the importance of population policies that promote a human rights and human development perspective. The IAPG supports laws and programs that incorporate health and human rights and that also focus on furthering and strengthening women’s empowerment and improving their situation in the family and society. The IAPG recognizes that equity and equality are vital to this outlook, and that an integrated framework of sexual and reproductive health translates into improved quality of life for people and therefore enhanced development for countries.