On 11th and 12th October, JOICFP attended the EuroNGOs 2007 Conference, held under the theme of "Engaging the South in ICPD Advocacy."

The conference focused on how European NGOs and Southern partners could support each other.

Over 60 participants from 34 NGO networks attended, and JOICFP took part to-

• Learn about EU advocacy tactics of NGOs and civil society with a view to the 2008 G8 Summit to be held in Japan.
• Meet with NGOs from G8 countries to help educate G8 governments on the need to include health on the G8 Summit agenda.

Euromapping

A presentation on "Euromapping" by DSW, showed that family planning aid out of the total OECD population assistance had fallen from 30% to 9% between 2001 and 2004.

This funding cut comes at a time when the largest youth population ever enters child-bearing years, and allows millions of preventable maternal and infant deaths to take place.

Recent years, according to Euromapping, have seen a shift to funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment at the expense of other forms of population assistance.

Euromapping highlights that although European governments have committed to double development assistance by 2010, disbursements decreased from 2005 to 2006.

Furthermore, even though funding for the Global Fund increased 70%, funding for IPPF decreased.

At the EuroNGOs conference

Advocacy

European NGOs explained key elements in successfuly working with NGOs, with one example being given by the Portugal Family Planning Association (APF) on the recent referendum on changes in the abortion laws in that country.

MPs who were not in favor of the changes in law were asked to "not vote no" if they would not vote yes, and overseas support was gathered, including from Catholic countries.

NGOs explained that a clear, simple message was needed to convince MPs, cross-party support was essential, and that face-to-face communication was important. For this last point, study tours were a good method.

A UK NGO explained how it held regular meetings with MPs, inviting experts to attend. The NGO also highlighted the need to understand who was filtering information before MPs received it, and how to overcome this obstacle to communication.