On October 4 and 5, 2016, 150 advocates for sexual and reproductive rights and health will gather in Paris. The annual EuroNGOs conference aims to coordinate actions to collectively get off to a good start in the race to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
It has been eight years since the annual EuroNGOs conference was last held in France. For two days, Paris will welcome representatives from the associations that make up the network, of which Equipop has been a member since its creation. To round off the event, a number of representatives from UN and national institutions will also be in attendance.
While the EuroNGOs conference is an essential annual event for Equipop to refine its advocacy strategy in consultation with its European counterparts, the 2016 meeting is even more important. At a reception jointly organized by EuroNGOs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, the new strategy entitled "France's external action on population, sexual and reproductive health and rights issues 2016-2020" will be officially launched.
For Equipop, this is the culmination of several years of intense advocacy, with the aim of giving the issue a structural character. It is also a new beginning, as the strategy now serves as a reference for future advocacy efforts. Now that the broad guidelines have been established, the task is to ensure that they translate into concrete improvements in living conditions in developing countries, particularly in West Africa.
