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  • REMARKS BY DR. MOHAMED SHEIKH, DIRECTOR GENERAL, NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT DURING THE COMMEMORATION OF THE WORLD POPULATION DAY 2023 AT THE RADISSON BLU HOTEL, UPPERHILL NAIROBI ON JULY 11, 2023

REMARKS BY DR. MOHAMED SHEIKH, DIRECTOR GENERAL, NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT DURING THE COMMEMORATION OF THE WORLD POPULATION DAY 2023 AT THE RADISSON BLU HOTEL, UPPERHILL NAIROBI ON JULY 11, 2023

25Jul

REMARKS BY DR. MOHAMED SHEIKH, DIRECTOR GENERAL, NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT DURING THE COMMEMORATION OF THE WORLD POPULATION DAY 2023 AT THE RADISSON BLU HOTEL, UPPERHILL NAIROBI ON JULY 11, 2023

The Principal Secretary, State Department for Economic Planning the National Treasury and Economic Planning

CEO of the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEG) – Mrs. Betty Sungura

The Kenya United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) Deputy Country

Representative, Dr. Chris Abiodun Oyeyipo

NCPD Board of Directors

Development and Implementing partners present

All Government officers present

The Media

The many Kenya watching us through YouTube and other media channels

Invited guest

Good morning.

First and foremost, I want to take this opportunity to welcome you all to this

World Population Day Celebrations

The World Population is celebrated globally.

11th July is a day designated by the UN as a day to commemorate the World Population Day.

The day is marked to educated the Public on key Population concerns, progress and achievement

The day offers opportunities to provide services in line with the theme of the day

The theme of this year is: “Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities”

Our county theme is “Unleashing the power of Gender Equality to Unlock Kenya infinite possibilities”. 

This was chosen because of the current global population dynamics in women and girls empowerments

Women and girls make up 50% of the global population, yet women and girls are often ignored in discussions on demographics, with their rights violated in population policies.

Although as a country we have made progress in many fronts in addressing women and girls issues, however there are still major disparities and concerns in women and the girl’s agenda

To give some statistics from the recently released Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS). A third of household in Kenya are headed by women.

  1. Among the survey households Only 12 % of women have more than secondary education
  2. 13 % of women aged 15-49 years have experienced sexual violence.
  3. 34% of women aged 15-49 years have experienced physical violence
  4. While 15% of women and girls aged 15- 49 years in Kenya are circumcised and annually we lose More 6000 Women while giving birth.

So today we here not only to commemorate the achievements but also highlight on the gaps and identify possible ways to address them.

  • The National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) is a semiautonomous government agency under The National Treasury and Economic Planning mandated to coordinate the implementation of Population and Development programmes and policies in Kenya.

The Council is the national focal point for leadership and guidance in matters relating to Population and Development

Some of the strategic objectives aligned to the Council’s mandate include;

  1. To enhance Public Education and advocacy
  2. Coordinating the implementation of population policies and programme
  3. Integrating of population variables in development planning at the national and county level
  4. Strengthened capacity in research, data analysis and visualization and to improve the institutional, human and
  5. This position puts NCPD in a central position to coordinate a multi-sectoral approach to the issues not limited to; coordinating, tracking, and reporting on the national commitments of the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 to implement the Cairo Plan of Action (PoA).
  6. The Council has spearheaded various population programmes and projects in the country which are in its mandate of enhancing quality human capital for prosperous Kenya and in line with the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Plan of Action (PoA) and the national strategies and plans to achieve national commitments. And today, as part on this objective we are here to commemorate World Population Day.

Again, I want to most sincerely welcome you to this celebration also taking place in our 10 regional offices where services are being provided as per the theme of the day.

Thank you.

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