Speakers at the closing plenary

State Minister Kesetebirhan Admassu, of Ethiopia’s Federal Ministry of Health, wanted to send a message to African governments at the closing plenary of the International Conference on Family Planning:

 “We need to say ‘no’ to donors and projects that are not aligned with national plans,” Minister Keseste, as he is commonly known, said. “One of the problems in Africa is that governments do not show strong leadership and do not guide donors in their countries.”

Ethiopia’s Federal Ministry of Health has taken major steps to take control of their policies and plans. They were the first country to endorse the International Health Partnership (IHP+) compact, which helps to align development partners’ agendas with countries’ national plans.

“As poor countries, we cannot do it alone. We need to have strong partnerships with donors. And these implementing partners need to be held accountable to a mutually agreed upon results framework,” Minister Kesete said.

Ethiopia’s strong message set an inspirational tone for the end of the conference.

“Thank you to all for sharing the realities that actually exist,” said Dousenge Ariane of Health Poverty Action in Rwanda.

Giving the final remarks, Senegal’s Prime Minister Souleymane Ndene Ndiaye demonstrated the strong leadership that Admassu had earlier touted. “We will invest in innovative strategies for family planning to help improve the life of our people,” Ndiaye said.