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Information, Publication and Training Section houses the
Nepal Population Information Centre as part of the Ministry
of Population and Environment.
Educating people in remote parts of Nepal
about population issues is one of the many tasks of the
Ministry of Population and Environment.
Population is an important issue in Nepal.
The country's population increased by an average annual
rate of 2.08 per cent during the period of the last two
censuses taken in 1981 and 1991. The Nepal Family Health
Survey conducted in 1996 found the total fertility rate
(TFR) to be 4.6 children per woman. These data indicate
that the level of fertility is still high in Nepal, even
though it has been declining over the years.
The Government of Nepal is implementing the National Population
Programme with a view to properly manage the growing population
of the country and improve the quality of life of the people.
The Ninth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002) envisages the TFR declining
to 4.2 by the end of the Plan period and further to the
replacement level of about 2.1 by 2016. Nepal's Population
IEC Programme has been geared to help achieve these long-term
demographic goals.
The Section maintains a Library, which was conceived as
a national clearing-house for information on population
and the environment, as well as a documentation centre.
The Library provides information for a wide range of users,
including those involved in formulating and implementing
population policies and programmes. As a national centre
for information on population and the environment, it facilitates
the exchange of information among various agencies within
and outside the country. For this purpose, it has established
close links with many organizations, including the Asia-Pacific
POPIN Network which is coordinated by ESCAP.
The activities of the Nepal Population Information Centre
include the publication of informative materials ranging
from pictorial booklets to scholarly journals. Often population
information is repackaged to meet the special needs of different
users. Thus, while front-line development workers may choose
to read an introductory “Population and Natural Resources”
booklet, students doing a course in demography may find
the annual report on the country's state of population to
be a valuable source of information for their analysis.
As part of its advocacy efforts, the Information, Publication
and Training Section of the Ministry has also taken the
initiative in developing population information kits for
Parliamentarians and journalists.
Nepal's Population Information, Education and Communication
(IEC) Programme is being guided by some strategic approaches
as laid down in the National Population Information, Education
and Communication Strategy (1997-2001).
These approaches have emphasized advocacy, participation,
decentralization, collaboration, integration, demand creation,
partnership between governmental and non-governmental organizations,
multimedia, high quality IEC products, audience segmentation,
quality of life and sustainable development, and the need
for research and capacity building. It has also identified
priority audiences as follows: (a) currently married women
aged 15-29, (b) currently married women aged 30-44, (c)
older women in their roles as mothers, mothers-in-law and
grandmothers, (d) husbands or males, (e) community influentials,
(f) service-providers, (g) adolescents, (h) Parliamentarians
and local leaders, and (i) other governmental and non-governmental
agencies. As the umbrella strategy of the government, the
Programme is designed to provide a framework for other sectoral
population-related IEC strategies as well.
A number of agencies are involved in population and reproductive
health JEC activities in Nepal. They include sectoral Ministries,
Departments and Training Institutes of the Government, and
non-governmental organizations. At the national level, the
effort is coordinated by the Information, Publication and
Training Section of the Ministry of Population and Environment.
Broadly speaking, the Ministry has pursued the policy of
assisting sectoral agencies and non-governmental organizations
in running their IEC programmes, supplementing their efforts,
as deemed necessary, and exploring new avenues for reaching
policy makers as well as the rural people.
The Ministry has also formed a national-level Steering
Committee so that uniformity in messages could be ensured
and duplication of efforts avoided. The Committee also provides
a forum for facilitating coordination and exchanging professional
experiences.
Notwithstanding these efforts, the challenges are many.
First, there is the question of how to reach more widely
the rural people, the majority of whom are illiterate and
do not have access to the electronic media. Second, there
is a need for integrating population IEC activities into
the programmes of a wider network of sectoral agencies,
local bodies and people's organizations. Third, lasting
partnership has yet to be forged with the mass media. Fourth,
there are also difficulties arising out of the country's
many different languages, ethnic diversity among the intended
beneficiaries, as well as cultural and psychological barriers.
Finally, the country's IEC professionals need to be developed,
enabling them to “inform” their clientele after
having been “informed” themselves.
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Ministry of Population and
Environment Information, Publication and Training Section
Purpose of organization:
Collecting, processing, repackaging, documenting and disseminating
of population- and environment-related information, creating
public awareness about population and environmental issues,
and coordination, monitoring and evaluation
Personnel:
10
Resource base
Size of collection:
Around 2,000 titles
Classification/cataloguing systems:
DDC
lnformation-handling equipment:
Personal computers, using CDS/ISIS, standard office and
library equipment, video equipment
Products and services
Publication and services:
Population newsletter, journals, reports, occasional booklets,
and other informative materials; library and information
services
Types of users served:
Policy makers, planners, teachers, students, academics and
the general public
Other:
Exchanges information with Asia-Pacific POPIN centres; East-West
Center, ministries and libraries
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