A REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL POPULATION POLICY 2015-2024

 By Raphaella Gegeyo

 Introduction

The National Population Policy (NPP) 2015-2024 was launched by the Department of Planning and Monitoring of Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 2015. This policy, which serves as the country’s third population policy, aims to address PNG’s demographic and socio-economic issues through sustainable development. It is guided by three core pillars: The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the Constitution, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The NPP 2015-2024 is designed to improve the quality of life and living standards for all citizens by integrating population management into national development strategies.

Summary

The NPP 2015-2024 highlights two key points.

The first key point emphasized by the NPP are the challenges from Previous NPPs. The NPP 2015-2024 builds on the lessons learned from earlier population policies, specifically the first (1991) and second (2000-2010) NPPs. These earlier policies faced significant challenges, including an unequal population distribution, poor service delivery, inadequate staffing in health posts, and a high mortality rate. The slow pace of fertility transition also posed a major obstacle. The current policy has been formulated to address these challenges by implementing more effective strategies and coordination mechanisms.

The second key point elaborated on the implementation pathway of the NPP. The NPP 2015-2024 is aligned with PNG’s long-term development strategies, including Vision 2050, the PNG Development Strategic Plan (PNGDSP) 2010-2030, and the Medium-Term Development Plan (2011-2015). The policy adopts the reproductive health focus from the 1994 ICPD and emphasizes the importance of coordinated efforts between key institutions, such as the National Population Council (NPC) and the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). These institutions are tasked with overseeing the policy’s implementation. The NPP includes 13 desired outcomes, aligned with the MDGs and the post-2015 development goals, and sets out 16 specific goals to improve human well-being, education, and health. Population growth management is a central focus, particularly in areas like birth control and antenatal care.

Critique

A key strength of the current NPP is that the policy goals and desired outcomes are specific and clearly defined with what they are focused on achieving. Having such clear goals and desired outcomes enables implementers a sense of clear direction towards achieving the goals and outcomes of the policy. Reiterating this, Van der Haek et al. (2016, pg. 475) highlights that a clearly defined goal enables a person to clearly understand what is expected of them, thereby making it easier for the person to determine the right course of action, thus increasing likeliness of achieving the goal. Setting clear and specific goals will help NPP implementers achieve these goals successfully.

Additionally, another strength of the NPP is the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) consisting of staff with a technical background. The lack of staff with such technical background was one of the significant reasons to the ineffective implementation of the previous NPP that is the NPP 2000-2010. Revitalizing the TAC while including technical training for TAC staff will enhance and boost technical capacity to regulate technical aspects throughout implementation of the policy. Similarly, Fall et al. (2019) highlights that policies fail not only due to poor design but due to the absence of technical skills and knowledge such as coordinating with other stakeholders and poor understanding of how to navigate challenges. Therefore, training of TAC staff will be highly beneficial to the implementation of the policy.

The 2013 National Security Policy (NSP) sets the platform for addressing socio-economic security issues relating to population growth such as urbanization, education and health factors and rural-urban migration. The NPP 2015-2024 provides a solution to this by focusing on improving population as a means to development. This is highlighted in policy goals 1,2,9,12 and 16 of the NPP 2015-2024.

Recommendations

As highlighted in the NPP 2015-2024, policy goal 4, the general level of awareness in integration of population issues into development strategies remains limited in PNG. Therefore, it is recommended that more awareness and education programs be carried out to enhance understanding of population issues and their inter-relationships. These initiatives should focus on increasing knowledge at all levels of society to foster a more informed and proactive approach to addressing population issues.

Additionally, in consideration of the incomplete demographic database as highlighted in the current NPP, resulting in the limited understanding of population issues, it is recommended that the government invest in the process of data collection by employing appropriate people to carry out the job and by funding the resources needed for data collection. This will result in a complete, comprehensive and reliable database to draw accurate information from when addressing population issues.

Conclusion

The NPP 2015-2024 aims to improve socio-economic conditions through sustainable development and population management. It addresses past challenges and aligns with national plans. With the policy’s goals and desired outcomes together with the coordinated frameworks, the policy proves to be an effective tool for development in PNG.

 

 


References 

Fall, F., Ishaku, J., & Shaban, S. (2019). Bridging the policy design and implementation gap: the role of think tanks. On Think Tanks. https://onthinktanks.org/articles/bridging-the-policy-design-and-implementation-gap-the-role-of-think-tanks/

Van der Haek, M., Groeneveld, S., & Kuipers, B. (2016). Goal Setting in Teams: Goal Clarity and Team Performance in the Public Sector. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 38 (4), 472-493. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/0734371X16682815

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