Non-aligned movement support for South-South collaboration in the field of population and family planning.

There has been increasing interest over the past few years in strengthening direct collaboration among country programs of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to promote development. As such, heads of states and governments of the non-aligned countries met September 1992 to discuss South-South collaboration in promoting development. The resulting "Jakarta Message: a Call for Collective Action and the Democratization of International Relations" stressed the need for a multilateral shift of focus in international relations toward a strengthening of multilateral cooperation for development. Population was one of the few areas specifically addressed at the conference requiring multilateral cooperation. Partially designed to prepare member countries for the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, the meeting of country ministers called for further talks in the interest of intensifying the exchange of information on NAM countries' population policies and programs, as well as the organization of South-South cooperation and assistance arrangements. The following modalities of cooperation among countries in the field of population were identified: training programs; observation-study tours; technical assistance; internships; long-term high-level training; meetings, seminars, and workshops; high-level visits; cross-national surveys and other joint research; purchase/exchange/donation/loan of contraceptives and other supplies and equipment; joint production of contraceptives and related medical commodities; marketing and trading cooperation; information exchange; and cooperation in collaborating with other NAM countries. The paper also discusses financial resources to support collaboration and offers a proposal of NAM arrangements to strengthen, support, and sustain South-South collaboration.