Parliament asks institutions to integrate population issues into development plan

By Simon Deng

The Chairperson of the Specialized Committee on Population in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Majur Babur on Tuesday asked institutions to consider population and development issues at the national and subnational sector planning levels.

“We are interacting with so many institutions of government on population and development issues; we have land, resources and population. Our team is uniting legislators to address population issues through evidence based policy making,” said Babur during the opening of the four day workshop on national and subnational sector planning at Regency Hotel in Juba.

Kidan Abraha, the Program Advisor for United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said that issues such as education, sex and health significantly influence sector planning related to development.

Abraha emphasized the need to conduct regular population census to ease planning across various sectors for the citizens.

Suzy Albert Yanga, Director General of Aid Coordination in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, said that they are committed to effectively incorporate population and development issues into the national and subnational sector planning.

“The population dynamics are critical to address economic and environment challenges, we are committed to sustainable development. It is necessary to understand population issues which truly reflect the realities of our population,” said Albert.