It’s time to vote and decide who should win the Guardian Achievements in International Development Award. Who is your favorite candidate? My vote goes to Dr. Fred Sai. Here’s why.
“Ask for what you want. Take what you get. Then, use what you’ve got to get what you want.”
This is what Dr. Fred Sai said about international development at a global conference last week, the first time I heard him speak. It was a testament to his genius – simple, pragmatic advice that shoots to the core of global advocacy. These words have become my new mantra – something to repeat when I’m feeling frustrated, and something to repeat when I feel I’ve come up short in getting what is really needed to stop maternal deaths worldwide.
Dr. Sai has been a lifelong advocate for women’s health. He understands that addressing the problems of poverty means addressing women’s needs and rights worldwide, from the family level to international agreements. Not only does he understand this, he is willing to fight for it. While chairing the Main Committee of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, he made sure that the voices of impoverished women, usually ignored, were heard clearing in Cairo.
Under Dr. Sai’s skillful and witty direction, the 179 governments at that historic gathering committed themselves to a Programme of Action that put meeting women’s needs at the center of any successful economic development policy. The Cairo Consensus has shaped global debate and national policies on women, development, and poverty alleviation ever since.
But serious anti-poverty work generates serious opposition from entrenched interests. Dr. Sai remained a leader in defending ICPD principles when they were under attack at milestone international re-evaluation conferences in 1999 and 2004: women’s equality, comprehensive sex education, and funding for reproductive health care, including family planning. He helped galvanize dispirited NGOs to fight for these principles, and as chair of the Women Deliver conference in London in 2007 he helped win new resources and political commitment for women from government ministers of 115 countries.
For all these achievements, Dr. Sai has received many honorary degrees and prizes from the reproductive health community, including the United Nations Population Award in 1993. But the Guardian Achievements in International Development Award would be a long-overdue recognition from the larger field of economic development. It would also acknowledge Dr. Sai’s pioneering role in bringing that community to recognize the centrality of women to alleviating the problem of global poverty.
In short, few people have done more for women worldwide than Dr. Fred Sai. I urge you to visit the Guardian website, and VOTE FOR FRED before September 30th! A vote for Fred means a vote for women’s health and rights worldwide.
Who is your favorite candidate and why?
So wonderful to see Key Opinion Leaders in the area of International Development being honoured for their achievements in this area. Difficult to compare the five short-listed candidates in that all of their respective accomplishments have been outstanding, and magnanimous. Surely we can celebrate the work they have all championed, as ultimately their efforts will be impact the Millennium Development Goals.
Not sure who I will vote for, though must admit Janna's post was quite captivating and persuasive.
Happy to have been exposed to some of these 'unsung heroes' of International Development.
About
Janna Oberdorf is currently the Director of Communications and Outreach, an advocacy organization working to improve maternal health around the world.
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Bhuvana
Tuesday 22nd September, 2009, 3:12pm
Such an inspiring advocate for women's health!! Fred Sai here is my vote!
Thank you Janna.