IPC 2017 steering committee meeting

Pretoria, South Africa, 28 November 2015 

The Steering Committee for the 28th International Population Conference met in Pretoria, South Africa on 28 November 2015.  Statistics South Africa hosted the meeting which took place just before the 7th African Population Conference.  

The primary task of the Steering committee was to review the Call for Papers and discuss recommendations for additional sessions and replacement organisers as well as other information to include in the Call for Papers before it is printed for circulation in March 2016. It was also an occasion to discuss next steps in preparation for the Conference in Cape Town and hear updates from the South African National Organising Committee on their activities and progress. 

Since the 1st International Organising committee meeting in March 2015, Statistics South Africa, our principal partner, has been active recruiting and meeting with a broad range of members from academia, national government ministries, the regional population association (PASA), NGOs, and the Cape Town tourism board to serve on the NOC and assist in the organisation of the Conference. Several members were involved in the organisation of the 7th African Population Conference and learned many lessons from that experience which will serve to ensure the success of the Cape Town Conference. 

The NOC is motivated by the opportunity the Conference provides to promote population sciences and discuss evidence-based research on population challenges facing South Africa and the African continent. Plans for the NOC Africa Day include 8 special sessions that will be listed in the Call for Papers.  We also learned more about the NOC’s plans to involve youth in the Conference. They are especially keen to use the conference as a forum to promote the study of population sciences and statistics at both the secondary and university level and are already planning a number of activities with schools and universities leading up to the conference that would culminate in a Demography School project event during the conference where young people will present what they have learned about demography and the population sciences.    

We are looking forward to learning more as planning moves forward. At the Closing Ceremony of the African Population Conference the Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Performance, Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration, Jeff Radebe, and the Statistician General, Pali Lehohla, both officially announced the forthcoming International Population Conference in Cape Town and warmly invited all those attending the African Population Conference to come to Cape Town in 2017. The 28th International Population Conference promises to be an event not to be missed and we hope IUSSP members will make plans to be there.