History

“Today’s population programme managers may be likened to entrepreneurs: they set up the first clinics, lobbied for supporting legislation, and went around raising funds. Tomorrow’s managers will be more like corporate managers: they will be organizing and controlling programmes staffed by thousands of workers, and laying down and implementing plans that could span a five-year period”
- Founding of ICOMP, London 1973

ICOMP was founded at a time when the nexus between population and development was just beginning to emerge….when the underpinnings of global concerns on “population explosion” fueled the debate on whether birth control was more than a medical activity and what governments should do.

In 1973, a handful of family planning programme heads, deans of management institutes and donor agency representatives met to discuss an idea called ICOMP and since then, the world was a very different place for the population community.

Since the Bucharest conference in 1974, many developing countries had seen the damaging effects of unchecked rapid population growth and unplanned urbanisation on their economies, giving rise to negative economic outlooks and dashed hopes of a bright future. Against this backdrop, ICOMP, newly founded in October 1973, started working on strengthening management of population programmes in Asia, Africa and Latin America to deliver results. In mid-eighties, management development efforts expanded to include women in development (WID) programmes and NGOs.

By the time of the 1994 ICPD in Cairo, when a paradigm shift underscores the way most, if not all, population programmes implement activities, using the rights-based approach, ICOMP’s response has been to incorporate such concerns in its projects. While its basic mission – achieving excellence in management of quality population programmes — has not changed, ICOMP has certainly evolved over time, responding to changing needs and focus of programmes at national and regional levels.

Population programmes vary in their emphasis depending upon the country context. After ICPD, population programmes generally focus on (i) RH programmes including HIV/AIDS; and (ii) population-sustainable development linkages.

Therefore, ICOMP continues to build upon its work on:
1. leadership and management development for RH programmes
2. managing innovative RH programmes
3. strengthening the role of civil society in RH

South-South modalities and the strengthening of national capacity underpin ICOMP’s activities in bringing about bilateral and multi-lateral sharing of knowledge and skills for capacity building.

The world of population and development is a very organic, dynamic and fascinating one; new challenges surface just as old ones get resolved. ICOMP, in its 30 years of history, continues to believe that, while we can respond to new issues and new challenges in creative and innovative ways, one basic thing remains, we must always manage well to get results.