The National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) has been successful to achieve The 2022 United Nations Population Award for Institution Category. BKKBN as the Representative of Indonesia competes with other candidates from 193 Unite Nations member countries. The 2nd President of The Republic of Indonesia, Soeharto, got United Nations Population Award in 1989. Deputy for Training, Research, and Development of BKKBN, Muhammad Rizal Martua Damanik, MrepSc, PhD., received the acknowledgment from United Nations in New York, the United States of America on 13 June 2022.
Prof. Rizal Damanik proudly expresses his gratitude for his speech at the UNPA virtual ceremony “BKKBN is honored to receive The 2022 United Nations Population Award. BKKBN conveys the highest appreciation to the President of The Republic of Indonesia, The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, The Ministry of State Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia, United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) Indonesia for all support and the remarkable cooperation to achieve this award. BKKBN was established as a follow-up by a family planning program that had contributed to international and national development”, said Prof Rizal.
“ in national development, in the last five decades, BKKBN has succeeded in implementing the Family Planning Program in Indonesia. This resulted in a sharp decline in Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Indonesia from 5.6 to 2.2 children per woman during the 1970s until the 2000s”, added Prof Rizal Damanik.
“in addition, Indonesia’s population growth decreased from 2.31% per year in 1971-1980 to 1.25% per year in 2010-2020. Furthermore, its impact on public services such as education, health, and infrastructure. The population change lead to an improvement in the standard of living in Indonesia”, said Rizal Damanik.
The committee for the United Nations Population Award selected the laureate of the award consisting of 10 (ten) representatives of the United Nations Member States (Ivory Coast, Republic of Fiji, Gambia, Iceland, Republic of Indonesia, Lebanon, Republic of Liberia, Panama, Romania, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago). They are elected by the Economic and Social Council for a three-year term (2019-2021).
On 6 April 2022, in the meeting of the Commission of the UNPA 2022 in New York, BKKBN succeeded in winning UNPA 2022 in the Institutional Category. BKKBN got the support of 6 (six) out of 9 (nine) voters (through a simple majority), set-aside the representative from China, Mexico, Nepal, the Philippines, and Spain.
In the last of his remarks, Prof Rizal Damanik concluded that “the election of BKKBN as laureate of The 2022 UNPA is a milestone of the Indonesian Government’s momentum including the improving the quality of Indonesian human resources. Particularly, BKKBN has been mandated as coordinator for the acceleration of stunting reduction by the President of The Republic of Indonesia. The success of BKKBN in getting the United Nations Population Award 2022 is proof that the development and implementation of the Family Planning and Population Program in Indonesia by BKKBN and all partners involved are getting support from the international community”.