The Population Action International team left The Hague on Wednesday
morning, excited about the success of “The Shape of Things to Come” at
the Peace Palace.
After the panel briefing, a senior ministry official told us that he
was going to use the report in a briefing for Parliament and encourage
them to make demographics a key priority in development assistance and
to increase funding for sexual and reproductive health programs and
services. Hooray!
In the Netherlands, I was particularly impressed by the number of bicycles I saw. A couple of us in the PAI office bike to work, but it looks like everyone in the Netherlands rides bicycles. It’s an environmentally friendly way to get around – and fun too!
PAI President/CEO Amy Coen, Former Army General and current
PAI board member Claudia Kennedy, Tod Preston, Liz Leahy and I boarded
the train for a day of travel. On the way there, we took advantage of
the rare opportunity for all of us to be together for six uninterrupted
hours, and talked through ideas for future projects. Our next
destination: Berlin, Germany. PAI was invited to present Shape there by
our German partner, DSW (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevolkerung).
In the evening, we arrived at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (the city’s new central train station and the largest rail interchange in Europe). We had just enough time to check into our hotel in Mitte (Berlin’s central district) and make a quick trip to a christkindlemarkt (Christmas Market) at Gendarmentmarkt – which was full of bright lights, holiday crafts, decorations, and trinkets. Just a quick look around, and then we made it back to meet DSW staff for dinner and a planning session about the events on Thursday.
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