Mekelle University in collaboration with the Na­tional Planning Commission and key partners including CORHA has organized the third Na­tional Conference on Population and Develop­ment from 07 to 08 September at Mekelle, Planet hotel.

The conference was officially declared open by Dr. Kindeya Gebrehiwot, President of Mekelle University. He welcomed the participants to the event and expressed his gratitude to government delegatesfor coming all the way amidst
Dr. Kindeya Gebrehiwot, opening the confer­ance
their busiest schedules. He said, “One of the objectives why Mekelle University organized such an important and timely conference is to strengthen the partnership and engagement among higher learning institutions, research firms, policy makers and implementing development partners for conducting and disseminating collabor­ative and demand driven research on population and development issues.”
Prior to the opening, Dr. Kinfe Abreha, head of in­stitute of population studies of Mekele University, in his introductory speech indicated that the con­ference is unique because it is organized at the end of the first GTP1 and at the eve of launching GTP2, and thus will have immense merits in uncovering the achievements so far registered for the last five years and to pinpoint the constraints faced in the course of the implementation. Beyond these, it is also believed to provide important inputs for the finalization of the GTP2.
H.E. Ato Getachew Adem, Deputy Commissioner with the rank of State Minister of the National Plan­ning Commission, gave an opening statement on Les­sons from the Implementation of the NPPE, GTP1, CRGE, ICPD, and MDGs’. He reiterated that the ob­jective of the national population policy of Ethiopia adopted in 1993 has the objective of improving the countries socio-economic situation. He highlighted the objectives of the conference and Mr. Getachew Adem, delivering key note adress
the importance of demand driven and problem ori­ented studies and researches in the areas of popula­tion and development.
In addition Mr. Faustin Yao, UNFPA country rep­resentative in Ethiopia and Mr Negash Teklu, chair person of Federal Civil Societies and Associations Forum made keynote addresses on the opening of the conference.
CORHA as a member of the conference organizing committee has contributed a lot for the success of the conference by providing both technical and financial support as well as facilitating sessions during the de­liberation of the conference.
In this conference more than 50 research papers in four parallel plenary sessions were presented by var­ies professionals from different universities and part­ner organizations. The conference was attended by over 200 participants drawn from the parliament, universities and research
Partial view of participants of the conference
Institutions, concerned government offices and non-governmental organizations
The conference was closed with great success and the certificates and awaeds were provided to the paper presenters, organizing committee members and part­ner organizations.