United Nations ICPD Programme of Action
Twenty years ago, 179 countries met in Cairo to adopt a forward-looking 20-year plan to address the population issues of the early 21st century. The resulting ICPD Programme of Action was remarkable in its recognition that reproductive health and rights, as well as women's empowerment and gender equality, are cornerstones of population and development programmes. The visionary plan is rooted in principles of human rights and became the steering document of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
As we enter the 20th year since its' adoption, the UN is currently reviewing the progress made toward the goals outlined in Cairo, and developing plans for the next 20 years (a process that includes the ICPD Global Youth Forum and International Conference on Human Rights we helped launch). To celebrate the anniversary - and help remind participants of the visionary document that started it - we were honored to be asked by UNFPA to produce a special 20th Anniversary edition.
We focused our design on making the 64,000-word document an approachable reference, while conveying the importance of the document to the humanity of today.
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The pocketsize book measures just 4" x 5" for portability and approachability.
The 8-panel wraparound cover features a cross-section of humanity in the faces of almost 400 individuals - a reminder that the massive development efforts that have stemmed from the document benefit the lives of real people around the world today.
We have published the document in three languages so far (English, French and Spanish), with more on the way. Next up: Arabic.
Two-color text pages kept printing costs economical for the 300-page books, while creating clear hierarchy of information for easy reference.
Bleeds on the trim edges delineate the main sections even when the book is closed - orange for the Programme of Action itself, grey for the supplemental "Key Actions for Implementation" that followed, and white for the front matter.