On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Rwanda and the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, we thank you for attending the 5th International Conference on Family Planning, held 12-15 November 2018 among the beautiful rolling hills of Kigali, Rwanda, and welcome you to reflect on your experience by reviewing the attached 2018 ICFP Evaluation.
The theme of the 2018 ICFP, Investing for a Lifetime of Returns , spoke to the various returns on investment family planning provides — from education and empowerment to economic growth and environmental health.
We hope that you found the conference worthwhile and inspiring, and returned to your home country with a renewed sense of urgency and energy to improve and strengthen family planning programming around the world.
More than 4,000 people from 120 countries around the world attended the 2018 ICFP, marking a conference record. The 2018 ICFP was also the largest to date, with over 600 youth at the Youth Pre-conference, a 40% increase in abstract submissions from previous years, over 300% engagement increase on the ICFP hub and the highest-ever reach on social media, with conference hashtags earning 46.2 million impressions on Twitter alone.
These results are impressive, but they would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the ICFP Core Organizing Group, the International Steering Committee, the National Steering Committee, and the many sponsors, media partners, vendors, logistics staff and, of course, the thousands of delegates who traveled from around the world to Kigali for this important gathering.
We welcome you to reflect on your experience during the 2018 ICFP as you review the enclosed evaluation summary. To view recordings and photos of the daily plenaries, special events and scientific sessions you may have missed during #ICFP2018, please visit FPConference.org. and view our official #ICFP2018 recap video And please be sure to stay in touch with ICFP by signing up for our email list and following us on social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) — that way, you will be among the first to know the date and location of the next conference, which will be announced in summer 2019.
Thank you again for your continued support of the ICFP and the family planning community!