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Presenters

Robert W. Gillespie

Work Experience

1980 to Present: President of Population Communication. Authored the Statement on Population Stabilization by World Leaders, which has been signed by 74 heads of government. Population Communication is challenging national leaders in the signatory countries to fulfill the mandate of the Statement. In the ten largest and underdeveloped countries, Population Communication has contracted with motion picture scriptwriters to develop screenplays with themes aimed at improving the status of women, lowering infant mortality and achieving the small family goal. Child survival and small family products and services have been designed for government and private family planning programs in the ten countries. These programs combine private enterprise and community participation. They focus on mobilizing the support of youth, increasing the age at marriage, the spacing births and integrating family planning with women's programs, literacy campaigns, protecting the environment and achieving community participation. In seven countries Population Communication has pioneered the introduction of surgical contraceptive procedures. Working with prominent demographers and economists, Population Communication publishes books and promotes an awareness of the population problem with national leaders. The findings are reported at the PAA, APHA, ICOMP and regional population conferences.

September 1978 to December 1979: Director of Special Projects for Population Crisis Committee (now Population Action International). Worked in India, Mexico, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, Nigeria and Egypt on innovative family planning programs. The projects varied from designing research projects to promoting media campaigns.

July 1976 to August 1978: Founded Population Communication in order to conduct innovative family planning projects and to communicate population messages to national leaders in developing countries.

January 1976 to July 1976: With Ford Foundation support, provided assistance to the Bangladesh government to design a national sterilization plan of action. Worked on the training methodologies, curriculum and evaluation of a program to mobilize 18,000 field workers. With the director of research outlined proposals to link fertility to development process.

April 1970 to December 1975: The Population Council Representative in Iran. Organized national mass media campaigns. Designed model projects to integrate population planning with the Ministries of Health, Education, Agriculture, Industries, Defense and the Plan Organization.

Several of the model projects were expanded nationally.

Provided short-term technical assistance in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Most of the consulting focused on mass media campaigns, the use of field personnel and designing research projects.

August 1968 to March 1970: Assistant Director of Information and Education in the Population Council, New York office. Assisted Population Council Staff and local family planning staff in designing research projects and communication campaigns in Thailand, the Dominican Republic, Korea and Egypt. Designed protocols for using radio to communicate population messages; integrating family planning into community organizations, and, communicating population messages to national leaders.

September 1966 to July 1968: Completed B.S. Degree in Social Sciences and Masters Degree in Public Health. While at the University of Michigan, given full salary fellowship. Majored in Population Planning.

April 1966 to August 1966: Population Council Staff Representative in Turkey. Designed model family planning project for eastern Turkey.

January 1964 to March 1966: Population Council Representative in Taiwan. Worked on the national family planning program. Designed and administered action research projects; assisted with the training of field workers; helped organize the delivery of contraceptive services; and, improved the evaluation system. Wrote annual reports describing the relationship between population and economic development. Provided technical assistance to the family planning program in Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines.

January 1963 to December 1963: Produced a documentary film for the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong and developed a multimedia family planning campaign. With Pathfinder support, developed manufacturing capabilities for the IUD and inserter and organized a community-based contraceptive project in Hong Kong.

April 1961 to December 1962: Produced documentary films for American Korean Foundation, Meals for Millions, Inc., CARE and Development and Technical Assistance Association of Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.

Education

M.P.H. Population Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Special Studies in Communication.

B.S. (Honors) Social Sciences and Economics, California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, California. Majors- Business Administration and Soil Science. Chosen Alumnus of the Year 1977.

Publications

1. Statement on Population Stabilization by World Leaders, Population Communication, presented at the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 1994.
2. Statement in Support of the United States Rejoining UNESCO, Population
   Communication, 1993.
3. "The Ethics of Immigration," Population Communication, 1993.
4. "Within and Beyond Family Planning: Challenges for the 1990s," ICOMP International Seminar, Nanjing, China, May, 1993.
5. "A Family Planning Model Operations Research Design," APHA meeting, 1989.
6. "Developing a Model Family Planning Program," ICOMP Meeting in China, 1988.
7. "Contracts to Delay Marriage, Space Births and Limit Family Size: Experiences in Indonesia and Thailand," Population Association of America Meeting, April 1986.
8. "Communication Strategies to Meet the Challenges of the 1980s and 90s: A Model," ICOMP Biennial International Conference, 1986.
9. “A Review of Incentives and Disincentives in Developing Countries," American Public Health Association, November 1985.
10. "A Population Communication Report: A Survey of National Leaders' Views on Population Stabilization in Sixteen Countries," Population Communication, August 1983.
11. 1"A Population Communication Report on Fertility Incentives and Disincentives," National Academy of Sciences, Population Communication, November 1982.
12. "The Model Family Planning Project in Isfahan, Iran." Studies in Family Planning, Vol. VII, No. 11, November 1976.
13. A Manual on Family Planning Communications Evaluation, commissioned by UNESCO. French, Spanish and English., 1976.
14. "Demographic and Actuarial Methodologies in Developing Birth Averted Benefits," with R. C. Treadway. Presented at the Population Association of American Meeting, Seattle, 1975.
15. 15. "The Evaluation of Family Planning Communication Programs: The Iranian Experience." Evaluation Research on Family Planning Communication, ed. Everett M. Rogers. UNESCO Technical Report: Paris, 1974.
16. "Developing a Family Planning Campaign." Mass Communication and Birth Control. University of Chicago Press, 1973.
17. "Pretesting and Evaluation of Education Materials Used in Family Planning Programs in Iran with Special Emphasis on Radio." Proceedings of the Seminar on Evaluation of Education Materials Used in Family Planning Programs.
18. "The Isfahan Communication Project," with S. Lieberman and M. Loghmani. Studies in Family Planning, Vol. IV, No. 4, April 1973. English, Spanish, Farsi and French.
19. "Using School Teachers and the Literacy Corps to Recruit New Family Planning Users," with M. Loghmani. Literacy Discussions, Vol. 11, No. 2, March 1972.
20. "Population, Family Size and Contraceptive Text in Adult Literacy Project in Isfahan, Iran," with M. Loghmani and Nouri. Literacy Discussions, Vol. III, No. 2, March 1972.
21. "Models for a Communication Strategy." Proceedings of the Inter-Country WHO Workshop on Development of Health Education, October 1971, New Delhi.
22. "Developing an Information and Education program," with S. Wolfe and R. Blake. International Workshop on Communication in Family Planning Programs, and ed. R. Blake, Carolina Population Center, 1971.
23. "Mass Communication and Field Workers in Family Planning Programs," with Wilbur Schramm. Population and Family Planning Reports, No. 7, February 1971.
24. 2The Use of Radio in Family Planning, with H. Levin. A World Neighbors publication, 1970. Spanish edition available for ARTAC, Mexico City.
25. "Financial Incentives in Family Planning Programs." Master Thesis.
26. "Major Problems of the Taiwan Family Planning Program." Health Programs of Taiwan, United Nations Document 35A/DEM/AAFP/L8.
27. A Manual for Field Workers, Taiwan Population Studies Center. In Chinese and English.
28. "Operation Research," with L.P. Chow and H.C. Chen. Taiwan Family Planning Reader, ed. G. Cernada. The Chinese Center for International Training on Family Planning, 1970, pp. 187-198.
29. "Taiwan Experimental Projects," with L.P. Chow. Studies in Family Planning, No. 13, August 1966.
30. 3Family Planning in Taiwan, 1965 to 1966, Taiwan Population Studies Center, April 1966.
31. Family Planning in Taiwan, 1964 to 1965, Taiwan Population Studies Center, March 1965. In English, French and Chinese.

Films Produced on Family Planning

1. “The Taiwan Family Planning Program," 1965 (23 minutes).
2. "The Isfahan Communication Project," 1971 (18 minutes).
3. “No Vacancy,” 2006 (90 and 60 minutes).

Board of Directors and Advisory Committees

Population Institute Board of Directors

WHO Task Force Member on Contraceptive Acceptability in Expanded Programs of Research and Development in Human Reproduction

UNESCO Family Planning Communication Research Committee

Advisor of the International Committee on Applied Research in Population

International Advocate, Pasadena Planned Parenthood
Advisory Committee to the Dean of the School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles

Chairman, the Advisory Committee to the Population Research Laboratory at the University of Southern California

Vice-Chairman, Population Education Committee

Advisor, Earth Communications Office